Does Salisbury Really Need Police Substations?
In Thursday’s Tilghman Times, Salisbury Police Chief makes an excellent argument for shutting down police substations in Salisbury and replacing them with a “mobile substation”. On Friday, we were treated to a letter to the editor from Mr. David Ganoe applauding the Salisbury PD for its “mobile substation”. Bill Duvall admits that Webster’s argument is so persuasive as to make the debate over the closing of the Smith and Cecil Street substations virtually a “no-brainer”.
Mr. Duvall follows up with the very prescient question, “What am I missing?”
What he and many others are missing is the disingenuousness of Chief Webster’s argument. IF Webster’s argument were sound, why is the city keeping the Church Street substation open? IF Webster’s argument were sound, why are there not more police truly on the streets versus merely driving around in patrol cars?
Webster makes the argument that officers IN substations are not officers on the streets. True enough. However, the Chief would have us believe that officers driving around in patrol cars are the same as officers walking or biking through a neighborhood. Prior to Chief Webster’s tenure in Salisbury officers who had to spend time in the station to do paperwork were often directed to do that work at one of the substations. This allowed the substation officer(s) to be walking throughout the neighborhood and building relationships with the residents. This isn’t accomplished in a patrol car.
Community policing works. That is a proven fact. Community policing is NOT officers in patrol cars. If the Chief were serious about his department having a true presence in communities throughout the city his gussied up ice cream truck would be but one tool in solving the city’s crime problem. Unfortunately Webster seems to believe that his ice cream truck is a substitute for community policing.
The mobile substation is a great idea. It can be dispatched to areas of the city where a permanent substation may not be necessary, but where an occasional beefed up police presence is necessary. Mr. Ganoe’s letter is a case in point. Mr. Ganoe lives off of Onley Road in an area dominated by student housing. I can understand Mr. Ganoe’s delight in seeing the mobile substation in his neighborhood. However, this also proves that Webster’s argument is full of holes.
Let’s assume that on a given Saturday night there is a flood of calls for North Camden, Princeton Homes and Mr. Ganoe’s neighborhood. With the substations closed where will the “mobile substation” go? Does Chief Webster fancy himself Solomon? Does he plan on cutting the ice cream truck into three pieces?
It also shows that the primary purpose of the “mobile substation” is that of a high tech paddy wagon rather than part of a community policing strategy. This is not a bad thing. As Mr. Ganoe’s letter points out, this is a great tool to keep a lid on loud student parties. It also serves to make residents feel more secure because they can see a police presence.
Will it have an effect on property crime or drug related crime? Doubtful. If the ice cream truck pulls onto a street, the dealers will simply move six block down and two blocks over. Their customers will just follow suit. It’s basic drug trade economics Al. The demand will follow the supply.
I am also concerned about the overall lack of leadership coming from the Chief and Mayor Barrie Tilghman in fighting the overall crime problem in Salisbury. This was really brought home this week during a conversation I had with a woman from Attleboro, MA. It seems that her husband is a field training officer with the Attleboro PD. During our conversation I found out a few things that caused me to do a little research.
Attleboro has a population of over 43,000 people. That is about 78% more people than Salisbury. Attleboro has a police force of 77 officers. That’s 12.5% FEWER officers than Salisbury has. Let’s compare crime stats:
|
|
|
|
|
Population |
24,874 |
43,202 |
|
No. of Sworn Officers |
88 |
77 |
|
Violent Crime (x National Avg.) |
3.16 |
0.54 |
|
Property Crime (x National Avg.) |
1.67 |
0.39 |
Obviously manpower isn’t an issue. What is? Perhaps we need to look at motivation at the top. As previously mentioned, the Church Street substation isn’t being closed. I have suggested in the past that the Mayor may have a political motivation in punishing the Camden and Princeton Homes neighborhoods. Of course you only need to read the Tilghman Times to realize that the Mayor has invested a lot of political capital in the Church Street / Doverdale area of Salisbury. Mayor Tilghman now has Councilwoman Louise Smith tied into the success of the area as well. If the “mobile substation” was so effective as a crime prevention tool, why isn’t that substation being closed as well?
The answer is simple. Barrie Tilghman wants a drop in crime in that area and wants to take the credit. She and Webster will tell the public that it is because of their new policing strategy. Of course we can’t count on the media to ask tough questions like, “Isn’t the substation a factor in that drop in crime?”.
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Comments
Could this have something to do with our crime rate, and the difference between Salisbury and Attleboro?
Median household income:
Attleboro: $50,807
Massachusetts: $53,657
National: $41,994
Salisbury: $34,100
Maryland: $61,592
Poverty invites crime. Crime follows poverty. Law enforcement follows crime, but it has no measurable impact on poverty.
We have an overabundance of out of work men, and a huge number of individuals (and families) living on just over $20,000 a year, if that. We have a substantial school drop out rate, an aging population and an educated youth that can’t wait to leave town for a place with better job opportunities. The economic base here revolves too much around the retail and service industries, while jobs that pay well are very much in the minority, often requiring advanced education that many can’t qualify for or afford.
Salisbury doesn’t only suffer from poverty and crime, it’s set up to invite them.
