Jim Ireton’s Answer to Salisbury’s Crime Problem

  When Jim Ireton was running to be Salisbury’s mayor there was no question that crime was a TOP concern of voters.  Things don’t seem to have gotten much better since his election.  At Tuesday’s meeting of the Salisbury Crime Taskforce Ireton provided some hint as to his solution for the crime problems – GRANTS.

While Jim’s FRIENDS – Frank Kratovil, Barbara Mikulski, Ben Cardin, and Barack Obama – may be doling out taxpayer dollars by the bucket full, at some point in time Ireton is going to have to DO SOMETHING about fixing the problems facing Salisbury.  That means Ireton needs to understand that crime is one of, if not THE BIGGEST problem facing his once fair city.

At Tuesday’s meeting a member of the taskforce asked Ireton what was the status of a grant Salisbury applied for to replicate a highly successful crime initiative in Annapolis.  Ireton’s reply was a song an dance about how “competitive” the application process was and how applicants were being “scored”.

“What will we do if we don’t receive the grant?”, asked the member.

Ireton’s response?  “Well, I guess we’ll just have to apply for another grant.”

WRONG ANSWER!  If this program is worth going through the hassle of applying for the grant, and it is truly effective AND if it will only cost approximately $150,000 to implement, then I’m quite sure that Ireton can find budget cuts to fund such a program.  In fact, this is basically what councilwoman Terry Cohen told Ireton.

There are two problems in this scenario.  The first is that Ireton just doesn’t get it.  His record to date seems to be one of “Let’s spend the taxpayers’ money”, but he’s certainly not very big on getting results.  The other problem is that Ireton lacks the courage to put someone in charge of the police department who will get results.

“Jim’s Friends” could lavish millions of dollars on Salisbury, but would the taxpayers actually see results as long as Allan Webster remains in charge of SPD?  Given Webster’s overall record and his seeming desire to spend more time attacking elected officials than fighting crime, I seriously doubt it.

Ireton needs to wake up and smell the coffee.  The citizens who put him in office will just as quickly throw him out without concrete RESULTS!.  Salisbury voters aren’t interested in press conferences and ribbon cuttings.  While cleaning up the river may be an important issue to many, it is strictly second tier when a majority of city residents can hear gunfire at night.

Jim Ireton defeated Gary Comegys in last spring’s mayoral election because he wasn’t Barrie Tilghman.  Unfortunately, that’s precisely what the citizens currently have – Barrie Tilghman in a coat and tie.  The people running the city are the same, and Jim Ireton is only there half a day to supervise them.  Of course, Ireton doesn’t appear to have the backbone to tell them what to do anyway.

Start with doing something concrete about the crime problem Jim.  Voters don’t care about grants.  They care about results.  Don’t come asking for a tax increase next spring without something to show for your efforts.

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