The Times

Saturday, January 15, 1977, page 6 (of 24)

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opinion

• editorials • commentary • letters

Will report results prove to be bum rap for cops?

Nobody's perfect. Some are more perfect than others. But it cost the taxpayers of Coral Gables, for a report released this week, $11,800 to learn that the police department that they brag about, rely upon and pay for quite handsomely in taxes, is, according to the report, a generally shoddy, poorly run and overstaffed and overpayed organization which doesn't do much right. A sort of Keystone Kops organization, if you will. While we believe many criticisms in the report are valid, we simply cannot believe that in 55 pages of a report, there could not be more than one or two departments that are operating correctly at the Coral Gables Police Station. However, since the surveyors were not paid to say everything was perfect and since we were not involved in any aspect of the reprt, we can only trust that the men who conducted the survey, knew whereof they spoke. We question, however, the complete validity of the report and the depth of it. The two consultants assigned to do the survey, spent a total of nine days in Coral Gables, a strange city to them, and conducted the survey mostly within the station, interviewing the chief, captains, lieutenants (and the city manager), who, like all of us have some prejudices and opinions that are not necessarily to be taken at face value. We also question the advisability of releasing the survey to practically everyone who asked for it and yet the people most directly involved, the police themselves, did not know what the report had in it until various members of the media had already broadcast, and were in the process of printing its contents. Bad for morale, we'd say. The report reveals, among other things, that salaries are too high, that the department clings to old fashioned concepts and that the department's only answer is more manpower and more money. The report states that personnel reduction and some revamping of what's left, could save the city close to $300,000 in salaries alone. (It appears that where the surveyors are so positive in so many their findings, that it seemed strange to read in one phase of the report that "an estimated 75 per cent of the department's 130 uniformed members hold either two or four year college degrees." It seems to us that something better than "an estimate" could have been made. But we digress. Although the reported inadequacies of the police department might outnumber the strenths, they may not outweigh them. The fact remains that the Coral Gables Police Department offers a high level of service, answering every call received, the kind of calls that are ignored by other police departments, and has a very low response time. One then, has to ask the question, is it wise to consider reducing the number of patrolmen, as the report suggests, while keeping the ranks of the brass relatively intact? The man on the street who are visible are the definite deterrent to crime. Although the survey states that the salaries are higher here for policemen than the national average compared to the number of people they serve, the cost of living here is also higher than most places making it difficult for a policeman, or anyone, to live with lower salaries. The survey mentions that the University of Miami has its own security system (which is true) and therefore is not included as part of the population of Coral Gables that the city's police cover. Yet many of the university's students, many hundreds of them, live off campus and in police reports we receive at this newspaper, we see students' names... not necessarily involved in major crimes but still part of the "population." The survey is indeed correct when it recommends a return to the eight hour a day, five day week for police, of all people, should be alert at all times. The present system of of 10 hours a day, four day a week which was adopted five years ago, may sound great for an ordinary business person, but 10 hours on patrol, on constant lookout, if the patrolman is conscientious, is enough to make anyone sleepy and not at his best in the reflex action department. And the increased supervision of patrolmen, as suggested in the survey, is certainly valid. There have been too many scandals concerning men on duty, sitting around in partrol cars, shooting the breeze and sometimes even sleeping. If anything in the report is true, it is certainly the recommendation that senior staff members need more management training. Many, the report says, are just old time cops who draw from their experiences in a time that needs up-to-date methods for the new up-to-date criminal. So what will be done with this report and what actions will be taken by the city manager? We know the people of Coral Gables want a top-notch police force. But will they pay the extra money in taxes, will they dig even deeper into their pockets to keep those men on the force that the report says are not necessary? Perhaps the citizens of Coral Gables should have the question put to them. Are they willing? Only time will tell. We only hope that the city manager will act judiciously in his appraisal of the report. He might also ponder this question. Why was a firm so unfamiliar with police departments, chosen to do a survey which most likely would have meant a good deal more to the department if handled by a police oriented organization such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police? The South Miami city manager saw fit to do this. This is not to say South Miami is right and Coral Gables wrong or that McManis Associates, Inc., is not capable of an objective survey and perhaps we do fail to understand why this firm was chosen. But, as we stated earlier, we all make mistakes. We can only hope that the report has positive repercussions and that the Coral Gables Police Department can only benefit and give a still higher level of service to the citizens of the City Beautiful in the future.

Amnesty for everyone?

reader response EDITOR: I am pleased to see that President-elect Carter is going to forgive, pardon or grant amnesty to the draft dodgers. After all, they are only guilty of violating a law which they did not like and so did not want to obey. I know that President-elect Carter believes in equal justice for all the citizens. Therefore, I assume that he is going to grant me the same privilege for disobeying a law that I don't like. Well, I just got my W-2 form today... ROBERT A. WOOLLEY 8320 SW 119th St.

the gables publishing company

serving south dade and coral gables since 1926 jim storey general manager bea moss managing editor bob levine advertising manager richard linn circulation manager address: 4627 ponce de leon blvd. coral gables, fla. 33146 telephone: 666-7981