Letter to Editor: A Flawed Public Safety Workshop

There was much well-intentioned work by Police Chief Callahan and Fire Chief Breunig. However, in both cases their presentations were flawed. Both the mayor and City Council failed to notice the two major flaws or maybe it was all about having a workshop to say we had a workshop.

The flaws were, in the case of the police department, despite many other statistics the chief's presentation lacked, where and what kind of crime (shoplifting, burglary, assaults, etc) takes place in the five different police zones by time of year.

HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DEPLOY YOUR MANPOWER UNLESS YOU SYSTEMATICALLY TRACK WHERE CRIME OCCURS?

This is similar to the streets and drainage issue — you need to know "what is" in order to know what to address.

The elephant in the room for the fire department is the question of three firehouses or two firehouses.

HOW CAN YOU HAVE ANY DISCUSSION WITHOUT A CHART OF THE NUMBER OF FIRE CALLS AND AMBULANCE CALLS FROM THE EXISTING 3 FIREHOUSES?

Without this basic information, you are blowing in the wind. Again, "What is?"

In short, there was no proper informational starting point for the police and fire discussions. Without adequate foundation, how do have a real discussion?Otherwise, all you get is the normal anecdotal fog.

The most insightful comment of the night was by Councilman Scott Ping, who maintained he overstaffs Boyar's Market in the off-season, so he can have an adequate workforce for the busy summer season. Therein, is the heart of the discussion — what is the right number of year-round officers needed to maintain an effective force when the shoulder and summer seasons occur?

Lastly, there were two fine citizens who made comments about public safety.
I think their comments were indicative of the public safety myth in Ocean City. The myth is we must have so many policemen in the offseason to keep us safe, when in fact the demographic make-up of our year-round community (and summertime guests) causes us to be a low-crime town.  We have a large elderly population, a family town that seeks family tourists, two-thirds of our high school students leave town after school, no bars, no large shopping centers and only limited access (four bridges).  Chief Callahan is right — Ocean City is unique.  I appreciate all good police work, but I also understand the context in which it takes place.

Michael Hinchman