1. Safety                                                                          Home Page

     The number 1 priority of the RPV city council has to be the safety of its citizens and their property. When budgets are set rational judgement is required but funding of the Sheriff's Department cannot be traded off for any other non-emergency item. The '03-04 budget of $2.75M (22% of the budget while many cities are over 40%) covers an average of 4-5 general and traffic cars plus 3 Community Service cars for 3 Peninsula cities. RPV has ~42,000 people and 143 miles of roads and carries 60% of the total cost - about $70 per person per year.

     While our overall crime rate is low it increased by 11% last year-which may not seem significant unless you are one of the ~50 new victims. The Sheriff's Department has recommended 1 additional car for more visibility including monitoring in selected areas where speeding, driver and pedestrian safety, school safety, etc are continuing problems. This would cost the city about $100K per year or ~$2.50 per person but does require coordination with the other 2 cities.

     This also requires continued creative thinking on the part of the cities and the Sheriff's Department to focus on those areas with the greatest concentration of crime and traffic violations.

I will work to increase the Sheriff Department's yearly budget from $2.75M to at least $2.85M which is a small price to pay for better security and safety.

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