The Observation Deck

I hear we need a police levy - or at least we need money to hire a significant number of police.

Jim and Ken and maybe others of you know a lot more about this than I do - so I'm wondering.

1) Is Friday and Saturday night late when we actually need the most officers? Can the regular staffing do the job weekdays?

2) Is the major hot spots the bars? I believe we have approximately 150 of them in Lakewood.

3) Would it be possible to hire part time police officers to supplement the force for Friday and Saturday nights only? We could have 15 more officers working 10:30 - 2:30 on Friday and Saturday night and it would only cost us the equivalent of 3 FT policemen. Again offer the PT officers the full time positions when they become available. And call the PT people first to fill in so significantly reduced OT for the police.

4) Is there a way to get the bars involved to pay for some of these extra policemen? ($.25 a drink tax, flat fee for bars of say $100. a month which would net $15,000 a month extra?) Just ideas. Maybe have a part-time policeman patrol the hot spots on Friday and Saturday night and hand out fines.

Again just tossing out ideas.

4) Is there a way to get the bars involved to pay for some of these extra policemen? ($.25 a drink tax, flat fee for bars of say $100. a month which would net $15,000 a month extra?) Just ideas. Maybe have a part-time policeman patrol the hot spots on Friday and Saturday night and hand out fines.

Again just tossing out ideas.

and also how about higher fines for disturbing the peace, public urination, disorderly conduct and etc when the crime is committed after 11 pm with in a 100 feet of a bar.. (just throwin an ideas out)


PS As long as the drink tax was just for bars / restaurants and not for carry out then I am for it.. It now becomes a volunteer tax unlike the sin tax...

I believe the count was closer to 55 that would be considered bars. I certainly would be interested to hear what the numbers show on this topic. Furthermore it would be very interesting to see how the numbers get drilled down once you get past calls to a specific location. For instance would calls not related to a particular establishment be lumped in to the total while the perpetrator may not have even been out at a Lakewood establishment? I guess right off the bat I would be concerned about bar owners and patrons shouldering the cost of disruptive residents who don't even frequent these places.
Should also be interesting to see if there is a similar outcry of stereotypes as there is when Section 8 tenants are discussed as a potentially unbalanced cost vs benefit.
All in all wouldn't the most logical assesment of this increased expense of additional officers be to simply raise the fines for those charged with crime? Are there standards or limits to how much can be charged for a parking violation or a misdemeanor?

The people that " drink 'till they puke" as the saying goes, would be only a small part of the reason we need more police. As was mentioned in other posts, the amount of crimes has been said to be about the same, but the nature of the crimes have become more serious. What one officer might have handled, has grown to something that requires multiple officers, for example.

Increased presence is another good reason I could think of. I would like to see the opposite of what I didn't like I was a teenager. Now I'd like to see a LPD car or motorcycle much more often. Keep a car at Lakewood Park and Madison Park, as a "home base" for calls in the area, 24/7.
Do a Linndale on our piece of I-90. The income wouldn't hurt the city.

I would guess special units need more personnel too.

Mark Allan Crnolatas

Mark Crnolatas wrote:The people that " drink 'till they puke" as the saying goes, would be only a small part of the reason we need more police. As was mentioned in other posts, the amount of crimes has been said to be about the same, but the nature of the crimes have become more serious. What one officer might have handled, has grown to something that requires multiple officers, for example.

Increased presence is another good reason I could think of. I would like to see the opposite of what I didn't like I was a teenager. Now I'd like to see a LPD car or motorcycle much more often. Keep a car at Lakewood Park and Madison Park, as a "home base" for calls in the area, 24/7.
Do a Linndale on our piece of I-90. The income wouldn't hurt the city.

I would guess special units need more personnel too.

Mark Allan Crnolatas

Mark

The reason given for pushing the police levy has nothing to do with "more serious" crimes. It has everything to do with getting in front of the situation, and building a brand known in the county as a city that is very serious about crime and very safe. At every meeting I have been to, which is many, I have never heard "more serious" crimes.

If we are going to send our limited police to speed traps, curfew, nuisance, etc. We need more police on the street.

Another red herring thrown out is "With more police we will need a bigger jail." Most of us actually believe the opposite is true. With a larger police presence, criminals will go to cities that are not so tough or well manned. Criminals like water flow through areas of least resistance.

The police levy is all about crime prevention.


FWIW


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My error then. I thought I had seen the phrase from someone from the city mentioning that the crimes had changed in nature.

Mark Allan Crnolatas