THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
When three organizations representing police officers join forces to arrest a comparative decline in pay, they get the public's attention. The question for the Virginia Beach Policemen's Benevolent Association, the Virginia Beach Fraternal Order of Police and the Virginia Beach Police Supervisors' Association is whether they will get the politicians' support for the remedies they seek. There's also a question whether they should.
These three groups, which say they represent most law-enforcement officers in Virginia Beach, held a joint press conference last week to publicize their dismay. Despite sloganeering during last year's City Council campaign - remember ``Cops Around the Clock''? - council members' support for take-home cars and pay hikes has melted faster than snow cones on the sidewalk. Yet a recent poll shows overwhelming public support for a 4.5 percent raise for police rather than the city's budgeted 3 percent and for a program that lets police officers take their cruisers home.
They also have the city's own salary survey: It shows that police pay in Virginia Beach ranks in the bottom half of similar cities, especially for experienced officers. In fact, the maximum salary for a police officer at the Beach is $37,935. The median income in Virginia Beach is $33,500. ``None of us expect to get rich in law enforcement,'' said the FOP president. Good thing.
How many more dollars would a 4.5 percent raise cost Beach taxpayers than a 3 percent raise would? The police organizations didn't say. Their point is how much it could save if the Beach starts playing catch-up and quits losing trained officers to cities with higher pay.
There's another cost to turnover among police: The ratio of officers to residents at the Beach is the lowest in South Hampton Roads: 1 officer for every 655 residents. This blue line is stretched thin even for a city whose relative prosperity helps keep its crime rate lowest in the region, too.
To stretch the force further, police representatives say, is the point of take-home police cars. They deter crime in the officers' neighborhoods, lower response time, heighten police morale, add years to the utility of the vehicles. But take-home cruisers would also cost an initial $6 million to buy, city officials say, plus $500,000 a year to operate and maintain. And the return on that investment in crime deterrence is arguable.
A 1988 report from the city of Hampton argues that its take-home program has reduced crime and vehicle-operation cost and extended the life of police cruisers. But would success in Hampton - pop. 137,800, 52 square miles - transfer to the suburban sprawl of Virginia Beach (pop. 423,387, 248 square miles)? Would Beach officers get overtime for answering calls off-duty, as Hampton officers were not? Would Beach officers be responsible for off-duty maintenance of their cruisers, as Hampton officers were?
Beach police are giving city officials plenty of response time: The next budget vote is almost a year away. Tepid interest on council could spur sentiment for a public-safety referendum on a ballot before then. But police need to provide not just time for thought but numbers for crunching: Their case for increased compensation looks good, but they've yet to make the case for putting a chunk of it in the driveway instead of in the paycheck - or in more officers on the street. by CNB