State of the Saratoga Springs Police Department: Chief looks back at challenges of 2011, ahead to goals of 2012
William wrote on Jan 1, 2012 11:57 AM:" I would ask the Chief how he would reorganize the work of the SSPD if efficiency and the tax paying resident were his primary consideration. Yes, admittedly this is a small city, one that has a little bit more than 16 square patrolable square mile if the state, park, institutional, private and wet lands were omitted. Do we need the same coverage day and night? could we have five daytime patrols and 15 nighttime ones? Do we even need that many? should the SSPD support the initiative that the bars be closed earlier if the thinking is that ‘nothing good comes during the early hours of the morning”? does union membership dictate what his city employees can and cannot do as opposed to what is expected from the City’s charter and Code? Do we have alternatives to manning a police force that references an unusually high 30-day racing season population as if those numbers exist for the rest of the 335 days in a year? I don’t believe the Public questions whether or not the Police do a fine job; it is just that they have to ask the question of efficiency and costs. is the ‘system’ of overtime, one that responds to the needs of the community or responds instead to the added benefits of his department’s employees? With so many years of service, can the Chief think outside the box to reinvent how best to serve our 26,000 +/- residents year-round residents as well as our seasonal summer quests? We just added three patrolmen, yet do we know them? Do our residents know many or any of our patrol officers? Can’t we have more visibility on the street without relying on a patrol car sitting in a lot or driving by? Where’s Mike the Cop?is our small city best served by the desire for a new large 80’s central police station, one that replaces the more than adequate and historic City Court and creates a demand for even more employees or in this day an age of electronics, internet and patrol office cars and satellite communications, wouldn’t a decentralized and satellite district stations be more public friendly and as responsive and even more so? the private sector or any organization challenged by competition must consider efficiency and cost. the concept should not be so hard to understand as we all are forced to sharpen our pencils and hone our tools in order to provide a better product. I think that the new Commissioner and the Chief should consider rethinking how best to serve this small city if they wish to close the perception gap the Chief presently admits to. "
