Police Department Problems: Don't Blame Maud!
Clearly, there are problems in the Vienna Police Department. From the May 07 Town Newsletter comes this ditty buried in the fine print:
POLICE: Significant increases in this budget include increased funding for polygraph examinations to aid in faster recruit processing, additional supply costs associated with the purchase of LED light bars for new cruisers, and instituting a program of signing bonuses in an attempt to improve Police Officer recruiting.
Get that? Not extra money for anything tangible regarding safety, but rather extra money to buy testing equipment to land people who might be willing to work for the Town of Vienna! That is NO SMALL problem. Why do people NOT want to serve in Vienna? Is Maud able to handle that question? Or is she, as usual, not responsible for anything in Vienna? Problems in the Vienna Police Department may have to do with Maud's demand that our Police move BACK into the Town Hall basement. Other posts here show the Police are none too happy themselves.
Now that the facts are on the table, all Maud apologists are welcome to post now. Your time to spin this is here!
Comments
Even back in 2001, Maud, George, and the rest of those no-good ninnies on the town council knew that our police force was underpaid and understaffed, yet they put all that money into that new Town Green park. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I just got something in the mail from Susan Stich, and it said that she will fully support our police force. It's about damn time someone did. I'm voting for Susan Stich.
Posted by: MAD AS HELL | April 27, 2007 09:37 PM
It amazes me how a town so safe could treat the police in that manner. We are on the outskirts of many major crime areas and yet our town remains safe due to the efforts of our PROACTIVE police. Those other areas use reactive tactics and merely look at crimes after the fact. Much the same way we reward exceptional athletes, we should treat our protectors the same way and advocate for them to be better treated. It would be nice if they made enough to actually live in Vienna. Let's elect people that are willing to expand the department and reward our fine officers for the safe community in which we live.
Posted by: Danielle | April 28, 2007 07:12 AM
I've seen some other posts from Patrick St. residents about crime, so I think I'll chime in here.
Last night about 10:30pm, Vienna police cars came speeding down Patrick St. towards the Cedar Park apartments, with sirens and lights. Obviously, something pretty serious was going on.
I am grateful that Vienna has its own police force! Do you honestly think that FFX Co. police would respond so quickly to urgent situations at those apartments or anywhere else in Vienna?
As someone else has already said, Susan Stich is the only Town Council candidate who truly supports our police department. Show your support for the Vienna Police by voting for Susan Stich.
Posted by: Leah King | April 28, 2007 10:28 AM
>>Last night about 10:30pm, Vienna police cars came speeding down Patrick St. towards the Cedar Park apartments, with sirens and lights. Obviously, something pretty serious was going on.
Gee whiz, let's build more speed bumps all over town to slow down our emergency service vehicles... they need to be more calm. Hell, why have speed limits at all... we just need to install a lot more speed bumps. Yeah, that's it... speed bumps all over Northern Virginia... that will calm everybody down. Vote for more speed bumps... vote for an incumbent!
Posted by: Town Green | April 28, 2007 12:25 PM
I would have to suspect that one reason that Vienna may be experiencing a problem with recruiting new police officers has a lot to do with the expectations of the candidates for the job.
It is typical for police candidates to want to work in "exciting" environments. Many, probably most persons today who are seeking work in law enforcement previously served in the military. In fact, most police departments seek these individuals and often prefer to recruit ex-military personnel. Such candidates often want a job that is tinged with a certain level of excitement and adrenaline rushes. Vienna just does not offer that. The county police department does tend to offer more of that, so the candidate will look there for work, even if all other incentives are equal.
Vienna is just not exciting enough for many who are looking for policing work that involves forays into situations we have all seen on "COPS," the television series. Believe it or not, rightly or wrongly, those kind of scenarios are what is sought by most candidates for police work.
Does the low crime rate in Vienna diminish its ability to recruit police officers? However odd it may seem, the answer is probably yes.
Posted by: Steve Rigby | May 18, 2007 02:23 PM