Sheriff

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Wednesday night at Susan Stanton's Review, someone from the public was moaning about the Sheriff issue because the City is thinking about alternatives to reduce public safety costs. This citizen believes that we can not survive without PBSO and she is unwilling to even consider anything else. Perhaps she doesn't know what we pay for public safety but I doubt if it would move her. She condemned the city manager about even considering saving money over what she perceives as superior safety protection.

We are operating on a shoe string in Lake Worth but there are people out there who still say we just have to have the PBSO patrolling our streets. After all, it was the Sheriff that got rid of the gangs they say. Yes, they did. They would have done that whether we were with the Sheriff or still with our own police force as we pay for Palm Beach County Sheriff on our ad-valorem tax bill. The Gang Task Force was County wide. We ALWAYS had certain services that we could have used that were provided for by the Sheriff. I can't say that enough. As Cpt. Silva has said, our former city police chief did not take advantage of them.

It has been reported that crime is down in the State, and in our County. PBSO District 14 has told us that crime has been reduced in Lake Worth and has implied, without stating, it is because of their superior service. I have never doubted their professional service. My only concern has always been, from the first meeting on this subject, the cost. There are some citizens--the emotional ones and the cheerleaders for the PBSO--who do not care about the fact that public safety is 50% of our Budget. Would they care if it consumed ALL of it? When does the cost become excessive? These are the very same ones who do not want their taxes raised. Sheriff deputies respond to crime; they do not prevent it.

Riviera Beach reported that crime is down in its city by 16.8% from the previous year. Every category of crime was down other than murder which went from 9 in 2009 to 14 in 2010. Someone there wiped out his whole family. They too are bragging that it is their superior police work and new technology that is the cause of this big drop. They have their own police department, not the Sheriff.

If you check on page 97 of their Police Budget, you will see that they have more men than do we. Scroll down one page and you will find that their personnel expense is $11,686,655 for 2011 which has come down from the previous year. This figure includes crossing guards, staff, code enforcement, etc. The estimated budget for Lake Worth for Year 2011 is $15,385,316 for the Sheriff services alone (not sure what all it includes). We have a separate code department.

Irrespective of the value that residents put on the services of the PBSO, we have to reduce spending in order to keep up with the loss in property values. It is all about dollars and cents.
Riviera Beach is a city of similar size and similar problems that pays several million less than we pay and with more men.

In January, we authorized a Study to be conducted by Willdan Homeland Solutions to assist the City in its evaluation in order to reduce costs associated with the PBSO. This is a Study that should have been done before we emotionally decided to go with PBSO. It was not done then but this Commission is trying to get all of the facts before it makes major decisions unlike former commissions. This report will be in the hands of the city manager in approximately two weeks.

Six key reasons crime rate is down.