Morgan Hill needs more police officers because we want to keep
the community safe. Although we have had some increases in property
crime, we are still a very safe community and want to remain
so.
Morgan Hill needs more police officers because we want to keep the community safe. Although we have had some increases in property crime, we are still a very safe community and want to remain so.
We need more officers because we have grown. While the residential growth rate has been well planned for and controlled, the Morgan Hill Police Department staffing has not kept pace. Everyone wants more police officers, but few want to pay higher taxes for them. Because of this reluctance to face facts, we see the city looking toward the Redevelopment Agency as a source of funds to pay for more cops. But, can we explore this possibility without demonizing anyone in our community?
We need more police because we slashed the department some 15 years ago due to severe budget constraints. We can’t adequately protect the city in 2007 with a department that was barely adequate in 1992. And we need more police, as well as better trained police, to diligently work with the community to “arrest” emerging crimes and criminal behavior through undertaking active community policing strategies However, we don’t need more police because “the vast majority” of calls come from redevelopment areas, or because of high-density low income housing.” In my opinion, that is a smokescreen proffered to buttress an unconventional request to tap into RDA funds.
It should come as no surprise that more calls for service would come from properties located within the Redevelopment Agency boundaries, (which consisted of nearly 50 percent of the city). It’s the area that contains nearly all the bars and restaurants in town, and nearly all of the retail and community gathering places – thus they are the areas where most people congregate, the areas where theft and other property crime would have the most concentrated opportunity to occur.
Morgan Hill Police Chief Bruce Cumming indicated that the need for more officers is also due to calls for service coming from areas with “high-density low income housing”. This is nothing more than a wedge issue – one issue that can only divide and distract us, instead of uniting the community behind a common goal of improving the quality of life in Morgan Hill.
Analyzing accurate data should be an on-going process that informs policy makers and other city departments, including the Redevelopment Agency, of crime concerns and should spur implementation of new crime prevention strategies. If indeed low- income housing supported by the Agency was experiencing more calls for service, the Agency has enormous control as a lender with long-term agreements in place to protect our financial interests and those of the neighborhood and the community. The Redevelopment Agency has many tools available to address any problem, including increased calls for police service within such developments, and the Agency can demand immediate results – from eviction, the issuance of a temporary restraining order, to better tenant background checking, including criminal backgrounds.
Let’s focus on solving the problems our community faces because of our understaffed police department. Pointing generalized fingers at one segment of the community is the wrong way to do it.
Longtime Morgan Hill resident Laura Gonzalez-Escoto is a former Morgan Hill City employee with many years of service in the city government sector. She’s a member of the Morgan Hill Times Editorial Board. Reach her at la*****@*sn.com.
