Safety, in and of itself, is a wide and fairly ambiguous goal. Safety is an abstract term which borders on the same lines of pain. If we were to have a ‘safety scale’ ranging from 1 to 10 (with 1 being in “mortal danger” and 10 being “completely safe”) we could never really measure every individual’s true feeling of safety, as these feelings change from day-to-day. Some citizens may feel safer if there is easy access to firearms, while others may feel in danger at the same prospect. Some citizens may feel safe with 50 police officers patrolling Provo City streets, while other would rather see 150 to make them feel safe. Some citizens may feel safe if Provo only has one murder every year, while others believe even one murder puts their life in mortal danger. Government can certainly view statistical and community data to track crime rates, but crime is just one piece of the safety pie.
Curtis outlines his beliefs on safety and some very specific areas where he would work to make individuals not only feel safe, but, in his opinion, make the community safer:
“Safety must be the highest priority of government. I know what it takes to support a police and fire department—and it is not just about money. Safety also means that we educate residents about home security; that we work with local schools to ensure our children are safe at school and on their way home; and we work to provide appropriate recreational activities for residents of all ages, including mentoring programs between our Senior Citizens and our Youth.” [1]
According to Curtis’ belief, safety can be generally stripped down into the following measures: Police and Fire; educating residents about home security; working in and around local schools; and providing recreational activities and mentoring programs in the community.
Police and Fire
When it comes to the City’s Police and Fire Departments, Curtis believes that the men and women who serve in these departments “should be the most effectively trained personnel and best equipped in the County.” [1] Honestly, who can disagree with that? Do you want Barney Fife patrolling the streets of Provo or do you want an individual who understands both their duty and the law, and is willing to sacrifice his/her life to support it and protect you? However, what is Curtis’ ‘minimum standard’ of effective training and “best” equipment? Once again, like safety, this is a fairly ambiguous term when we start talking about ‘effective training’ and “best” equipment. In general, our men and women of both the Police and Fire Departments go through extensive training and education in order to get where they are; many have military backgrounds where they learned how to handle volatile situations and how to extinguish different types of blazes. In my opinion, the latter is some of the best training any individual could ever receive.
Curtis states that “we can’t be satisfied with well enough” when it comes to our men and women in Police and Fire. [1] To this I have a simple question: What is “well enough” in your opinion? You will be the head of the Administrative branch of our municipal government, and you will need to communicate “well enough” to the seated members of the Council in order not only to garner funds but to also inform them that there is a disparity of training, equipment, personnel, or whatever you feel is not “well enough.” In addition to this, though additional training and continuing education are always appropriate, Provo Fire Chief D. Blair Camp seems to have more confidence in his men than Curtis does:
“Provo Fire & Rescue has provided fire protection and emergency response since 1890, and today is a modern, professional, all-hazards response organization. We provide a variety of emergency and non-emergency services, including a state-of-the-art paramedic transport service, and we respond to more than 8,000 requests for emergency assistance each year. Our personnel are highly trained professionals.” [2]
The Provo Police Department has a similar tune found on their departmental website:
“We are Committed to:
Providing High Quality, Community-Oriented Police Services With Sensitivity, Protecting Constitutional Rights, Problem Solving, Teamwork, Openness, Planning For The Future, Providing Leadership To The Profession. We are proud of the Diversity of our workforce which permits us to Grow and which Respects each as individuals and we strive for a Healthful workplace.” <sic> [3]
Beyond increasing a budget for these individual departments, what exactly will John Curtis do for the Police and Fire Departments that they are not already actively striving to do?
Home and School Security
In another field of safety within the community, John Curtis is advocating that we beginning looking at the foundation of any society: the home. Curtis believes that “security starts at the home,” and, once again, he is completely right. [1] The home is the center of any successful community; it is this simple structure that brings stability to neighborhoods, provides a nurturing environment for tomorrow’s leaders, and is the best school of values and prosperity. Curtis states in his goal of community safety that he wants to “work to educate residents of simple things they can do to ensure a safe and comfortable home. I will work to make sure our children are safe at school and in public parks.”
