We want to tip the hat to the Herald & Review for another well said editorial that should be fully weighted in our community. The key elements called for a more reasoned process to address police space needs, after, first developing a vision and consensus around the crime issues in our community, the force needs of the police department and only then the space needs.
Some key comments from the article (<< click here for link to entire article):
"The Decatur City Council is struggling to come up with a solution for the space what it wants the police department to look like in the future.....
......It's a fact that the situation in the police department isn't desirable. The department needs more room and a more convenient evidence storage area........
.........While the desires of the police department need to be taken into consideration, the council's job is to balance those desires with what's best for the taxpayers. It's also hard to logically understand why the department would favor a remodeled 95-year-old building over a new structure that could be built to the city's specifications and include new communications wiring and new heating and cooling equipment.......
.....The council is struggling with this decision for several reasons, but primarily because no clear vision for the future of public safety in Decatur has been articulated.......
.....Many residents of Decatur feel there is a public safety issue in Decatur. Outside of the city, the city has a reputation as a high-crime area. That makes it difficult to get new residents inside the city. The perception isn't totally accurate, but it's an issue......"
We beleive that it is time to set aside the Regions building due to obvious problems and go back to the drawing board. This great building deserves the city's affection but not the police department. We instead should look for creative ways to assist in the redevelopment and increased occupancy of the building (no Mr. G that doesn't mean the city should buy another building over the weekend.)
The police should carefully reconsider their space needs and approach this like many businesses have approached space needs for the last several decades. Determine the genuine needs and then evaluate the alternatives that best and most efficiently meet the needs. See our prior posts on this topic.
We are disappointed that a professional city manager would have so little ability to guide this process effectively. Well established best practices could have identified and quantified the challenges in the current space. Then alternatives could be presented and evaluated. The deficient approach used repeatedly by the Council leads directly to disdain and bad/expensive decisions.
This city government insists in putting square pegs in round holes. We wonder why. Tell us if your know. In the meantime, we think more would be gained from more feet on the street and not bricks and mortar.
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