Today, we get a hilarious press release from the Mayor’s Office announcing that the WPD’s Operation Disrupt is now coming back. This is the Operation Disrupt put into place with great fanfare after multiple shootings in January — pulling the city’s Community Police Unit, as well as resources from other special units to flood the streets of certain sections of the city with officers. And only for eight hours in the evening and only for 5 days a week. Sundays were covered by NCCOPD and Mondays were covered on an ad hoc basis. Operation Disrupt started winding down in March and by the time that the WPSSC presented its report, Operation Disrupt was a shadow of its former self, with most of the special unit officers returned to their units and the CPU officers preparing to move on to other assignments. This is March 31. The NJ reported that Operation Disrupt was being reconfigured into a 7 officer unit that would specifically target certain areas. Then it said that Operation Disrupt was over on June 5, which may be when the original configuration ended. And then — TA DA! — Operation Disrupt (with an official DL breakdown of — Disturbingly Impetuous Self-Serving Rascals Using Power Terribly (thanks mediawatch!) — is BACK and Mayor and the Chief are pulling the newly deployed CPU to do the Disrupt effort.
Got that? Now take a look at this bit of comedic propaganda posing as a press release from the Mayor’s Office. Let’s start here:
Although a near unanimous council voted to support the implementation of the commission’s recommendations, council leadership has yet to move forward on a vote to provide the funding resources needed to support the chief’s plan. In the absence of council approval of funding for these critical public safety resources along with the recent end of state supported foot patrols, Chief Cummings has decided to act.
Council did vote to support the implementation. And then Chief Cummings did not present Council with a budget that incorporated the funds he thought he needed to implement the WPSSC Plan. He was specifically asked — multiple times — about resources to implement and he was not prepared to ask for those funds then. During the budget process, folks, when you are supposed to ask for money. It took City Council to add the funds to get additional monitors for cameras and to get a survey and plan for the current set of cameras. Council also added more funds for an Academy, in case the WPD found itself drawn down to a point where it needed to start a new class. This would mean that they could start one without waiting for Council to allocate funds. It is just there. The Chief was not ready to ask for funds for his new management or anything else during the regular process of budgeting. He did come back to ask for funds for senior management. That was not approved by Council. Largely because they were spending surplus funds that do not exist yet AND because I think people are confused over a WPD Safety Plan that claims that they have done much of the implementation of the WPSSC, but somehow needs new management after the fact. So what the Chief and the Mayor are doing is dismantling the one thing the community really wants — the Community Police Unit — because City Council won’t give them $500K that doesn’t exist for management that they no longer need. But the Chief never asked for more funds to put more officers in the street. Never.
Add to the fact thet he never asked for more street resources, he is Whining about foot patrols that are no longer funded by the State. The WPD isn’t a full month into their new budget cycle and they are still whinging about funds. Why weren’t these foot patrols included in the budget the Chief submitted to the Council? He had time to do that. But once again, we are looking at a problem of this department not using their own resources well. They are close to full strength of 320 sworn officers, meaning they have the people they need to get the job done. So instead of reallocating folks from desk jobs or other units, they want to dismantle the CPU. The funds from the AG’s office paid for overtime, because the WPD was so short staffed. Now they aren’t, so they don’t need the overtime (plus they’ve told us that they’ve done the work to get their OT issues under control, which itself frees up money). Just don’t need it. But I’m calling it now — the WPD will be back in front of Council in early winter to ask for OT funds.
And I have no idea if the stats they quote are correct. Based upon past experience, though, it is reasonable to expect that they are wrong.
But here is the game:
“If we are going to effectively crack down on violent crime in our city, we will need more public safety and community based resources,” said Mayor Dennis P. Williams. “While we will continue to work with City Council, State and Federal leaders to find support for the additional resources […]
They just want more money. Period. Four weeks into a budget year, they are trying to hold the CPU as hostages to getting more money. Even though they could not be bothered to submit a budget that included their needs to implement the WPSSC, they are willing to utterly undermine their own efforts in communities by withdrawing the folks doing the connecting. Apparently, we are meant to tell Council and the State that we need more money. I’m calling Bullshit on that. Mayor Williams and Chief Cummings need to remember that their job is the safety of the citizens of this city, not shaking down Delaware taxpayers. If they wanted more funds, they should have done that during the budget process — submitting a budget (and revenue increases) that would have covered this effort. In the meantime, they need to roll up their sleeves and figure out how to get more out of the resources they have. A thing that the businesses in this city are doing on the daily.
Are you living in Wilmington? Then call or email your Councilperson and tell them that you want the WPD to get their work done and stop angling for money. Call or email the Mayor and the Chief and tell them to work harder on safety than on their shakedown. And tell them all that Community Policing must come back to the communities.