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Letter to the editor

Prove it, then pay for it

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published October 14, 2007

Public safety should be local governments' No. 1 priority. So when the chief of police makes an unusual plea for an increase in the size of his force because crime has risen, responsible officials must find a way.

Largo police Chief Lester Aradi waited for years for his officers to get in-car computers that would keep them safer and enable them to be more efficient. He stretched his manpower when city commissioners extended the city's boundaries again and again through annexations. He got in the habit of making do in a city that prides itself on its low tax rate.

But Aradi didn't mince words when he came before the Largo City Commission on Tuesday. He said he needs 10 more officers. At least. Soon.

"With crime trends the way they're going, assaults on officers and civilians, we're going to have to bite the bullet and hire more officers," Aradi told commissioners.

City crime statistics for the first six months of this year show substantial increases over the first six months of 2006. For example, total arrests went from 1,470 during the first half of 2006, to 1,988 the first half of this year - a 35 percent increase.

The number of violent crimes rose to 266 for the first half of 2007 from 203 in the first half of 2006. Compare that with 2005, when there were 166 violent crimes during the first half of the year.

When Aradi shared those statistics with Largo commissioners, he also shared this information: Largo has 1.84 police officers per capita, compared with 2.35 for Clearwater, 2.10 for Pinellas Park, 2.12 for Tarpon Springs and 2.18 for St. Petersburg.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons why the number of crimes in Largo increased 9.2 percent from 2005 to 2006 while crimes countywide fell 1.1 percent. Criminals know how to take advantage of an opportunity.

Largo is the county's third-largest city, with a population that has grown by more than 3,000 people since 2004. It has well-publicized problems with drugs and prostitution, and its violent crime rate is slowly rising.

Yet Aradi didn't ask commissioners for more local tax dollars to pay for additional officers. He merely asked for permission to apply for federal grants to pay for them.

His restraint is admirable, but if Largo commissioners concur that more officers are necessary, they ought to find the local dollars to pay their salaries. The problem with grants is that they expire, usually after only two or three years. Then what? The city would be faced with either laying off the officers or digging up local dollars to pay them. Law enforcement officers are also wary about signing on to programs supported with only grant money.

Largo commissioners should do their due diligence in checking out Aradi's numbers and examining how he deploys the police force. But if they conclude that more officers are needed, the quickest way to get them on the street and keep them there is to use local funding.

[Last modified October 13, 2007, 20:38:19]