"Is There Such a Thing as Too Much Police Protection?"

By James G Barrett

Last years crime rate in Oceanside was the third lowest in all of the cities in San Diego County. Hats off to the men and women of our Police Department! Now the question is do we want to have an even better Police Department and lower crime rate. Now is the time to make all the improvements that we can, because once the economy slows down or we go into a recession we will no longer be able to afford it.

The OPD has just signed a new 5 year labor agreement which allows the city the luxury of knowing exactly how much Police labor will cost them for the next 5 years. The only variable now is support and supply costs. Currently the OPD budget is 90% labor and 10% support and supply.

The People of Oceanside should give the OPD a performance bonus to help purchase new and replacement equipment to help them do an even better job of serving our community. The City Budget for fiscal year 2000-2001 has a reserve surplus of $5,000,000.

I feel that allocating $250,000 (5% of surplus) towards new and replacement equipment for the OPD would be money well spent. These funds would not be "special interest" funds aimed at any one particular group of citizens, but it would be for the common benefit of all Oceanside residents and businesses.