“the rate of crime is lower now in Woodstock than it was in 1985″
I was disappointed by last Friday’s Woodstock Villager article about getting a resident trooper. A perfect opportunity to present the readers with information and facts was, once again, missed by our weekly ‘newspaper’.
Where was the analysis of cost and expected functions of such a resident trooper? Mitchell Eaffy deftly took advantage of the opening the Villager gave him to continue pushing his resident trooper pet project by suggesting a straw poll be taken.
I was disgusted by the implication that, if Woodstock had a resident trooper, somehow Judy Nilan’s horrible murder would not have occurred. Let’s keep in mind that the last person to have seen Judy alive WAS a state trooper.
This is a town of nearly sixty-two square miles, larger geographically than many ‘big’ cities. The expectation that a resident trooper will make us ‘safer’ is based more on our ‘feeling’ safer rather than ‘being’ safer. Oh, I’m sure that a resident trooper would have some impact on our town environment but the impact would probably be more on our speeders rather than the criminals we are really worried about. Essential information for this discussion must include the fact that according to our crime statistics (as reported by the Department of Public Safety), the rate of crime is lower now(excepting the Nilan muder) in Woodstock than it was in 1985 in spite of our considerable increase in population since then!
So before we all jump on the resident trooper bandwagon, let’s figure out how much we are willing to pay for the ‘appearance’ and perhaps false perception that we are safer. After all, there are only so many dollars in our budget… Prop. 46 lets us ‘feel’ like we are holding our taxes down… while what we have really done is strip our infrastructure and education system of everything that isn’t nailed down.
The individual must be responsible for his/her own saftey. This entails different means based on the individual’s capabilities. This includes never being alone, carry personal protective devices, keeping doors locked, owning a dog, taking self defense classes….ect. Be cautious, be prepared, and have a plan. A resident trooper will most likely not be present to prevent a crime, but will only, perhaps, arrive quicker to the scene of crime. Accountability for one’s safety must fall on the individual. The burden of providing safety to oneself should not fall onto the community in the form higher taxes.
When Delpha Very was first selectman, she made mention of the average response time for domestic violence calls in Woodstock to the state police. I don’t remember what exactly it was and therefore don’t want to quote it, but it was very poor. Disturbingly poor. We’re not talking about “feeling safer,” but if that happens, that’s good. We need to talk about response time- if we need a trooper, can we get one there fast enough? I’d say we can’t. We’ve been lucky. I’m thrilled at the low crime rate- that’s partially why we all live here. It’s nice. But bad stuff can happen, and I’d like to know there’s someone close by that can help. Not someone close by as in “I’m in Union, I’m on the way.” Close by.
Bad stuff can happen when you have a large full-time paid police force, too. Lets face it, bad stuff happens. If we have a resident trooper and something bad happens, the response time would be faster, if it occured when the trooper was scheduled to work. The plan presented at the informational meeting at the Town Hall last fall was talking about a 40 hour work week. By my calculations, that leaves over 160 hours in the week not covered by the resident trooper. Even if whatever bad thing was happening occured during the trooper’s work time… if I had the first bad thing that happened and I lived, say, in Kenyonville and you had the second bad thing (and worse than my bad thing) but you lived at the campground up near Quinebaug… Well, even if the trooper stopped what he was doing at my house at set off like a bolt of lightning to respond to your bad stuff… he’d still take over ten minutes to get there (presuming he didn’t run into a slow-poke or anything else that might slow him down or endanger the rest of us going about our business blissfully unaware of your emergency). But, if your bad stuff wasn’t worse than my bad stuff… you’d still have to wait for the troopers from Troop D. Thompson has a resident trooper and they had a murder last year, too.
My kid had an accident at the beginning of January. She called us on her cell phone. By the time we got dressed, jumped in the car and drove the mile and a half to where she was, we only beat the troopers (yes, two of them responded) by three minutes. We’re not sure who called them, but it wasn’t any of us. So, the response time is not really an issue.
I’m not ready to ask the taxpayers of Woodstock to ante up with better than $60,000+ a year for 40 hours a week of ‘reassurance’… especially in the light of Prop 46 spending caps and the current practice of gutting the educational budget and putting normal maintenace of capital investments on hold to balance a budget.
Might I also add that I was highly impressed by the State Troopers who responded to the murder of Judy Nilan. In addition, it would be interesting to see the breakdown of police utilization in Woodstock into types of cases and urgency levels over the last 5 years. Were there instances where crime was prevented or thwarted or was it just after the fact? Were these services used by tax payers? Was Very using the domestic violence card as a means to rally the female vote (along with the Relay For Life crowd)? I believe that the one service we all may need at one time or another and where prompt response time is essential is our Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Wouldn’t the money to be paid to a resident trooper be better utilized by our devoted TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY/SEVEN DAYS A WEEK volunteer EMS?
