It’s not the right time to freeze positions in the Gilroy Police
Department. Violent crime has markedly increased
– 17.5 percent according to Police Chief Denise Turner. A woman
is brutally raped downtown by two masked men late at night, a
mother and her three children are luckily unhurt after a fleeing
suspect wanted for brandishing a firearm and domestic violence
forces his way into their car and orders the
woman to drive away with him hiding in the back of the vehicle.
All the children are under 9. Alert officers notice a distressed
look on the woman’s face, stop the car and arrest the man who’s
hiding drugs and a gun.
1. Violent crime is up and the almost daily occurrences are quite scary
It’s not the right time to freeze positions in the Gilroy Police Department. Violent crime has markedly increased – 17.5 percent according to Police Chief Denise Turner. A woman is brutally raped downtown by two masked men late at night, a mother and her three children are luckily unhurt after a fleeing suspect wanted for brandishing a firearm and domestic violence forces his way into their car and orders the woman to drive away with him hiding in the back of the vehicle. All the children are under 9. Alert officers notice a distressed look on the woman’s face, stop the car and arrest the man who’s hiding drugs and a gun.
2. There are currently 11.5 positions vacant in the police department
There are currently 11.5 positions open in the Gilroy Police Department. That number includes four uniformed officer vacancies – this in a time of rising violent crime, increased gang activity and exploding graffiti vandalism.
Meanwhile, the City Council, faced with a serious budget crunch, has frozen hiring across the board.
Though the logic is apparent, the best course now would be to send a message to the many parolees living in Gilroy and to the rest of the community by releasing the hiring shackle on the police department. Yes, the department should be an exemption – not that City Administrator Tom Haglund and the Council shouldn’t keep a close eye on hiring in the PD – but clearly adequate numbers in the police department should be at the top of the agenda for the City Council. It certainly tops the lists for residents.
3. Either stay ahead of the violence curb or risk becoming a Salinas
There will have to be budget sacrifices made in other areas, but that’s the city administrator and his management team’s job. Sales tax numbers are down and violent crime is on the rise. It’s a reality that has to be dealt with, and it’s far better to try and get a handle on violent offenders now. Otherwise, we risk falling into the abyss which plagues cities like Salinas. Honestly, is that murderous nightmare that far from us?
