Mayor Marty Chavez proposes a "surge" in the fight against crime.

According to the Journal's TJ Wilham, link, Mayor Chavez has proposed raising the number of police officers on the street by about 9%.

The rather obvious chink in the armor of Chavez's new plan, is that he has settled on a rather arbitrary number; 1,200.

It is unlikely that any serious study or understanding of the myriad of issues involved, would arrive at an even dozen.

Wilham reports;

"I don't see how we can afford not to do this," Chávez
said. "Public safety has to be our priority. If we have
to cut elsewhere, we will cut elsewhere. We will find
it in our budget. Hopefully, we will not have to make
those tough decisions."

If public safety were Chavez' real priority, the calculation
would start with the number of officers that are really
necessary, they would be funded, and then the chips would
fall wherever they may.


Picking a number out of a hat
is a gutless and frankly unimaginative
solution that allows Chavez to grab
a headline, and yet allows him to avoid
making the tough decisions that
he continues to avoid making.




photo Mark Bralley