Crime and Safety
posted by Greg Goodnight for Mayor at 7:15 AM
By Greg Goodnight
When a couple decides where to settle down and raise a family, they ask a few simple questions. How good are the schools? Is the park system top-notch? Do we feel that we and our children are safe in this community?
When a business decides where to expand, its executives ask similar questions. Would our employees want to live here? What is the quality of life in this community? Are the people who live here well-trained, hard-working potential employees?
Crime and safety tie directly into the quality of life, which in turn ties into economic development. That's why keeping the streets safe concerns us all. Crime affects our peace of mind, and an ever-growing judicial system and jail affects our pocketbooks through property and income taxes. We do have top-notch police officers and firefighters in this town, and when I choose fire and police chiefs, I will choose men or women whom I deeply trust and highly respect. I will not follow their advice blindly, but I will listen to them and recognize the fact that no matter how much a mayor knows about public safety, career police and firefighters will always know more. Near the beginning of my administration, my police chief and I will examine the structure of the police department, in order to determine whether there are too many administrators and too few street-level officers. This doesn't necessarily mean a reduction in the number of high-level officers, but it may mean that their roles won't be purely administrative. In fact, this community might benefit greatly from majors and captains who practice community policing alongside officers and sergeants.
While our police do an excellent job, they can't do it alone. Even the finest police force in the nation won't accomplish much if community members, businesses and organizations don't take an active role in crime prevention. That's why we should continue to build partnerships and coalitions. The police department in recent years has actively fostered new neighborhood associations, and that trend should continue, but neighborhood associations are just one piece of the puzzle. For example, we could talk to local schools, hospitals and not-for-profits about their anti-drug efforts, in order to see where me might coordinate our use of resources for the greatest return on our investment.
Kokomo City Police are just one part of the criminal justice equation. We also need a strong partnership with the courts and the Howard County Sheriff Department and jail. Keeping violent criminals in jail is a necessity, but for non-violent offenses we must take a closer look at alternative sentencing, including drug treatment programs and a work-release facility. County officials are deeply concerned with the spiraling costs of the criminal justice system, and the county's planned drug court is a great step in the right direction. Such alternative treatment initiatives were so successful in New York state that the governor is now calling for a commission to discuss closing prisons – a move that's virtually unheard of in modern-day America. Alternative programs save money, reduce repeat crime, and may salvage lives. We can help offenders to put their pasts behind them, and become productive members of society working hard and contributing to the local tax rolls.
Our local school districts are also important players. Until recently, a positive partnership existed between the city and Kokomo Center Schools. The school liaison program was community policing at its finest, and ending it was a mistake. Police were in the schools day in and day out. Students got to know them, and more importantly, the police got to know the students, and knew which ones were at risk. We should be creating more of these partnerships, not dismantling the ones we have.
We need to return, as much as possible, to the days of community policing, when people knew the police officers who patrolled their neighborhoods, and when police officers would stop in and talk to the parents of good kids who are headed down a bad path. At the same time, let's face it, law enforcement and fire protection are getting more technological, more complicated, and more expensive. That won't change anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it all has to come from Kokomo taxpayers. We must continue to aggressively seek out grant money and other alternative funding sources for our police and fire departments. We need to develop a strong relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, so that when funds are needed, we won't be making cold calls to complete strangers. Just as we shouldn't be strangers to our friends in Homeland Security, we also shouldn't be strangers to one another. We all want a safer city, and by working together, we can make it happen.
By Greg Goodnight
When a couple decides where to settle down and raise a family, they ask a few simple questions. How good are the schools? Is the park system top-notch? Do we feel that we and our children are safe in this community?
When a business decides where to expand, its executives ask similar questions. Would our employees want to live here? What is the quality of life in this community? Are the people who live here well-trained, hard-working potential employees?
Crime and safety tie directly into the quality of life, which in turn ties into economic development. That's why keeping the streets safe concerns us all. Crime affects our peace of mind, and an ever-growing judicial system and jail affects our pocketbooks through property and income taxes. We do have top-notch police officers and firefighters in this town, and when I choose fire and police chiefs, I will choose men or women whom I deeply trust and highly respect. I will not follow their advice blindly, but I will listen to them and recognize the fact that no matter how much a mayor knows about public safety, career police and firefighters will always know more. Near the beginning of my administration, my police chief and I will examine the structure of the police department, in order to determine whether there are too many administrators and too few street-level officers. This doesn't necessarily mean a reduction in the number of high-level officers, but it may mean that their roles won't be purely administrative. In fact, this community might benefit greatly from majors and captains who practice community policing alongside officers and sergeants.
While our police do an excellent job, they can't do it alone. Even the finest police force in the nation won't accomplish much if community members, businesses and organizations don't take an active role in crime prevention. That's why we should continue to build partnerships and coalitions. The police department in recent years has actively fostered new neighborhood associations, and that trend should continue, but neighborhood associations are just one piece of the puzzle. For example, we could talk to local schools, hospitals and not-for-profits about their anti-drug efforts, in order to see where me might coordinate our use of resources for the greatest return on our investment.
