| City of Dayton Sacrifices Citizen Safety For State Funding |
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| Written by Jeff Garvas | |
| Monday, 27 June 2005 | |
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Comments by Larry S. Moore, OFCC Senate District 10 Coordinator: WDTN, TV 2 Dayton, is reporting that Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin announced the City of Dayton plans to hire new police officers and firefighters. The story reports that the city looses about 2 police officers a month. Mayor McLin said the city knew those jobs needed replaced but held off until state funding was secured. The OFCC news team often comments that citizens should plan for their self-defense. I often note that no matter how dedicated our law enforcement officers are, they only arrive after a crime has been reported to clean up and track down the perpetrators. This story should make it abundantly clear to the good citizens of Dayton, many of whom have been on walks, protests, and calling for the City of Dayton's help to reclaim their neighborhoods, that the safety of the citizens is secondary to the funding from the state. Only open slots are being filled and they are not expanding job positions within the Dayton Police Department. What this story and the Mayor don't tell the people, is how many open slots are there? How long has the City of Dayton played with the safety of the citizens by having a reduced police force? These are serious questions that deserve some investigative reporting and straight answers, especially since this is an election year for the Mayor of Dayton. In the meantime, citizens should continue to be responsible for their self-defense. Experienced police officers don't just grow on trees waiting to be dropped into a patrol car. It will take some time to get the force back up to strength. |