THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 5, 1996 TAG: 9607050172
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 68 lines
The police department in this Roanoke Island community should place greater emphasis on community policing as well as on more formal planning procedures, according to a report by the North Carolina Justice Academy.
The Manteo Board of Commissioners reviewed the 39-page document at its regular meeting Wednesday. The $1,400 study was done at the request of the town's governing board.
The report evaluated all areas of the department, including personnel, administration and community attitudes.
The report recommended a number of changes, including the development of a formal mission statement, community policing training for all officers and the establishment of foot and bicycle patrols, as well as written departmental policy directives.
Like most small police departments, Manteo has a high turnover rate. Eight officers have left its ranks since 1991.
``Assuming that it takes an officer six months to become productive for the town, this would represent a cost of some $60,000,'' the report said. However, Manteo's turnover rate is ``fairly typical'' when compared to other law enforcement agencies.
The study also recommended a closer link between the department and the town's Community Police Advisory Board. The citizen panel, however, should serve only in an advisory role, the report said.
``This group is not and should not be commissioned to `manage' the department. . . . This board should be tasked with providing valuable advice in defining the role of police in Manteo, and suggesting new and different community police initiatives.''
In other findings:
The report found that there is a high level of concern about crime among Manteo residents, even though the crime rate is low. In a citizen survey conducted by the academy, half of those responding indicated that they had changed their activities ``moderately'' because of a fear of crime. Twenty-nine percent of Manteo residents responded to the survey.
Manteo is an ``ideal'' community to implement a policing program.
The study found that 25 percent of Manteo police dispatches came between midnight and 3 a.m. However, some of those calls were received earlier in the evening and not entered into the department's computer until after midnight. Eighteen percent of calls came between 9 p.m. and midnight.
Commissioners gave the report high marks.
``Every recommendation in it was positive,'' Commissioner Curtis Creech said. ``I'm 100 percent in support of it.''
In order for recommendations in the study to take effect, they would have to be adopted by the commission.
In other business, the commission tabled action on a personnel and pay plan study conducted by the North Carolina League of Municipalities. The board wants to compare recommendations in that report to benefits packages offered to municipal employees in other towns.
Also, the commission:
Approved annexation requests by Manteo Baptist Church and Southland Corp.
Agreed to ask the Town Planning Board to review Manteo's regulations governing buffers and sign sizes. Town Manager Kermit Skinner said current requirements for plant buffers and signs are outdated and need review.
But Commissioner Melvin Jackson said there are too many trees in the town.
``We've got too much buffer,'' he said. ``You wash your car and get under a tree full of birds and it ruins it. I think we should borrow George Washington's ax and cut some of them down.''
And, at the urging of Commissioner Edward Etheridge, the commission has requested a resolution condemning the recent rash of African-American church burningsthroughout the nation.
``A significant portion of this county's African-American population lives in Manteo,'' Etheridge said. ``We need to let people know that this community is against this type of activity.'' by CNB