Capital-Gazette

Letter to the Editor
August 15, 2008

I agree with an Editor’s Notebook item that said the city is "finally moving forward" in dealing with crime (The Capital, July 26).

It has been a very long time in coming, but the voices of citizens have finally been heard with the appointment of the new police chief, Mike Pristoff, the Safe Streets Initiative, and the recent report from the International City/County Management Association, or ICMA.

Through the work and reports of Citizens for a Better Annapolis, and my years as the volunteer chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Annapolis Housing Authority, I, and those of other citizen groups, have persisted in making several key points:

-          Annapolis has a serious crime problem that needs to be dealt with.

-          Police should be assigned in relationship to where crime occurs. Because these properties have not been adequately policed, public housing areas have become soft spots where people from around the region come to buy and sell drugs.

-          Public housing is not federal property, but is the City’s responsibility to police adequately.

-          Proactive community policing with foot patrols is needed in targeted areas.

-     Modern technologies, including crime-data mapping and license-plate recognition systems, should be
      used.
 
It is gratifying that the ICMA report has also confirmed these recommendations and that Chief Pristoop seems to agree with them.

This advocacy has not been easy. A former police chief said our recommendations were "garbage", the mayor said they were "disappointing,” aldermen said they didn't believe the data, and a city Public Safety Committee would not allow the presentation of our crime data and recommendations.

At last we seem to have forward momentum moving us toward a safer Annapolis.

I am the founder of Citizens for a Better Annapolis.

TRUDY McFALL
Annapolis