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Councilman Greg Stanton's
My Turn Column
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 22, 2004
We owe our Police Department debt of gratitude
Police work is often dangerous work. The men and women who wear the uniform of the Phoenix Police Department know that, more than most of us.
In Phoenix, our police officers are part of our family. Just over a month ago, two members of our family - Officers Jason Wolfe and Eric White - became the latest police officers to die in the line of duty when they were shot by a crazed gunman during an arrest attempt at a North Phoenix apartment complex. Our hearts and prayers continue to go out to the family members of these heroes.
At the same time as we mourn, we are reminded why we have the best police department in the country. The 2,800 officers of the Phoenix Police Department hit the streets every day, putting their lives on the line to protect each and every one of us. For that, we all owe them a deep debt of gratitude.
But we also owe them a promise to make certain they always have the very best leadership, the very best training and the very best resources to do their jobs safely and efficiently.
As a member of the City Council Public Safety Subcommittee, I am proud that we have been doing that for some time now, helping to build the department into a model for other police departments to emulate.
Evidence of the police department's local and national reputation comes every time the department issues a call for police recruits. The call is answered regularly not only by young men and women interesting in making law enforcement their career, but also by many veteran police officers from other police departments throughout the Valley, the state and even the country who are keenly aware of the reputation of the department and want to be part of it.
Efforts by the mayor and City Council to support the Police Department with leadership, training and resources have been notable recently.
Just last August we selected Jack Harris as the new police chief. A member of the department for 32 years, he has had an outstanding career as a patrol officer, a SWAT team commander, a precinct commander and an assistant chief. I am confident his leadership will help strengthen the department even more and preserve its excellent reputation.
We have given our strong support to the joint city-state police training academy, too, helping to build it into one of the most highly rated in the county. Most police agencies in the state, both large and small, send their recruits there for training.
We also wanted to make certain our officers had the best and more effective weapons available so we supplied each of them with the popular Taser or "stun gun," becoming the first police department in the country to do so. The Taser not only helps protect our officers, but reduces injuries to criminal suspects as well.
The officers now are being issued a second generation Taser, which is smaller, easier to carry and more powerful than the initial version.
So far the Taser has done its job as police shootings involving conventional weapons dropped last year to a 13-year low and the use of the Taser increased 139 percent.
We also moved swiftly when we discovered that there might be a serious problem with the Ford Crown Victoria police cars exploding when struck from behind. Modified gasoline tanks containing highly protective bladders to protect against explosions were installed on all police Crown Victoria cruisers, almost 700 in total. Now, we are looking into installing fire protective panels on the vehicles for further protection.
We also funded a new 800 MegaHertz communication system that will greatly improve the ability of our officers to communicate with each other as well as with the fire department and other city departments. The new system, already installed in 3,100 police portable radios and 1,100 mobile radios and soon to be installed in fire department vehicles, enhances safety with much clearer transmissions and a much wider coverage area.
Our community is very fortunate to have such an outstanding police department and such excellent police officers.
It is up to us - all of us - to show them our support. Greg Stanton is a Phoenix City Councilman representing Ahwatukee Foothills.
Greg Stanton is a Phoenix City Councilman representing Ahwatukee Foothills.
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