Once again, Curtis has hit yet another ambiguous ideology when he begins to speak about “safe and comfortable” situations at home. Thinking along his lines, Curtis is probably speaking about typical methodologies of home security: lock your doors and windows; do not leave underage children home alone; report suspicious activity to the authorities; and provide enough outside lighting to deter criminals from your home at night. In general, a majority of home owners understand and realize these facts because they have been engrained in us from our youth. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t walk down dark alleys alone. Don’t answer the door if you don’t know who the person is. This is really nothing more than common sense. However, if he is speaking about more than the typical methods of safety, then how is he going to deliver specialized home safety training to every individual in Provo? Are there going to be community educational seminars, and if so will they be mandatory to ensure everyone receives the message? What about those who want to attend but do not have transportation, will transportation be provided? How is this message of “safety and comfort” going to be delivered to the people and what is the message going to be?
Curtis also addresses an issue that most parents worry about, and that is their child’s safety at both school and play. Ever since April 20, 1999, the belief that our public school system had inherent systems to ensure student safety was shattered in a terrible way. Since this time, schools have taken measures to safeguard students while they obtain an education. ‘Resource Officers’ are seen in many, if not all, schools around America, and evacuation plans are present if a school shooting or disaster occurs. This is not a perfect system, but it is also impossible for both parents and government to completely safeguard a school from all potential harms which may occur. Curtis states that he “will work to make sure our children are safe at school and in public parks.” Once again, I have a simple question: How? Would John Curtis like to see more uniformed police officers patrolling the halls of our schools and city parks? Does he feel that community education will fill a gap in the apparent lack of safety we have in this community in regards to our schools and parks? Will he advocate stricter legislation punishing those who make our community unsafe? What course is he going to take in order to make schools and parks safer to our children and to the public?
Recreational Activities
In Curtis’ opinion, he believes that “safe and appropriate activities” need to be provided by the Parks and Recreation Department to “keep kids off the streets.” [1] The Parks and Recreation Department at the City of Provo is already greatly involved within the community and provides a wide-array of activities and services to all ages of the general public. As a matter of fact, the current activity guide which covers Fall/Winter 2009 is 41-pages long and full of activities. [4] I understand the notion of ‘keeping kids off the streets’ and having wholesome recreational activities present, but from what I can see the Parks and Recreation Department is already doing a fine job of providing both services. What other “safe and appropriate activities” does Curtis have in mind for the citizens of Provo?
Also, beyond the belief of having a wide variety of activities to choose from, we hit yet another ambiguous term when speaking of “safe and appropriate activities.” What exactly does this mean? Any physical activity can be potentially unsafe, so is the City of Provo only going to provide activities which have zero risk for injury? The ambiguity behind this very broad belief for recreational activities literally jades the true meaning behind what Curtis desires from the Parks and Recreation Department. What specific activities would you like to see provided which are currently not provided, Mr. Curtis?
In Review
Last of all, under all of these issues of safety, there is one overarching question and concern that every Provo resident should be asking throughout this discussion: How is John Curtis going to pay for all of these initiatives? Throughout his discussion of ‘Safety’, John Curtis speaks about increasing the feeling of safety in neighborhoods; increasing the effectiveness of both Police and Fire personnel; and providing community educational services. Not only this, but Curtis “will make sure that all city employees are properly trained and equipped to serve our residents” (emphasis added). [1] With a tight budget already present, how is Curtis going to add the necessary funds to meet all of these goals? When we start talking about training professional staff at the City, coupled with training and ‘properly equipping’ Police and Fire personnel, we are talking about millions of dollars in costs. This does not include vastly expanding the budget and operations of the Parks and Recreation Department to include a wider variety of community services and educational initiatives, beyond the currently provided recreational activities.
I invite every Provo resident to look over the adopted City Budget for 2010 and look at 1) the limited amount of resources the City is already dealing with (please see Revenue Sources on p.29), and 2) what departments are already utilizing a vast majority of the General Fund (please see General Fund Departmental Budgets on p.32). [5] The three departments in which Curtis seeks to provide increased ‘safety’ to our community, through a long list of ambitious goals and initiatives, are already the top three funded programs run by the City of Provo. Mr. Curtis, where is the money going to come from? How are you going to fund all of these new initiatives and programs? And last of all, how are these large investments going to make our community more ‘safe’ in the end?
[1] http://www.johncurtis.org/safety.html
[2] http://provo.org/fire.fire_main.html
[3] http://provo.org/ppd.ppd_main.html
[4] http://provo.org/downloads/parks/activityguidefallwin2009_web.pdf (2.35MB File)
[5] http://provo.org/downloads/finance/budget_adopted_10.pdf (5.91MB File)
