Same Song, Second Verse

In La Marque, Texas residents are complaining before city council about crime in their neighborhoods. Some say they are afraid to walk down their own streets. And they should be.
Robberies in this Gulf Coast city nearly doubled in 2008.
The police chief says while most major crime in the city of 13,000 decreased last year, other crimes spiked. Police responded to over 3,000 more calls in 2008 than in 2007. There were more arrests, and more traffic stops.
Of course we always hear the citizens complain about lack of police protections. "Where are the cops?" is a familiar outcry.
In the case of La Marque, the police force has remained at the same manpower strength for the past five years as the crime rate has increased. Who's fault is that?
In each of those five years Police Chief Richard Price has urged the city council to provide money for more police officers. In each of those five years they have denied his request.
Criminals, like jungle animals, prey on the weakest. They go to the place of least resistence, where there is the best chance they will not be caught. So when the population continues to grow, there are more potential victims to prey on and police manpower fails to keep pace, the criminal moves in.
The La Marque City Council is not the only council in the country guilty of ignoring this problem. Politicians everywhere throw the money at projects they can point at in the next election cycle. They want to tell voters about the streets and sewers they fixed, the new street light, stop signs, schools zones, curbs and gutters, things the people can see. They can't tell a voter, "I kept you from being murdered last year by voting for more police."
In most places where people are screaming about the lack of police services or police protection, it's not the police at blame, it's the lack of police.
That's the way I see it.
breck@breckporter.com