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Campbell to fund $40,000 in equipment for police department
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
CAMPBELL
As 2nd Ward councilman, Brian Tedesco says he feels a responsibility to his constituents to know just how the city’s myriad departments work.
With that obligation in mind, Tedesco volunteered to ride along in a cruiser with the city’s police chief as he patrolled the streets of Campbell on a recent Saturday.
It isn’t something he’s too willing to repeat.
“I learned a lot in eight hours — more than I really wanted to know,” Tedesco said, laughing. “It’s just a small town, but [I was thinking], ‘What the heck did I get myself into?’”
A lot surprised and impressed him: the numerous procedures required even in a “regular” traffic stop, the way officers dutifully checked on each of the city’s businesses, the uncertainty and risk inherent in the job.
Tedesco’s seeing the police department firsthand, up close and personal, led him to support a move by city council to fund $40,000 worth of new — but much-needed — equipment.
As a result, each of the department’s cruisers soon will be outfitted with laptop computers totaling $15,000, and radar-based speed detection devices totaling $12,500. Each cruiser also will be equipped with an assault rifle, and each officer will be assigned a backup weapon; the total cost for these purchases is $12,500.
“They need everything they can get,” Tedesco said. “And if we can give them more, we can keep going in the right direction.”
George Levendis, council president, agreed.
Like Tedesco, Levendis recently rode along with Campbell Police Department officers on patrol, and said it was “good to be out on the road and see what these officers do every day.”
“It enlightened me on how dangerous their job really is, and how critical it is to have the equipment to do your job properly,” said Levendis, who explained that the cruisers lack laptops, and that only a couple of them have speed-detection devices.
Levendis added that he later consulted with Chief Drew Rauzan to determine what equipment the police department most needed. In addition, the money for the equipment will come, not from the general fund, but from the city’s infrastructure fund, which initially consisted of more than $800,000 the city received from an oil and gas lease. Money in the infrastructure fund can be used only for special, one-time purchases to improve the city; in the past, it’s been used to install new fencing and a volleyball court at Roosevelt Park and to repair the leaking roof at city hall.
“Council’s putting this money to good use,” Levendis said. “We’re not squandering this away.”
Levendis noted, too, that city residents are benefiting from “the luxury of a better financial situation.” With Campbell in fiscal emergency for almost a decade, the money just wasn’t there to purchase certain equipment, or to have as many auxiliary police officers on the road.
“I’m glad to see it, and I’m sure a lot of citizens are glad to see it,” Levendis said. “Everyone’s in agreement that we want a very strong police presence, and I’m not saying that it wasn’t there before, but the city’s looking up.”
Sgt. John Rusnak said he’s just glad that several members of council have expressed interest in learning more about the city’s police department. Many were shocked by “how much actually happens on a daily basis,” he added.
“For a small town, we get some big-town problems,” said Rusnak, who mentioned the city’s having two hostage situations in one year, for example. “We’re excited that [council is] taking the time to see our needs and fulfill them.”