It has come to my attention that our new Mayor, Ignacio Velazquez has put on the agenda for Mondays meeting a consolidation/contracting of our Police Department with the Sheriff’s Department.
We are all well aware of the crime in our town and the last thing that we should be thinking about is saving money by cutting or consolidating Law Enforcement. We need ALL of our current Officers plus the four we are currently recruiting. It just makes sense for us to have as much protection as possible. Thanks to the passage of Measure E we can now afford to have the protection we deserve.
In a city this size we need our own Law Enforcement Officers. What will the response time be in an emergency? The Sheriff’s Department has been decimated by budget cuts already. What is to keep Council members from laying off more officers if a consolidation were to be passed? As it stands now I am amazed at how our Sheriff’s Officers have been able to pull together and handle the load while they are grossly understaffed and with such a huge patrol area. The voters passed Measure E this past election because we were in dire need of more Police and certainly could not get away with less. Now Mayor Velazquez would like to use that for other purposes?
We need to let Mayor Velazquez know that we do not agree with this at all. Please come down to City Hall on Monday the 18th at 6:30 to show support for our Hollister Police Department.
Brian Malandrone
R.S.V.P at http://www.hollisterwatch.com