John Musolf recently sent the following email to the Oro Valley Council. Anyone that lives in OV or pays taxes here should read John's message.
Art
*************************************************************************************
Mayor and Council,
Oro Valley has conducted past professional management studies of some of its departments such as Building Safety, Public Works, Legal, and Library to provide a detailed analysis of how the Town compares to established standards and benchmarks of operations.
Management studies are conducted with the intent of utilizing an experienced and independent third party to review current strategies and operations and make recommendations to improve efficiency and delivery of services.
Two management studies of the Police and Parks/Recreation Departments had been approved and scheduled to commence in the summer of 2010.
The new Oro Valley Mayor and Council decided to eliminate those studies.
Therefore, it falls to the individual taxpayer to question some of the operations and budgets for various Town Departments.
Please review the attached analysis that I made of the Police Department Task Force. Please make this email part of the Oro Valley Public Records.
Thank You
John Musolf
Oro Valley Taxpayer
Oro Valley Police Department Task Force
Counter Narcotics Alliance (CNA)
A multi jurisdictional task force that consists of 18 participating agencies to include local law enforcement, prosecuting agencies, the Arizona High Intensity Trafficking Area (AZHIDTA), and Davis Monathan Air Force Base (DMAFB) operating in the Pima County metro area. Each agency compliments the task force with staffing and administrative processes.
OV R 09-26 Two officers to Pima County/Tucson Metropolitan Counter Narcotics Alliance
OV R 09-26 One officer to Pima County HIDTA Investigative Task Force (PCHITF)
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
There are numerous multi jurisdictional task force groups that include federal agents, prosecuting agencies, and state and local enforcement agencies. Each task force takes a different segment of the trafficking, production, and use of drug related crime to combat this national epidemic.
OV R 09-62 Two Officers to Tucson Task Force
OV R 09-62 One Officer to Pima County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Financial Task Force
Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF)
These are small cells of highly trained, local based investigators, analysts, linguists, SWAT experts, and other specialists from dozens of U. S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. It is a multi-agency effort led by the Justice Department and FBI designed to combine the resources of federal, state, and local law enforcement.
OV R 02-55 One Officer to Terrorism (FBI)
The Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM)
A multi jurisdictional task force that focuses on street gang crime as well as U. S. border and immigration crimes. GIITEM strives to accomplish its mission through a task force concept involving personnel from tribal, federal, state, county, and city law enforcement agencies.
OV R 09-64 One Officer to GIITEM
1 Sergeant
7 officers
3 Officers to CNA
3 Officers to DEA
1 Officer to Terror
1 Officer to GIITEM
8 Total
$659,684 2010 Adopted Budget
$756,000 2010 for FY2010/2011 Recommended Budget
$816,883 2011 for FY2010/2011 Recommended Budget
The Drug Enforcement Agency (these 3 officers serve the Tucson Task Force and Pima County HIDTA);
Counter Narcotics Alliance (these 3 officers serve the Pima County/Tucson Metropolitan Narcotics Alliance and Pima County HIDTA Investigative Task Force);
Joint Terrorism Task Force (this officer serves with the FBI for terrorist activities);
Gang and Immigration Intelligence Enforcement Mission (GIITEM) (this officer addresses gang and immigration crimes);
These officers do not spend a significant amount of time on the local streets of Oro Valley. Although the Oro Valley officers are employees of Oro Valley, they are under the direct daily supervision of their respective agency task forces.
The officers’s salary, overtime, and benefits are funded through the Oro Valley General Fund. There are grants from the Federal, State, and County governments that offset part (but not all) of the salary, overtime, and benefits.
The citizens of Oro Valley already pay for this form of public safety protection through Federal, State, and County taxes.
In my opinion, there is no valid reason for these officers to be part of the local police department budget regardless of the partial reimbursement through grants. They should be direct employees of the Federal. State, and County government agency, not the local police department.
The citizens of Oro Valley pay additional taxes from the General Fund to support the Federal, State, and County Police Task Force Program.
What is the justification behind the Town of Oro Valley continuing to provide support for the Police Task Force Program?
This is a subsidy that results in double taxation for a resident of Oro Valley.
Perhaps the Oro Valley Town Council might want to approach the Federal, State, and County government agencies to hire personnel and budget for their own agencies directly?
.