Kokomo City Police are just one part of the criminal justice equation. We also need a strong partnership with the courts and the Howard County Sheriff Department and jail. Keeping violent criminals in jail is a necessity, but for non-violent offenses we must take a closer look at alternative sentencing, including drug treatment programs and a work-release facility. County officials are deeply concerned with the spiraling costs of the criminal justice system, and the county's planned drug court is a great step in the right direction. Such alternative treatment initiatives were so successful in New York state that the governor is now calling for a commission to discuss closing prisons – a move that's virtually unheard of in modern-day America. Alternative programs save money, reduce repeat crime, and may salvage lives. We can help offenders to put their pasts behind them, and become productive members of society working hard and contributing to the local tax rolls.
Our local school districts are also important players. Until recently, a positive partnership existed between the city and Kokomo Center Schools. The school liaison program was community policing at its finest, and ending it was a mistake. Police were in the schools day in and day out. Students got to know them, and more importantly, the police got to know the students, and knew which ones were at risk. We should be creating more of these partnerships, not dismantling the ones we have.
We need to return, as much as possible, to the days of community policing, when people knew the police officers who patrolled their neighborhoods, and when police officers would stop in and talk to the parents of good kids who are headed down a bad path. At the same time, let's face it, law enforcement and fire protection are getting more technological, more complicated, and more expensive. That won't change anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it all has to come from Kokomo taxpayers. We must continue to aggressively seek out grant money and other alternative funding sources for our police and fire departments. We need to develop a strong relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, so that when funds are needed, we won't be making cold calls to complete strangers. Just as we shouldn't be strangers to our friends in Homeland Security, we also shouldn't be strangers to one another. We all want a safer city, and by working together, we can make it happen.
When a couple decides where to settle down and raise a family, they ask a few simple questions. How good are the schools? Is the park system top-notch? Do we feel that we and our children are safe in this community?
When a business decides where to expand, its executives ask similar questions. Would our employees want to live here? What is the quality of life in this community? Are the people who live here well-trained, hard-working potential employees?
Crime and safety tie directly into the quality of life, which in turn ties into economic development. That's why keeping the streets safe concerns us all. Crime affects our peace of mind, and an ever-growing judicial system and jail affects our pocketbooks through property and income taxes. We do have top-notch police officers and firefighters in this town, and when I choose fire and police chiefs, I will choose men or women whom I deeply trust and highly respect. I will not follow their advice blindly, but I will listen to them and recognize the fact that no matter how much a mayor knows about public safety, career police and firefighters will always know more. Near the beginning of my administration, my police chief and I will examine the structure of the police department, in order to determine whether there are too many administrators and too few street-level officers. This doesn't necessarily mean a reduction in the number of high-level officers, but it may mean that their roles won't be purely administrative. In fact, this community might benefit greatly from majors and captains who practice community policing alongside officers and sergeants.
While our police do an excellent job, they can't do it alone. Even the finest police force in the nation won't accomplish much if community members, businesses and organizations don't take an active role in crime prevention. That's why we should continue to build partnerships and coalitions. The police department in recent years has actively fostered new neighborhood associations, and that trend should continue, but neighborhood associations are just one piece of the puzzle. For example, we could talk to local schools, hospitals and not-for-profits about their anti-drug efforts, in order to see where me might coordinate our use of resources for the greatest return on our investment.
Kokomo City Police are just one part of the criminal justice equation. We also need a strong partnership with the courts and the Howard County Sheriff Department and jail. Keeping violent criminals in jail is a necessity, but for non-violent offenses we must take a closer look at alternative sentencing, including drug treatment programs and a work-release facility. County officials are deeply concerned with the spiraling costs of the criminal justice system, and the county's planned drug court is a great step in the right direction. Such alternative treatment initiatives were so successful in New York state that the governor is now calling for a commission to discuss closing prisons – a move that's virtually unheard of in modern-day America. Alternative programs save money, reduce repeat crime, and may salvage lives. We can help offenders to put their pasts behind them, and become productive members of society working hard and contributing to the local tax rolls.
Our local school districts are also important players. Until recently, a positive partnership existed between the city and Kokomo Center Schools. The school liaison program was community policing at its finest, and ending it was a mistake. Police were in the schools day in and day out. Students got to know them, and more importantly, the police got to know the students, and knew which ones were at risk. We should be creating more of these partnerships, not dismantling the ones we have.
We need to return, as much as possible, to the days of community policing, when people knew the police officers who patrolled their neighborhoods, and when police officers would stop in and talk to the parents of good kids who are headed down a bad path. At the same time, let's face it, law enforcement and fire protection are getting more technological, more complicated, and more expensive. That won't change anytime soon, but that doesn't mean it all has to come from Kokomo taxpayers. We must continue to aggressively seek out grant money and other alternative funding sources for our police and fire departments. We need to develop a strong relationship with the Department of Homeland Security, so that when funds are needed, we won't be making cold calls to complete strangers. Just as we shouldn't be strangers to our friends in Homeland Security, we also shouldn't be strangers to one another. We all want a safer city, and by working together, we can make it happen.