The crime statistics speak loudly. Chief Webster has been wholly ineffective. As happened with the Baltimore Police Chief in July, it is time for Webster to resign and move on–Salisbury deserves better.
Crimes are committed by people and more than sheer population numbers go into the comparison between cities. You must look at the population demographics such as wealth and education. Other important statistics such as overall population cannot be overlooked. Salisbury’s day time population is probably exceeding 75,000. So instead of taking such a simplistic approach why don’t you spend time drilling down into the subject and looking at the issue more holistically? You are part of the mindset that cannot admit that crime is down and our police force is doing its job because of your distain for the administration. Well let’s celebrate our victories no matter how small and look for solutions to our challenges together. Attributing blame is not productive and neither is personalization’s. Like so many opinion pontiffs, you offer criticism yet you have no background, training or experience to base your meaningless mind exercise on. I’ll take my chances and leave the strategy for good policing to the professionals and give a pat on the back to our fine police force for doing the very best they can. Thank-you law enforcement professionals one and all!
I copied thee stats from the same site. They are all part of the big picture.
Races in Attleboro:
• White Non-Hispanic (89.1%)
• Hispanic (4.3%)
• Other race (1.8%)
• Two or more races (1.8%)
• Black (1.6%)
• Other Asian (1.6%)
• Asian Indian (0.9%)
• American Indian (0.6%)
Estimated median household income in 2005: $59,700 (it was $50,807 in 2000)
Attleboro $59,700
Massachusetts: $57,184
Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $323,800 (it was $152,800 in 2000)
Attleboro $323,800
Massachusetts: $361,500
Land area: 27.5 square miles.
Population density: 1576 people per square mile
(low).
For population 25 years and over in Attleboro
• High school or higher: 81.9%
• Bachelor’s degree or higher: 23.5%
• Graduate or professional degree: 6.5%
• Unemployed: 3.7%
• Mean travel time to work: 26.7 minutes
3,745 residents are foreign born (3.3% Europe, 2.4% Asia, 2.0% Latin America).
This city: 8.9%
Massachusetts: 12.2%
According to our research there were 20 registered sex offenders living in Attleboro, Massachusetts in early 2007.
The ratio of number of residents in Attleboro to the number of sex offenders is 2167 to 1.
Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units in 2000:
Attleboro: 1.2% ($1,838)
Massachusetts: 1.3% ($2,336)
Races in Salisbury:
• White Non-Hispanic (59.4%)
• Black (32.3%)
• Hispanic (3.4%)
• Two or more races (2.1%)
• Other race (1.5%)
• Korean (1.2%)
• Asian Indian (0.9%)
• American Indian (0.6%)
Estimated median household income in 2005: $34,100 (it was $29,191 in 2000)
Salisbury $34,100
Maryland: $61,592
Estimated median house/condo value in 2005: $137,500 (it was $81,700 in 2000)
Salisbury $137,500
Maryland: $280,200
Land area: 11.1 square miles.
Population density: 2375 people per square mile
(low).
1,608 residents are foreign born (3.3% Asia, 2.4% Latin America, 0.7% Europe).
This city: 6.8%
Maryland: 9.8%
For population 25 years and over in Salisbury
• High school or higher: 76.4%
• Bachelor’s degree or higher: 21.1%
• Graduate or professional degree: 8.6%
• Unemployed: 8.2%
• Mean travel time to work: 19.0 minutes
According to our research there were 118 registered sex offenders living in Salisbury, Maryland in early 2007.
The ratio of number of residents in Salisbury to the number of sex offenders is 223 to 1.
Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units in 2000:
Salisbury: 1.3% ($1,056)
Maryland: 1.2% ($1,782)
City, I think you fail to recognize that there are people on here with law enforcement experience. No one faults the men and women who patrol our neighborhoods while we sleep. We know they do the best they can with the level of support they’re getting from thier chief and the mayor. Most of us fault the Chief for failing to integrate his agency with the communities that need the attention. Most of us fault the mayor for victimizing these communities by denying them the appropriate law enforcement response for political gain or to intentionally chastize the representatives of these communities. YES, that’s right! It is apparent that she is trying to punish the council people by refusing to permit an appropriate law enforcement response to the problems in thier respective districts. Only trash would carry out such an exercise with total disregard to the safety of the people and the security of the neighborhoods. She pulls the strings and the Chief moves like a puppet. If the chief had an ounce of integrity he would resign his position before he would let the mayor manipulte his men and women the way he does. Another thing that the chief should know is that the solutions he is recommending for these communities appear to have been concocted by some high level civilian official with no law enforcement experience. The idea of a glorified bread truck moving around from neighborhood to neighborhood with bicycles in the back more resembles a movie script than it does an educated response by an experienced law enforcement professional. Politics needs to be put aside for the sake of the people of Salisbury. Say what you want about crime going down but I don’t know of any other place where the business owners have to lock thier doors during normal business hours and have to unlock them each time a patron wants to come in.
You see, this is what Blogs are for. None of us will ever see an article like this in the Daily Times. Thanks for all the work on this one GA, it makes a lot of sense. Many have said the Salisbury Police have too many Officers and very poor leadership managing them.