DATE: Saturday, April 19, 1997              TAG: 9704190329
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

POLICE SHIFTED TO HANDLE TOURISTS RESORT AREA AT OCEANFRONT TO EXPERIENCE MOST CHANGE

The police department on Friday reassigned about 60 officers to the Oceanfront in anticipation of the annual crush of tourists and locals who will descend on the strip this summer.

In doing so, the department found itself in a familiar balancing act between its responsibility to provide resort protection during the hectic tourist season and ensuring adequate coverage to citizens elsewhere in the city.

``I think the public thinks the impact is greater than it actually is,'' said Maj. Charles H. Payne, the commanding officer of the Operations Division, which oversees the officers involved.

``We've been doing this every year for the last 25 years. The only thing that has changed is the number of officers involved,'' Payne said. ``We feel it's necessary to move people to where the greatest potential for problems is. Calls for service increase all over the city in the summer, but the most dramatic increase is in the 2nd Precinct.''

Five officers from the 1st Precinct, seven from the 3rd Precinct and nine from the 4th Precinct were reassigned to the Oceanfront, according to the department. In addition, 20 officers normally assigned to traffic patrols, 10 from schools and seven DARE officers were reassigned. Those officers assigned to educational roles will not hit the resort streets until classes end in June.

The department has four precincts: the 2nd at the Oceanfront, the 1st at the Municipal Center, the 3rd in Bayside and the 4th in Kempsville.

The total number of officers reassigned is slightly smaller this year than last because the department, under a federal community policing grant, was able to hire more officers at the Oceanfront year-round.

The effect of these transfers, Payne said, would be a slight change in the response times that residents elsewhere can expect, but the time difference is small. While exact predictions are difficult to stand by, the department estimated that it would take 15 seconds longer for an officer in the 1st, 3rd or 4th precincts to respond to an emergency call and about 90 seconds for a non-emergency call, Payne said.

The average response time to an emergency call, including the time it takes the dispatcher to take the information, find an officer and for the officer to arrive at the scene, is 5.2 minutes. Non-emergency calls generally take about 16.2 minutes, said officer Lou Thurston, the department's spokesman.

During the summer tourist season, which traditionally extends from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Oceanfront swells each day with enough people to populate a small town. Major holidays, like July 4th, add many tens of thousands more to the resort area.

Successful advertising campaigns intended to expand the city's tourist season help explains why the police are being deployed in late April, a full five weeks before Memorial Day.

The annual migration has never set well with some residents who worry the resort area gets a disproportionate amount of the city's attention. Among those with concerns is Jackie D. Okeson, a secretary at Pembroke Elementary School and a resident of Great Neck.

``There is nothing going on there now during the day, not in April anyway, so why are we putting so many people at the Oceanfront? What are we protecting down there?,'' she said.

Okeson conceded that weekends are busier and that summer weekends are busier still, and those facts alone justify sending more officers to the resort area.

``I realize the beach is full in the summer and you need to increase the percentage of officers,'' she said. ``What I am saying is: don't neglect our city. We still need something. You would not put all firemen and rescue workers down there, would you?''

But what concerns her the most is the reduction in the number of officers normally assigned to the traffic bureau, although the department has assured her that officers will continue to patrol school zones until classes let out.

Despite her worries, figures compiled by the department and analyzed by The Virginian-Pilot support the department's decision, particularly when it comes to burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson reports.

Property crime rates in two of the 2nd Precinct's busiest zones show increases in their rates per thousand people from 52 in the first quarter, 96 in the second, 102 in the third, while it drops again to 49 in the last part of 1996. By comparison, changes in the property crime rates for other precincts, while they do increase slightly in the summer, do not increase as sharply.

Payne, the commanding officer of the operations bureau, believes that many people have misconceptions about the impact the transfer has on existing officer strength.

``It's less than 10 percent of each precinct's total strength,'' Payne said. ``The 20 officers taken from SPOT (Special Patrol Operations and Tactics) represents about a third of its total strength.''

Asked if it were frustrating to handle citizen complaints about the annual event, Payne said, ``It's part of the job. I don't consider it frustrating, but I hate for people to get the wrong perception of what we're doing.

``The impact is not that significant. We all work harder in the summer. There is no question that some officers in the precincts get the feeling that everyone is going to the 2nd, but it's because the work load goes up for everyone in the summer.'' ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC

(Crimes per 1000 people, by quarter in 1996)

FIRST 52

SECOND 96

THIRD 102

FOURTH 49

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