Subject: comments on Mullica police dept. Larry, I read your comments on the police dept. and I find some of your points very interesting. The one thing that I continually hear is that we have way too many cops per crime here in Mullica as compared to the State average. My questions/comments here is what do we want in Mullica? Are less cops and more crime acceptable? How many cops do we currently have in the township and how are they scheduled to cover the township? Could we reduce the number of cops and not see a rise in our crime rate? And last what is the State average and who is anyone to say it is acceptable for Mullica Twsp? You? jdf

RESPONSE: There are 14 cops in Mullica at present. The Chief is scheduled to retire Dec 31st and the Police Department is calling for the hiring of 2 new cops. But lets work for the moment with the 14 figure. Three eight hour shifts each day, with 3 cops on each shift..that's 9 cops. Okay, there is sick and vacation time and weekends that at best may require 2 additional cops to cover the needs of not a high crime area...Mullica Twp.

So we have accounted for 11 of the cops; what the hell are the other 3 cops doing...okay, now there is a Dunken Donuts in Egg Harbor City and Hammonton? There should be no overtime and yet because of the bad management of the Department and lack of oversight by THE CORRUPT MULLICA 5 this year had the most overtime ever...over $50,000. Yes, there were some rule changes regarding staffing as a result of a Court case.

Respectfully, are low crime rate is because we are a rural community not number of cops in the department...we are not Atlantic City or Pleasantville in terms of crime. Indeed, responsible leadership involves weighing of the benefits versus burden decision regarding the appropriate number of cops for any community. And everybody here is entitled to an opinion...you, me and the Mullica police department. As Charles Evans Hughes noted: IN THE GREAT ENTERPIRSE OF MAKING DEMOCRACY WORKABLE WE ARE ALL PARTNERS ...and it is the debate and open exchange of thoughts that is so integral to democracy that in some small way the debate here one hopes assists...as opposed to the close-out the public mentality of Mullica's present offica DUMB.

The last statistics I saw regarding crime per number of cops placed the State average of one cop for every 24 crimes. Interesting high crime areas such as say Vineland had one cop for every 47 crimes. Oh, Mullica was tied with the wealthy community of Avalon for having the most cops per crime; 1 cop for every 16 crimes. Yea, that's Avalon where millions of extra non residents visit in the summer because it is a beach community.

The burden of ever rising property taxes causes responsible citizens to look around and see where there is waste and where legitimate cuts can be made that do not drastically alter the safety and minimal services those taxes provide. The police are the largest local budget item, second on that list are health benefits for Township employees.

Please keep in mind we are just talking about local services excluding the school...that is an entirely different budget. But note THE CORRUPT MULLICA 5 had no problem calling for the cutting of over $200,000 from the school budget...we now have 2 less teachers. When it came to their own budget they borrowed over $400,000 from surplus, passed a major bond without a public vote, (none required by law) that's more debt and failed to make any substantive cuts.

Quite the contrary, they spent money like a drunken sailor. Remember that of the 23 towns in Atlantic County THE CORRUPT MULLICA 5 gave the citizens of Mullica a larger tax hit than 20 of those towns. The picture to anyone who has attended budget hearings in Mullica for next year are equally dire. As Alexander Pope said: BLESSED IS HE WHO EXPECTS NOTHING, FOR HE SHALL NEVER BE DISAPPOINTED.