Honestly, I don’t see a resident trooper actually being able to prevent any real sort of crime, be it small or large. I know a lot of teenagers in the area, and they have competitions to see who can get away with the pettiest crimes without the resident trooper catching them. They egg the trooper’s residence, the old flaming bag of dog crap trick, anything to pass the time and get a little adrenaline. And this is all in a town that has its own gas station and liquor store, not to mention Donkin Donuts and many other places to keep people busy. I’m not saying any of your children are ‘bad’ but they are teenagers stuck in a town that doesn’t offer many after school activities or very much to do. If we have this much money, why doesn’t it go to the public school system WHICH NEEDS THE MONEY JUST SO THEY CAN PROVIDE SATISFACTORY EDUCATION, or to the town so they can send their kids to the Academy? It seems that yet again private agendas are reining over our town… will it ever end?
I dont understand how we can think about spending money on a resident trooper, when apparently, we dont have enough money to send our children to high school each year. It makes me wonder- how much play money does the General Government budget have? Last year, a Planner and a Recreation Director and an administrative “floater” worker within Town Hall. This year, a resident trooper? Seems to me, that if we cannot send our children to high school without literally butchering K-8, then the Education Budget is FAR TOO LEAN. Perhaps a better polling question at Town Hall on Feb 8th would have been: ‘Do you feel that in light of what has been called the education budgetary train wreck these past few years, that Education should get more than the usual 73% of the money?’ Or, how about this one: ‘Do you feel that Education should be recognized by our Board of Finance as a State mandated Program?
My goodness. Can’t we have both guns and butter? If we are all so committed to the high quality of life in our town, can’t we afford both a high level of education, appropriately funded, AND a state trooper? (not to mention a planner, organized recreation, and a well-run town government).
I’m probably in the minority here, but aren’t our taxes the price we pay for living in a civilized society? If we want these things, if these things are priorities for our continued social contract, why do we squawk so much at, heaven forbid, paying for them?
Were it only so… Debunker. Unfortunately, it does seem that we are in the minority. Imagine, paying for what our needs actually are! Ah, be still my heart! But, then we wake from our sweet slumber to the absurd self imposed reality of Proposition 46… an artificial and capricious spending cap without regard to increased costs. The funny thing about Proposition 46 is how selectively it is interpreted. There are exceptions to the spending caps of Prop 46 like emergencies (which the Board of Finance acknowledges) and state mandated programs (which the Board of Finance doesn’t acknowledge).
Yes, it really would be refreshing to find more people that think that we should actually pay for what we expect our society to provide instead of the multitudes that think there is a fairy-godmother out there somewhere that makes fairy tales come true. Let me know if you find anybody else like us. Maybe we could have a secret handshake or a decoder ring. How’s that guitar thing going?
Debunker and Billpayer: Who defines what “our” needs actually are? Why do you make the assumption that “we” expect “our” society to provide these needs? What social contract are you talking about? “I” am only accountable to “my”self. “I” don’t expect society to provide for “me”, nor should “I” be expected to provide for society. Taxes are not the price we pay for civilized society. Taxes are a form of wealth redistribution. The taxes that the folks here in Woodstock pay are more than enough to provide the most superior educational system for ourselves, but guess what, these taxes go to Hartford where our liberal tax and spend politicians redistribute OUR money. Students in failing urban schools are getting about $9000 each while the students in suburbs are getting as little as $100 in state funding. Who do you think pays the most taxes? Where do you think you find the most “civilized” students? At Woodstock Academy or at at the Hartford Public High School? School funding needs to be changed at the state level, not at the local level by getting rid of Prop 46. Being civilized is an individual and family responsibility. There is no social contract. You can have all the guns and butter you want, but don’t expect “me” to pay for what “you” think “we” need.
Well Randy… by not expecting “you” to pay for what “I” think “we” need you take away from the educational process of our youth. By taking away from the educational process of your youth you take away from yourself. If you don’t understand, I’ll explain it to you… these children that we are trying to educate, are your future… and your future government. So, what “you” want to does effects “us”. I don’t understand how a community raised and helped you, but you think that you have no civic duty to help your community. I mean unless I’m mistaken, you didn’t grow up in the woods never coming in contact with anyone in society and completely educate yourself.
Also, Prop 46 only applies to Woodstock. Other towns provide a great education system with their state funding because their population doesn’t cut short their own children’s education. Why can’t Woodstock understand that prices do go up, education is important and expensive, but in the long run is worth it and better for EVERYONE…..
… Not to mention Education IS a state mandated programme.
