FYI/PD Budget/Actual 07/08
July 15th, 2008FYI
The requested information for the 07/08 PD Budget/Actual was received as a two page document in my mailbox over the weekend.
The PD budget for this period inclusive (salary, benefits, OT, equipment, contracts, uniforms, fuel, office, conference, telephone, maintenance/repairs, recruitment, xerox leases, misc.) was $1,072,831.31.
The actual expense for 07/01/07 through 07/08/08 was $920,082.74 with $723,094 for salaries/benefits.
The department consists of 7 safety officers, 7 police officers, 1 clerk, 1 secretary, 5 student workers, and 2 substitutes.
The MSJC PD patrols approximately 150 total acres in owned campus properties or about 1/4 square mile inclusive. One square mile = 640 acres.
Blog:
In 2003 the college started the police department with the hire of a chief and two officers, partially paid for with a federal grant of $150k. The department over five years has escalated into a $1 million dollar expense with sphere of patrol beyond district owned properties. See link for info.
http://www.blackvoicenews.com/content/view/35970/17/
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It is obvious that previous administrators made big promises to these police.
Thanks for the diligence Ann.
It seems strange that the PD budget is more than a million dollars and 31 cents? Does the District really budget to the closest penny? Are we to belive all the budgets at MSJC are to the penny?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and Humpty Dumpty had a great fall! All the Kings’ horses and All the Kings’ Men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again! Sound familiar? This fairy tale seems to be happening again in the MSJC district in 2008. There is no $$ left for glue in the Police Department budget!
Ann, you neglected to mention that the PD expenditures include $33,597.26 for a new charger and $55,907.77 for a new Tahoe that the chief uses to protect the students. How many class sections is that?
It might be interesting to take a look at the odometer on those vehicles.
Do the police cars justify off campus patrols or do the off campus patrols justify the police cars?
Answer: They justify each other.
Problem: Neither is necessary to protect the safety of students on campus.
Clearly Menifee has a need for adequate policing. As a new and growing city, it is important to curtail illegal activity in our community. Crime breeds crime, and nobody will argue that we do not want gangs, drug trafficking, vandalism, domestic violence, rape, or murder in our community. As a city, Menifee should surely address these issues.
The problem lies with the misappropriation of educational funds for the cause of employing LEOs in the MSJC Police Dept. Like any sworn officer in the state, their authority is valid wherever its use is required. However, using the MSJCPD and funds from the DOE to police the community as a policy is clearly backwards. Arguments about the fitness of MSJCPD LEO’s aside, the fact is that such a department’s jurisdiction should lie mainly on the MSJC campuses and secondarily in the surrounding community. The expense of vehicles to patrol the extended area, responding to calls from neighboring PD’s, while helpful to the area, comes at the cost of diminished capacity for education by MSJC.
It’s obvious some MSJC LEO’s are posting in these threads with extremely biased views. However, others are responsible for polarizing on the other extreme of the argument. This is not an all-or-nothing issue. MSJC is a part of the Menifee Community, and it should be a safe place for learning, like any school. The question we should answer is, if MSJCPD is going to operate outside of the campus, how will it operate? Are they effective making traffic stops, or are their limited resources better used in responding to calls that the RSO may have on lower priority? Are high-cost, high-performance vehicles necessary, or would bicycles, Segways, or golf carts be as effective?
I have not had any personal interaction with any MSJCPD LEO. However, I’ve seen them in action. I’ve seen their vehicles. I’ve seen them along Antelope Rd. conducting searches on vehicles. Do they do a good for the community? Like any law enforcement does, yes. Do the citizens of Menifee appreciate the work they do? For the most part, yes. Is their presence and practice appropriate? It’s questionable.
For example, I’ve never witnessed an MSJCPD traffic stop in progress where the vehicle’s operator was not sitting on the curb while the vehicle was being searched. Is this a prudent use of Law Enforcement? Some would argue the end justifies the means. The end is that they catch the bad guy. So is it worth hassling the good guys in order to justify the action? Would you, a law abiding citizen, be happy cuffed and sitting on the curb while the MSJC PD searches your vehicle? Is giving up a little bit of your liberty an acceptable cost for safety?
When I needed to call 911 from my home because I heard violence coming from a neighbor’s home, it was not the MSJCPD who responded to my call. Were they too busy conducting a traffic stop and roadside search to respond to a real issue of safety?
Benjamin Franklin is known to have said: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
We live in a society that is constantly giving up liberties for safety. The last time I flew in an airplane, I was asked to empty my computer bag, remove my shoes and belt, remove my jacket, and present my ID for an additional inspection. As I looked around to all of the people half dressed, IDs in hand, lined up single file, fearing for saying the wrong thing, looking suspicious or making a false move, i thought to myself “the terrorists have won.”
Are we willing to give up liberty for safety? Are we willing to subject ourselves to a government that is for its own interests? Our government of the people, by the people, for the people, is slipping away, not just in Washington, but even on our own streets as we allow funds earmarked for the intellectual training of our young and old to be used instead in the enforcement of the law of a government that is arguably representing less the desires of the people, and more the desires of those who are in power. In my mind, this is a tragic occurrence.
Are we telling our representatives that we want to sacrifice our liberty (education) for safety? By diminishing the educational resources of MSJC by diverting funds into safety enforcement, this is what the leaders of the college district have done. Is this the action the taxpayers want? If not, please speak up. Stop the absurd one-sided arguments and get real about it. Let’s lay to rest the Us vs. Them mentality and realize that this city belongs to ALL of us.
The Menifee City Government may be in the best position to bring balance to the situation. I implore our elected leaders to do the right thing for the city.
How about leasing out the upper vacant campus at the menifee campus for the City of Menifee offices including the HQ for the new PD for $1 a year. Then cut the MSJC safety and security budget from $1M to $500K. You get a real PD on campus 24/7 and $500K for more class sections. I would suspect the MSJC PD, adminitration and Board majority would not like the idea, but I would also suspect, their clients, the students, would love it.
“The department consists of 7 safety officers, 7 police officers, 1 clerk, 1 secretary, 5 student workers, and 2 substitutes.”
Someone tell me what exactly is a “safety officer” and why we need 7 of them over the 7 police officers we have?
The MSJC PD is a huge amount of over spending. What exactly was the problem with the two officers we had back in 2002 that patrolled the campus on bicycles and golf carts? Has crime gone up so much that we need the police force of a small city to handle it? If so, do I really want to be a student at MSJC?
This is one more example of MSJC becoming a rat hole from mismanagement like many of the other public schools. When the money starts going to pet projects and away from what the students need for an education, it is no longer a center for learning, but a warehousing of bureaucracy.
What MSJCPD is doing for the community is “preventative” crime suppression. Being proactive in rooting out crime not only on both campuses, but out in surrounding areas serves both college and civic communities from criminal activity. Why sacrifice proactive law enforcement for lesser quality of a reactive enforcement method for the sake of cost?
A better solution would be to utilize the MSJCPD police department as the bonafide agency they are to increase public safety in order to attract more families- as well as merchants- into the community and thus increasing funding for the maintenance of public safety.
Start cutting corners now by settling for cheaper county public safety and watch how fast criminal elements take control of a community when they know the county response is slower, fewer, and farther in between.
Think the county will increase police presense for the same amount you can keep MSJCPD’s services? think again. You’ll realize just how economical $1 Mil a year is when you compare county vs. quality Police service from MSJCPD.