County Exec. Abele will continue push on park patrol plan, citizens should too.

Hopefully the County Exec. is successful this time around. As I pointed out recently, this plan is a win for taxpayers and park users in Milwaukee. A lot of Supervisors have tried to justify their opposition to the plan by claiming that they regularly see Deputies patrolling parks, and therefore they're doing great!

But the truth is that outside of special events, Sheriff Deputies are rarely if ever patrolling parks or parkways. They're out on the freeways and interstate in the County, and frankly that is where they belong. If there's trouble in Doctors Park or Whitnall Park or Grant Park, who do you think is better positioned to handle the service call? A deputy who's out patrolling the freeway 15 minutes away, or a municipal squad who is likely mere minutes away?

It's a no brainer if your true objective is to increase public safety. Which is exactly why the majority of the Board voted it down. They're not concerned about public safety or response times or creating efficiencies in local government. They're concerned about protecting their turf and keeping the status quo going.

Good for County Executive Abele for pushing this forward.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said Monday he'll use his veto power to restore a proposed agreement to have the city take over lakefront and other park patrols.

The same veto also will restore a deal to have the city handle all cellphone 911 calls placed in the City of Milwaukee.

The plan as drafted by Abele and given preliminary approval by the city calls for the county to pay the city $1.2 million a year for the Milwaukee Police Department to take over patrols of parks in the city and $463,000 for the cellphone duties.

Abele also had called for cutting $3.3 million and 27 deputies from the sheriff's office, with savings used to help balance next year's county budget.

The County Board rejected the park patrol plan last week on a 12-6 vote, with supervisors saying the sheriff's office would likely devote more resources to the task. – jsonline