Know all the facts when it comes to Youngstown police

Know all the facts when itcomes to Youngstown police
EDITOR:
This letter is in regard to the latest of the uninformed editorials that discredit the officers of the Youngstown Police Department. You state that residents should point their fingers at officers for the financial problems, layoffs and safety concerns in the city. What a joke!
It would be nice if the citizens had access to investigative reporting so that they would know the facts, not political agendas. Stated in the editorial that the 0.5 percent income tax was passed to increase manpower and not raises. If any research were done it would be known that the police department's share was supposed to be an additional $3.5 million, but the city just subtracted the amount from the general fund contribution to the department. The money was to be used to replace lost officers, but the mayor ordered a hiring freeze for officers. Since 2002, the police department is down nearly 40 officers, almost a quarter of the department. Do not blame the officers. All officers wish that tax funds were being used properly.
As for holiday pay, I do not know of many employers in the private or public sector that do not pay overtime on holidays. It is not like the police and fire departments can shut down for holidays to save tax money. Holidays have to be staffed. Most officers would gladly stay home and watch their loved ones open presents on Christmas morning or eat a hot Thanksgiving dinner with their family, but duty calls.
As for overtime, the numbers that you use are misleading. The city lumps all overtime accrued through the police department in one group. The majority of overtime is paid by outside federal agencies. The truth is that the department must use a lot of officers on an overtime basis -- approximately eight per day work doubles or a sixth day -- because the patrol is short-staffed. Still there is routinely two or more beats that are not patrolled during a shift because there are not enough officers to fill them.
The cost of living increases every year. We are city residents and pay city taxes also. "The cupboard is bare," Mayor McKelvey said regarding the safety services. The cupboard was not bare when nonunion, administrative city personal -- the mayor, city counsel, finance director and many others -- just received an average 7.4 percent wage increase. The average raise for YSU employees was more than 7 percent.
How about some truths instead of innuendoes in your articles and editorials.
ROBERT GIOVANNI
Youngstown
Message to Girard mayor: Don't stigmatize mentally ill
EDITOR:
The mayor of Girard has judged the mentally ill to be a persona non grata in his town. Mayor Melfi has vetoed a housing project that would set aside some of its 48 units for people with mental illness. His concern is that they would be unsupervised in residential neighborhoods. Surely Mayor Melfi must realize mentally ill persons are already living unsupervised in Girard's residential neighborhoods. They are living in all of our neighborhoods.
As someone who operates housing for mentally ill persons, I suggest the mayor consider the following:
Operators of such housing projects (assuming this is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) must establish tenant selection criteria that govern their rental decisions. These criteria could require the operators to check such things as police record, credit history, and disability. Such checks can include reports from treatment providers that attest to the applicant's sobriety, stability and behavioral control.
If the operators receive verification from mental health professionals that a mentally ill person is cooperating with treatment and that his/her mental illness is under good control, the risk presented by such a person is no more than any randomly selected resident of the fine city of Girard. In fact, the risk is probably less.
The vast majority of mentally ill people are fine citizens who do not deserve to be stigmatized and excluded like this.
TOM ARENS
Youngstown