With Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's announcement last week to devote $2 million to public safety in his 2007 budget, the Madison Police Department is already beginning to discuss how the funds can be used to improve the city's police officer coverage.
George Twigg, spokesperson for the mayor, said the funds would go toward the addition of 10 new police officers, new fully equipped squad cars and community service programs to promote downtown safety. But the money, he added, still needs to be approved by the City Council and will not be finalized until November.
For the most part, Police Chief Noble Wray said the additional officers would be concentrated in the downtown area to combat rising violence and alcohol-related incidents both before and after bar time.
"If you go back this past spring when we started seeing the pattern muggings in downtown Madison, we responded by adding additional resources, and once we did, they ended," Wray said. "The violence seemed to go down — we would like to continue that next year."
And Madison might see more than just police officers in cars come 2007. In an attempt to increase the visibility of officers, Wray said he hopes to introduce police on horseback and bicycles to the downtown area.
According to Wray, there have been several studies regarding police visibility and the perception of fear in aiding crowd control that the city hopes to take advantage of. He added the addition of officers on horseback or bicycle would be on a daily basis — not only during special events like Halloween.
"We're trying to increase or enhance the visibility of officers … in a way or a manner that would allow them to be accessible to citizens in downtown Madison," he added. "Horseback creates that very visible presence, bicycles increase visibility, and foot patrol increases visibility and accessibility."
According to Wray, the MPD needs additional officers each year to keep pace with the growth of the city. He said most police departments in the nation have a goal — and, ideally, he said, Madison would maintain a ratio of 1.8 officers for every 1,000 residents.
Additions of officers in years past, Wray added, have kept the MPD on target with the goal so far.
"Hopefully the Council will approve," Wray said. "That will allow us to just keep up with staffing and growth of the city."
MPD's Public Information Officer Mike Hanson also said the money would not only allow for new officers, but would promote officers within the system. He added the MPD has not promoted anyone to the position of investigator in several years because of a lack of funds.
But Hanson said if the mayor approves the budget, it takes several months to train officers through an extensive program. The police academy begins in May, he said, but officers do not complete any work in the field until October. New officers begin to work on their own as early as January.
Though the funding is not yet secured in the budget, Hanson said he is confident the extra money for community safety will pass.
"We're encouraged by some of the comments [the Council] has been making," Hanson said. "But until [the budget] is a final document, anything can happen."
— Dan Powell contributed to this report.
