To the Editor:
June 26, 2008 12:24 pm
—
President Reagan once said, "Facts are stubborn things." We should keep this in mind when discussing economic issues. Government officials have a constitutional responsibility to have a balanced budget at the end of the fiscal year. Guess what? The numbers could care less about your opinion. So let's just stick to the facts.
Rising costs have forced county police departments to make some tough choices. Locally, Allegany County Sheriff's Department has cut their daily police coverage 33 percent in an effort to address their $258,000 budget shortfall.
Arlington County Police Department has seen a 30 percent increase in fuel costs. They've switched to smaller, more fuel efficient cruisers. NBC News reports Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Department has stopped letting more than a dozen deputies take their cruisers home.
What has the Maryland State Police done? According to NBC News, MSP troopers who take home patrol cars are only allowed to drive within 25 miles of their home for "personal" use. What a concession! I'm sure that will have a tremendous impact on the fuel costs for the state.
In an attempt to defend the MSP vehicle take-home policy, Joelle Butler wrote (Trooper's wife: Vehicle policy benefits taxpayers," June 24 Times-News): "(Troopers) didn't choose to commute to Jessup or Rockville, or Westminster, but were assigned to those barracks by their management." She goes on to say, "it comes with the job that they be commuting for quite a bit of their careers."
I'll acknowledge troopers have little control over where they will be stationed but they do have control over where they live. I'm not an economist but here's an idea that might address this cost to taxpayers: Move closer to your job!
She also notes troopers are "technically obligated" to assist stranded motorists and back up other police officers when off duty. Couldn't they do this from their own car? Maybe they can only exercise their police powers when in a MSP cruiser?
If we expand this logic maybe we should give all military personnel their own tank in case of an attack.
Just remember, budgets will be balanced. Some things will be cut and some taxes will be increased. All I'm asking is for our elected officials to be responsible managers of our precious tax dollars. It doesn't seem fair for local police departments to be making the necessary sacrifices while the MSP ignore the fuel crisis.
For all those readers interested in having an impact on this issue I encourage you to contact Col. Terrence B. Sheridan at Maryland State Police Headquarters, 1201 Reisterstown Road, Pikesville, MD 21208 or email via www.mdsp.org/.
Charles Martin
Frostburg
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