I voted on Wednesday, Feb.8th, along with 1349 other residents (29% turn-out, YES 1237, NO 113). I’m sure we all understood the issue on which we intended to vote as we drove to the polls…
Youngin’, The issue isn’t about whether or not I value education or whether I am concerned about our future, but rather how education is funded. In fact, if all my tax dollars went to the Woodstock Public Schools I would be thrilled, but unfortunately, they go to the state and are disproportionately redistributed with urban school districts receiving much, much more. And this is fine too, so long as I see a good return on this investment. An educated city means a safe city means a great place for us to go and visit(and maybe, less people would move to the country!) However, urban schools continue to fail, or should I say urban students continue to fail in large numbers despite all the money we give them. This is a negative return on my investment. Why? Because when it comes down to the truth of the matter, it does not take a “community” or a “village” to raise a child, it takes a family who rigorously values education and strictly diciplines their child to respect and to achieve it. It takes a family and an individual who are accountable to themselves and value the integrity needed to become self-sufficient. I believe that an essentially free public educational system is a mistake. It becomes an entitlement that burdens the tax payers. Yes, I am guilty of taking advantage of this entitlement. It has become something that we expect. Like other essential community services, there must be a price tag for those who use it. This places a value on it and when people are directly paying for a service they will be much more involved and interested in how their money is being spent. Maybe what we need are fees for services such as the school bus, sport teams, art, gym, music? I do not believe in a civic duty to help my community unless it is my choice. My civic duty is to see that I am not a burden to the community. There will be times where I will need the community and yes, I will not expect others to pay for this service. Do we need a safety net for those who can’t afford essential services? Yes. But when that safety net is bursting at the seams, buying a bigger net is not the answer. This takes us back to what we deem as being necessary services. To get back on track, is a resident trooper really an essential service?
[...] If we wish to tout Woodstock as a top place to live, then it seems that we should strive to provide the best education possible for our children. If we wish to do this, then we should figure out what it costs and what we need to do to raise the money. Building this foundation (based upon high quality education) for Woodstock will have many positive spin-offs for the community, especially for the small businesses and builders within the Town. In other words, investment in the futures of our children is ultimately an investment in the economic health and well-being of the Community of Woodstock. In deed, another commenter, “Youngin�, states “these children that we are trying to educate, are your future… and (our) future government.� (see comments in How Much Does Feeling Safer Cost?) [...]
I’m not sure how anyone can say we don’t spend enough on education in Woodstock! When you factor in the debtload for the schools we spend over 12K per student per year
based on the last numbers I saw. That is far higher than the national averages. This is not a prop 46 problem. This is a piss poor management problem!
The education budget isn’t strapped down, it’s the rest of the town budget that takes the heat and is left lacking. Last year they talked about keeping the 9th grade in the middle school to save money! The problem is that the the WA costs 600 bucks less a year than the middle school! What kind of foolish management is this…. Make no mistake about it… The BOE is trying to pull a fast one on the town and push to build our own high school. They want to abandon WA because they don’t have 100% control. There is a lot highjinx in the Education budget and they’re playing games with us. What we really need to do is hire an outside agent to assess the entire education system. Something I personally think the state should provide.
Our children need a good education, otherwise we are condemning them to the same fate as those who cannot seem to pay their taxes. One way is to keep class size reasonable- meaning- not packing kids 35 to 40 a classroom. Projected cuts mean teacher layoffs and increased class sizes!
Money-talk prompts me to look at the WHOLE BUDGET! Lets even things up! Lets have some focus on the General Government budget as well. Can anyone tell me where that town “calendar” is in the General Government budget booklet? I understand that this Board of Finance “publication” costs the tax payers in excess of $6,000.00 per year? While $6,000.00 isnt a lot of money- I think this example of waste, may be indicative of an even larger problem. Perhaps our money might better be spent asking those who really want one- to place their order, and then pick it up at Town Hall when they are printed. Better yet- trash the idea altogether- isnt this town in budgetary crisis?
OK heres another one! The Town Beach cost the Woodstock tax payers $17,000.00 last year- ($20,000.00 the previous year.) How about a “sticker” system, the idea being to generate revenue….(and quite possibly deter some of the citizens from Southbridge Mass who enjoy it as well.) These are several small illustrations, I’m sure there are more.
Good points Pict, Why do they even bother to publish anything on paper. The Town needs to creat a website that actually has useful information including the info you are talking about. The website is atrocious.
There was no “vote” on the resident trooper issue despite what the Villager printed. There was an opinion poll, with pieces of paper (take as many as you like) that you could write on and stuff in a box. The state police from Danielson have provided excellent support to Woodstock, and do their best to be responsive. I’m willing to invest in having a resident trooper that is always in the area, and knows the town, the people and the “usual suspects.”
[...] Why was the monster in Woodstock? December 18th, 2005 Thinker asks, “How much does feeling ‘safer’ cost?� February 8th, 2006 Crime and Punishment in Woodstock February 12th, 2006 [...]