From the Lourdes Santiago for Toledo Council campaign:
Santiago Vows to Fight for More Police in Budget Process
TOLEDO, Ohio – As proud family members and city officials looked on, twenty-nine new recruits were sworn in Wednesday as Toledo’s newest class of police officers. Shortly before the swearing-in ceremony began, Councilwoman Lourdes Santiago called for additional funding for the Toledo Police Department in next year’s budget to substantially increase the 2007 class of new officers.
“It is essential that we do everything in our power to make families and businesses feel safe when they settle in to our neighborhoods,” Santiago said. “It is only through the cooperation of city officials, police officers, and community members that we can hope to make our city more secure. Today marks the first step,” she continued.
Councilwoman Santiago, who is currently running to retain her at-large seat on City Council, discussed part her campaign plan that calls for more new officer positions to be included in the upcoming year’s city budget. Santiago pledged to “do everything in [her] power” to secure funds for additional officers in upcoming budget negotiations.
According to information obtained from the Toledo Police Department, the department requested that 30 officer positions be established for 2006. All but one of those positions has been filled as of today’s swearing-in ceremony. In next year’s budget, a total of 20 new officer positions are being requested – a decrease that is said to reflect changes in retirement projections for 2007.
Santiago noted that Cincinnati, a city comparable to Toledo in population and demographics, has roughly 350 more uniformed personnel than the Toledo Police Department1. “According to recent statistics, there are several categories of crime in which Toledo currently outranks Cincinnati, such as aggravated assault and burglary2. With more police on patrol to deter criminals and more detectives investigating crimes that have already been committed, we will be able to lower those numbers significantly,” Santiago said.
Councilwoman Santiago noted that she would be meeting with Chief Navarre in the coming weeks leading up to budget negotiations to discuss the department’s needs, in order to find a number that would be effective for the goals mentioned while remaining affordable for the city’s current revenue projections.
Santiago’s full campaign platform, titled “Strong Neighborhoods for a Strong Toledo,” is available to the public on her Web site, www.santiagoforcouncil.com.
References:
1. Cincinnati police figures (1,043 uniformed personnel) obtained from Cincinnati Police Department Office of Personnel, 9/13/06. Toledo police figures (692 sworn personnel) obtained from Toledo Police Chief Michael Navarre’s Office, 9/13/06.
2. 2004 crime figures obtained from AreaConnect, “Actual Reported Population and Crimes.” Available on the Web here
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2 comments:
Santiago pledged to “do everything in [her] power” to secure funds for additional officers in upcoming budget negotiations.
What is 'within her power?' Maybe she should vote 'no' on some of the less important proposals that come from her boss, Carty, like the 'emergency' decorative lighting.
Come to think of it, that $45,000 could have paid the salary of one of those new recruits for an entire year. Or bought a new police cruiser.
Priorities, I guess.
What good are more police if they haven't got cars or other forms of transportation?
The whole budget process needs to be scrapped and rebuilt, from the ground up, as directed by the City Charter, taking care of what it mandated by the Charter before anything else. And then, nothing more; anything else is illegal, IMO.
That would certainly change the landscape of our government, for the better. . .
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