CENTRAL OHIO Chief wants to change officer distribution

The council's safety committee disagrees with the chief.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The police chief wants to get rid of foot, bicycle and mounted patrols to put more officers in cruisers.
Police Chief James Jackson, who also wants to take officers out of high schools, outlined the proposal last month in a memo to Safety Director Mitchell Brown.
He said he has tried repeatedly to put more officers in patrol cars but has been overruled by Brown and Mayor Michael Coleman.
"A walking officer is good within about 50 feet of where he's walking or standing," Jackson said.
Brown said his office is evaluating whether certain units can be eliminated, adding that the city eliminated the DARE program last year and an anti-crime rock band in 2001 at Jackson's urging.
Both sides
City Councilman Michael Mentel, chairman of the council's safety committee, said the mounted, bicycle, high school and foot patrols should be retained. Mentel said they encourage more direct contact between police and citizens.
But an expert on community policing said it's more important that police be available promptly when someone needs an officer.
"The highest priority for any police department is adequate response to calls for public service," said Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation, a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C. "If you don't have adequate resources to do that, you have to make decisions about cutting back in other areas."
Jackson cites a consultant's 2001 recommendation that the city deploy 420 cruisers a day. The city has 337, Jackson said.
Jackson announced last month that he won't allow nonpatrol positions to be filled because of the need for more officers in cruisers.
The head of the police union said he sympathizes with Jackson's staffing problem but doesn't support his efforts to eliminate the units.
"We have shortages out there, no doubt about it," said Bill Capretta, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 9. "But not everybody can be in a cruiser. You need support people, you need people investigating homicides and rapes."