| Safer Neighborhoods |
| Mesa has great neighborhoods, many of them with
historical significance. Many in these neighborhoods
know each other and watch out for each other. Neighborhoods
are concerned with keeping theft, drugs and prostitution
out of their areas. As a victim myself, I’m concerned
with these problems. We’ve had cars broken into
twice and items stolen from our home in the last couple
of years and we’ve had neighbors whose cars have
been stolen right out of their driveways. Just like
you, I’m tired of these problems.
|
| The question is, how do we deal with these problems.
One of the first things we need to do is remove the handcuffs
from the police and allow them to ask a person their legal
status. If that individual has been detained because they
committed a crime and their legal status is in question
the police should be allowed to contact the proper federal
agency. We should not merely cite them and then let them
go. |
| Another reason for questioning a persons' legal status
is so that our police officers are not put in harm's way
by individuals who are here illegally, have no respect
for our laws and would just as soon shoot a police officer
as be turned over to the federal authorities. If they
are here illegally and have committed crimes they need
to be off the street. |
| If we say police and fire are our number one priority,
then we need to fund them as our number one priority.
We shouldn’t have to be going to the people to say
that we need a special tax increase to fund more officers
as we have done with the quality of life sales tax. A
good example is the quality of life sales tax that was
used to fund the arts center. The police receive
half of what the arts center did, and yet public safety
is a top priority we are told. That doesn’t sound
right to me. |
| We need to enforce the loitering laws and then cite
individuals who pick up these day labors. A friend of
mine who is a police officer in Mesa relayed a story to
me of the time he issued a ticket to a day laborer for
trespassing and then the driver of the vehicle for obstructing
traffic only to have both tickets tossed out by a sitting
city judge. |
| We need to have community officers who work with landlords
and management companies, to eliminate crime in their
communities. These officers are a resource for these management
companies and landlords. Many times if landlord suspects
there is a problem they need somebody to whom to report
the suspected activity. If the officer can then
get enough evidence, the individual committing the crime
can be arrested. If the landlord has no one to report
the activity to and with whom they can work, they are
left with two options: 1) they can let the individual
remain until there is a bigger problem or 2) they can
evict the tenant to only have the problem move down the
street. |
| As we deal with these problems we need to work together,
we need to remove the handcuffs from law enforcement,
we need to fund police and fire as our #1 priority and
not only by lip service. We need to enforce loitering
laws and find unique ways of working with property owners
to eliminate crime from their communities. Together we
can make Mesa a better place were neighborhoods are safe. |
