THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 25, 1996 TAG: 9603220028
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
According to the calendar, summer starts June 21. Most parents feel it starts at the end of the school year. And according to the tourist industry, summer starts on Memorial Day weekend.
But check with the city of Virginia Beach police and you'll find summer starts April 12, when more than 100 police officers will be transferred to the Oceanfront for the ``summer.''
At that time the year-round residents of Virginia Beach will again become second-class citizens. The police precincts will be stripped to the bone and the traffic unit disbanded for the summer in order to succumb to the pressures of the Hotel-Motel Association, the Restaurant Association and other Oceanfront groups.
While an increase in tourists does lead to an increased need for police, the number of officers transferred severely undermans the remainder of the city for almost five months of the year! As citizens of Virginia Beach, don't we deserve the police services year-round that we pay for?
Who's going to work the traffic problems, accidents and answer the complaints of the year-round citizens?
Who's going to stop the speeders in the school zones when the children are trying to get to school safely?
Without any officers working accidents and radar, the city is wide open for speeders and drunken drivers. Don't worry if someone is breaking into your house or stealing your car; a police officer will get to you sometime in September.
I saw it last year whenever I ventured down to the Oceanfront. There were Virginia Beach's finest, standing around in groups doing nothing but looking bored. Yet we couldn't get one to check our neighborhood because none could be spared from the Oceanfront. Is it really necessary to transfer this many officers this early?
JACKIE OKESON
Virginia Beach, March 10, 1996 by CNB