MORE FOCUS ON HOUSTON'S PUBLIC SAFETY!
Houston Mayor Bill White announced Tuesday that the city expects to spend an additional estimated $52 million on public safety, including $24 million on police overtime pay."Violent crime is down, but we are never satisfied," White said. "Voters for Proposition H last year said they wanted to increase public safety. With this plan, we will do just that. We will have more officers on the streets fighting crime."The plan includes:
$24 million in overtime, starting now through the end of fiscal year 2010. This funding will allow the city more than half a million extra Houston Police Department hours.
Approximately 190 additional police officers, from three academy classes added to the four already planned in the next fiscal year. When combined with new academy classes last year and this year, along with next year's classes previously planned, the city expects to have increased the number of uniformed officers on the force by more than 500. That will be more than a 10 percent increase in HPD personnel over the next three years.
In the next nine months the city will implement a program to permanently replace 78 police officers now serving on jail duty with civilian jailers. This will result in more uniformed officers being available for patrol and investigations.The city also will proceed with a request for proposal for a new citywide radio system, which will cost in excess of $100 million. Radios for first responders, including police, fire and EMS, will be among the first to be replaced.
5 comments:
It would make a bigger difference if people would come together, decide on what they want, and then have the strength of character to see it through without listening to the promises of politicians. On this website alone, I've read hundreds of comments berating police officers and suggesting the District Attorney as being the root of all evil. That mindset won't be fixed by tossing money around and is at the heart of the matter.
Will the next blog be about how some poor, innocent church-going lad was wrongfully arrested by 5-O when he didn't even know the gun was loaded, thanks to this overtime program funneling a seemingly endless supply of our tax dollars to the program?
They city did away with civilian jailers in teh name of saving money just two years ago!!! this is not going to work. Teachers comlain that they can teach better if you pay them more and officers complain that you can fight crime better if you pay them more, It just does not work. yes responding to calls need to be made alot better.
Mr. white you got to stop robbing peter to pay paul. At a time when civilian employees get 1% raise a year yet are expected to continue making clean water for everyone to drink, making sure all the offices are professionally staffed. I just don't get it.
Adding money will help but to improve the quality of officers, be prepared to pay more in benefits and wages. The same holds true for other city employees, many that have not seen substantive pay increases in years as part of the public demand for lowering taxes.
I find it interesting that Bill claims to have just recently been made aware of the staffing shortage when he has known about it for years. I also find it intertesting that he "found" money to pay for the higher police presence. Seems to me that if a politician "finds" money, then it was money that was unfairly taken from the taxpayers because they are paying too much. I believe the money is the taxpayers and he owes it to them, not just to arbitrarilly spend it. I also find it interesting that these massive improvements are just now coming before his final bid for mayor and, incidentaly, the term that people will reference most when White runs for governor of Texas. Interestingly enough, this increase in police also coincides with the time of year when, in the history of crime stats, crime always goes down due to the colder months. However, Bill will claim it was his police initiatives that caused the reduction in crime, but it will go down, no matter what, because turds don't like to sell dope in the cold and rain. Bill and the liberal dems have once again done an EXCELLENT job of spinning things to make themselves out to be the true saviors of man.
The overtime can only be done for so long. Officers are burned out already. There's no way an officer can work 80 hours a week and be alert. Their own lives are at stake!
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