Pubdate: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 Source: Bradenton Herald (FL) Copyright: 2003 Bradenton Herald Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradentonherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58 Author: Bill Evers EVERS RESPONDS TO POLICE CHIEF In Tuesday's Herald (page 1C), residents of east Bradenton (at an Imagine Manatee visioning session) say their community's biggest problem is drugs and crimes spawned by drugs. On page 8C, the Bradenton police chief goes to great lengths to try to justify the lack of a drug unit. Doesn't that speak volumes? The people say "Big problem." The big-city chief from D.C. says Bradenton isn't big enough to have a drug unit. Who is right on this one? On Tuesday it was the people of the eastern part of the city who were voicing their concerns. But, drugs are a problem either directly or indirectly in all parts of our city. Maybe you don't have a pusher standing on the corner outside your house, but I bet you know of someone whose house has been burglarized, whose store has been robbed or who has been held up by someone trying to get money to buy drugs. Come January, if I'm elected, we will have a specialized unit to fight not only drugs, but also prostitution and gangs, just like we used to have. Do you know that narcotics arrests are down 495 and prostitution arrests are down 70 percent? That doesn't take into consideration drug-related spinoff crimes like burglaries, robberies and assaults. Maybe if the police chief lived in Bradenton instead of south Sarasota County, he might have a clearer understanding of the negative impact drugs have on our city and be more receptive to targeting the problem. As for his "warning" not to politicize the police department, he needs to take his own advice and not get in the middle. Also, he needs to avoid calling any more mandatory "pep rallies" where the officers are urged to get behind and support the current mayor. In his letter, the chief wonders where I would get officers to staff a drug unit; he already has seven more officers than I had, and I had enough to staff a drug unit. Also, I would immediately disband the unit he and the mayor call "Safe Streets," where our highly-trained professional police officers do menial tasks like picking up debris and painting buildings in the vicinity of the Village of the Arts. In the months ahead I'm going to be doing a lot of talking about problems at the Bradenton Police Department, such as low morale and high turnover. If you want to know more about the Bradenton Police Department and other issues in our city, log on to www.billevers.com and revisit the site often over the summer. We'll be explaining our platform of "Restore the Vision." BILL EVERS candidate for mayor of Bradenton - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)