Sometimes, more is better

Thursday, February 2, 2012

If you read last week’s story about crime statistics in Milford, you will understand why the Milford Police Department sometimes asks for a larger budget so it can hire more officers.

And we could say the same, we believe, about every police department in this area.

Southern New Hampshire is no longer the bucolic, peaceful region it once was. Oh, it is still beautiful, and there are many, many days and nights that people in suburbia, and certainly in cities, would envy. But crime is a very real thing, criminals are a very real presence, and arrests continue to mount.

It is a good thing, of course, that arrests continue to mount. That is a clear indication that our police departments are working hard and trying their best to keep up with increasing amounts of criminal activity. But as crimes increase, wouldn’t it make sense to increase the number of officers available to fight them?

Of course we understand the concerns about how much we pay in taxes to support various things locally. Everyone supports, financially and otherwise, the police, firefighters, our DPW workers, and many of us still support teachers, but the key to that support is financial.

Which brings us to an interesting dichotomy:

When school populations decrease, there is often a move to cut the number of teachers. While we don’t agree with such cuts, believing that when school populations decrease it allows teachers to spend more time with individual students, we do understand that there is a certain logic to it.

If, then, we accept that logic, wouldn’t it be equally logical to increase the number of police officers as crime increases? Indeed, it would be a more important move.

When school populations decrease, the only thing we will save by cutting the number of teachers is money. But when crime increases, what we might save by increasing the number of police officers is lives. Perhaps the lives of people we know, perhaps our own lives. If nothing else, there’s a good chance of saving property.

We just ask that people give this some thought. Milford certainly isn’t the only town where crime is on the increase, so when your police chief asks for more officers, give it some thought.

New contract

At this Saturday’s Milford Deliberative Session, we hope that those attending will support the proposed union contracts. Every indication is that these are fair contracts for both sides. See letter on Page 9.