City of Edmonds budget poll: What is your top priority?

The Edmonds  City Council continues discussion on the 2013 budget Tuesday evening. Since we’re facing a budget that includes cuts in services, it’s important to let the Council know what things are important to you.

The Edmonds Police Department is cutting its “Street Crimes” division, the Parks Department will stop watering lawns in parks, the court is stopping issuing passports and the cities IT is facing reductions.

All of these things can be considered important in the Mayor has asked for all departments to make equal cuts. Do you agree? Are there certain things that you think are more important than others? Answer this poll with what you think is the most important need the city should fund.

Unfortunately, there isn’t money to fund all of these activities, so your input is valuable in helping the City Council make choices.

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  1. While I am fully supportive of a healthy Police department, can someone explain why we have so many cop cars? It is easy to count 9-11 patrol cars parked in the police parking lot… plus motorcycles, traffic scooter, animal control truck , and assorted vans etc. Assuming we have only 3-5 officers on patrol at any time, this seems like we are investing in equipment and maintenance that may be better utilized elsewhere in the department.

  2. I believe there at least 5-9 patrol officers on a shift. Plus others in specialty units. If you are using vehicles around the clock 365 days a year you need a back up.. or a few. Some cars in the fleets are older than others. In some departments they keep track of what cars run the most. And they assign them for half of the shifts. This helps make them last longer. So people may see 6 cars parked in the lot at a given time, but they aren’t just there to have an abundance.

  3. There are 3 patrol areas. That takes three cars. A sergeant has another and the coroporal has another. That’s 5 minimum per shift. The next shift then has to have vehicles available. If they weren’t, well, it wouldn’t take long until the crooks figured out when shift change occurred and there were no cops available. So having at least 10 cars isn’t unusual for a department the size that Edmonds has.

    Believe it or not, when a crime is reported when it just occurred, the more cops there are the more likely the crooks will be caught. There is proof of this every time a burglary is reported and the crooks are caught trying to flee.

    Also, think about your events that occur. Especially the 4th of July. How do you think the police would be able to handle the 4th without extra cars available? Neighboring cities aren’t going to lend theirs out.

    There had been, at one time, obtaining cars for every officer. This would enable them to drive them home. Of course there would be a huge expense at first, but it has been proven time and again that officers with their “own” assigned cars take much better care of those cars and they last a lot longer. Also, it is a lot easier to hold them accountable when damage occurs.
    The problem for Edmonds, however, is that many of the officers live way out of the City and nobody wants to justify the gas expenditures. Too bad there couldn’t be an incentive for living in the City. What kind of effect on crime do you think there would be if all of the Edmonds Police officers lived within the City? And then put a police car in all of their driveways. Everywhere the crooks turned they’d see the police. Not very inviting for them.

  4. The Five Corners Round About is not needed! I have driven thorough there many times a week, many different hours a day for sixty years. The federal and state money is not free, both agencies are in financial trouble. The City of Edmonds money from transportaion impact fees are important but should be directed in more appropriate places where developers are prepared to support traffic improvements and allow the city traffic studies to be focused there. This Round-About at Five Corners should die before ground is broken and traffic is really messed up there.

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