Patrol presence

Are things looking up for the Warren police department?

The chronically short staffed department gets back a couple of officers recently and will have some patrol partners in the DEA and Adult Parole Authority when they start their Weed & Seed this spring.

Additionally, this weekend's warrant sweep, even though it was countywide, made quite an impact in the city with over 50 people either being arrested or turning themselves in and paying their court costs (it reminds me of former YPD Chief Bob Bush, who was a big proponent of making arrests on small charges and traffic offenses. His reasoning was that most bad guys start off small and then either commit more serious crimes or are victims of more serious crimes themselves, so having them off the streets was a blessing. YPD executed the policy with such zeal, however, that it ultimately led to federal oversight of the Mahoning County Jail because of so many people being put inside).

And last week, Chief Tim Bowers announced that despite being down several officers on the street, he has decided to increase the department's presence on the northeast side, the site of the city's lone homicide in 2010 at the corner of Washington and Vine streets, an area where residents have complained about drug activity and prostitution for months.

Whenever officers are not answering calls, they are to be patrolling in the area and hopefully keeping people who should be indoors indoors.

It's part of a new attitude I've been seeing next door for the last couple of months; instead of complaining about what they don't have, their figuring out ways to do things with the resources they do have. That is refreshing. Whining accomplishes nothing.

There is still a long way to go, but at least it's a start. At least someone is doing something. And if the good economic news continues and makes an impact here, expect more cops to come back. Politically speaking, the administration has no other choice if they get extra money.

To get a true gauge of how it works out, check back at the end of the summer. Then will find out which end is really up.