What the ??? is what I thought after I read the article about my pet peeve of gasoline consumption in The Current on Saturday.  There were several things that stood out about the TOC gasoline consumption.  By the way, how'd ya like those numbers?  I sure wish Councilman Stipes would have let the BPOL fees stay as proposed or increased because we could have used that extra $45,000 to help pay for the gasoline this year.

1.  Why wasnt the TOC able to provide exactly how much money was/is spent on gasoline?  I want to see those numbers when they figure it out.

2.  Officers who live far away, such as in Floyd, shouldnt have a take home cruiser no matter what.  If the excuse is that they are needed for the Tactical Response Team, I say "Hogwash."  There are many other officers, including our Chief, that live closer that can respond to help and their are mutual aid teams from the County and the State Police that can respond.  That isnt acceptable, especially when the TACT officers know that their presence may be needed in a few minutes and a person's life may depend on the team having to wait for a 15 minutes response from an officer who lives so far away.  Our team should be able to mobilize completely with all members within minutes.  

Chief Sisson should change this policy immediately because of several things that are wrong by allowing it.  An officer responding from that far away creates an unnecessary danger by driving at a high rate of speed on a very dangerous road and exposes himself and innocent citizens to their code 3 response.  It just isnt justified or necessary to expose the TOC to that risk and it is a "perk" that shouldnt be allowed because of the high gasoline prices that we are paying.  No more take home cruisers outside the TOC.

3.  Five minute idling time?  Is that really what I read?  ZERO minutes should be the rule.  It is plain & simple negligence and not necessary to leave an unattended motor vehicle running at anytime for any reason.  A child, mentally disabled person , or a criminal could come along and simply drive off in an unattended vehicle and kill someone.  The TOC would be liable for breaching their duty owed to the public if anything did happen, therefore it should be the TOC policy that NO vehicle is left unattended at anytime in the future.  In this case, safety comes before conservation. 

Common TOC officials, when WE say save & conserve, WE want real conservation to really save, not simply go through the motions and cut back some. 

In the past, Ive heard so many negative second hand comments over the years about our town government and I have personally been rejected by my requests as a resident.  I had become disillusioned with out small town system of government, something that a have a deep passion for.  However, I didnt want to waste my time and get my hopes up by asking for services that I would like to see as a taxpaying resident only to be rejected.  Ive even been angered and upset by a rude employee in the water billing office and complained to our assistant town manager.  Things were getting to a point where WE disguntled, silent, residents were not going to waste our time wishing for the good old days when the government worked for US. 


Well, I witnessed a first hand experience at last night's town council meeting that THEY are listening to ME and THEY do care about US, and WE can make a difference.  In the past Ive heard residents tell me that our town elected & appointed officials "Dont care," "Dont listen to us," "WE dont make a difference," "Its no use," "They dont do what WE want," "I dont make a difference,"etc.  I was very reluctant to waste my time on Tuesday nights (before I went to work) to go to town council meetings but I decided to start a couple of months ago when I started writing these blogs.  And last night,   HALLELUJAH!  MY town council people, MY town manager, and MY police chief did TWO things that I had wished for.  It may not be a big deal to other residents but it showed me that THEY are listening and it restored my faith in MY local government.  I wanted to personally thank all of them for their consideration of MY wants and let them know how much I appreciate them.  Now they didnt give me everything I wished for but they did listen to me.  Im gonna give them the bad comments AND the good comments but it seems to me that they are earning more GOOD than BAD recently.  I invite all town residents to come out and get involved with people like me.  It is something to do on boring Tuesday nights and I can assure you wont regret it from now on.

Hey, I have an idea to help save on gasoline consumption by the town police cruisers.  How about residents suggesting radar and stop sign enforcement in their neighborhoods? 

Our police department needs to take requests from the residents for enforcement on residential streets.  That way the police officers can park their cruisers in our neighborhoods where there are also speeders, not just out on the busy roadways.  How often do you see an officer sitting in a patrol vehicle in your neighborhood or getting out walking foot patrol?  We need to have our officers get back into the habit of interacting with the residents in our neighborhoods.  How many police officers do you know nowadays who take the time to stop, talk, and visit with residents?

Community policing was an innovative idea years ago.  It needs to be implemented again by officers taking the time to stop and talk with residents to get us involved with crime prevention.  Community policing goes a long way in the improvement of police/community relations.  This can only be accomplished by having the officers actually spending time in the neighborhoods and not just by speeding through them.  It seems that our police department has lost that personalized touch that the old time officers had in the good old days.  Let's try to encourage our new police chief to work back to the time when there was personalized policing in our local communities.  Officers should be required to park their cruisers in these neighborhoods and get out for foot patrol or bicycle patrol.

Radar enforcement/stop sign details in residential neighborhoods would accomplish several things: 

1.  Save our tax dollars on gasoline by not driving the high consumption, V-8 police vehicles, 24 hours a day.

2.  Have resident's requests for enforcement actually followed up on.  This would give the residents the opportunity to actually converse with officers on a regular basis.

3.  The presence of police cruisers in residential neighborhoods would assist in bringing officers and the public in contact with one another.  This would bring back the small town feeling of community policing plus it is a crime deterrent by being visible in these areas.

4.  Our residential neighborhoods are where children, pets, and pedestrians are more likely to be harmed by speeding vehicles in the posted 25 mph zones.

5.  Require officers get up, get out, and get off their backsides to maintain a more healthy lifestyle by walking foot patrol & bicycle patrol.  There should always be one assigned to the shopping districts at North Franklin & Pepper's Ferry Road & more often in residential neighborhoods. 

I think that one of the worst things that has happened to policing is to have lost the personalized contact that officers use to make day to day on routine patrol.  Now is the time to bring back officers outside their cruisers and save thousands of dollars that is wasted on gasoline consumption.