Also, here is a link to a (large – 11MB) PowerPoint presentation given by Leesburg Chief of Police Joe Price to the town council on the events of last Friday. Not a lot of new data, but some additional details you might find interesting.

Thanks to Frank Holtz of Leesburg’s Crime Prevention Council for passing these details along to LeesburgTalk.

I think one of the more relevant points in this comment is the discussion about why the emergency alert service failed to offer up any sort of warning for over 3 hours. I find it, quite frankly, unbelievable that not one person in all of Loudoun Co. and Leesburg could take the 20 seconds it would take to activate this system with a message saying “stay inside, gunman on the loose”. I managed to get a blog post on the air from my iPhone while running down Edwards Ferry Rd. 60 secs after the guy fired a shot in the street. Surely someone in the sheriff’s department in a nice air conditioned office with a full keyboard and a cup of coffee could do at least as well.

As a side note, I want to make it clear that I completely support the Leesburg police department. I got to see them up close, in action, on Friday and they were as professional and effective as you could have hoped. The issue lurking behind all of this is one of support (or lack of support) for the police department by certain members of the town council. It’s a long story for another post, but please don’t confuse my rants on this issue as being anything but supportive of the town police given the situation they are placed in by their “bosses.”

To paraphrase, it’s a letter on faux town stationery made by xeroxing a business card taped to a sheet of paper, paid for and distributed by Kristen, yet purporting to speak for the council as a whole. She proceeds to laud the neighbors, police, and anyone else who was remotely involved as though her imprimatur is somehow on their actions. Then in a complete non sequitur, she proceeds to pander to a very divisive neighborhood issue about temporary barricades on their street, urging people to come speak on the issue on Tuesday night (knowing full well that the petitioner’s agenda is going to be jammed with people wanting to speak on her inadequate support for town police and what she and the council intend to do to address the issue.)

I, for one, have no time for politicians who try to use this drama for their own gains.

So my question to Chief Price, John Wells, and the town council is this. How many more robberies, assaults, and god forbid, worse have to happen before you people stop making excuses and put some police on the ground instead of tooling around in their cars? There are all sorts of arguments and hand-waving made in the past against doing this, but there are a few in favor of it that you cannot argue against.

First, Leesburg is a community. Yes, there’s  a community policing program, mostly implemented and staffed out of the goodness and dedication of a handful of town officers. But for the Leesburg police to feel that sense of community that the residents and merchants expect, they need to walk the streets. Stop in the stores, visit with merchants, greet citizens on the street, and add that extra added bit of confidence and security to our streets that just cannot be had from behind the wheel of a cruiser. The presence of one or two officers in an area full of pedestrians, transient traffic, and lots of commerce would do wonders in several ways.

Skate punks in the town garage would likely find another place to play that didn’t result in damaged vehicles and town property. Gang members looking to tag private property or intimidate residents out for an evening walk might consider another venue. People looking to rob local merchants might think twice if they notice that police on foot are watching alleys, visiting shops, and generally making themselves immediately available to residents and merchants. Scofflaws who block traffic in the middle of town during rush hour with illegal left turns, vehicles violating the prohibition on through trucks, etc. would be greatly reduced by an officer visible on King or Market. And for officers who don’t live in town (as most don’t), providing that direct, daily contact with people they are charged to serve and protect builds a relationship with the community that a small town like Leesburg deserves and those relationships don’t come from behind the wheel of a police car.

We all know that riding in a comfortable, air-conditioned vehicle is greatly preferable to walking a beat around downtown. It’s drilled into officers that getting put on foot patrol is some kind of less-than-desirable duty. But nothing could be further from the truth. I guarantee you that the residents and merchants of downtown would welcome these officers with open arms and immediately make them part of the great community that revolves around the pedestrian areas of our town.

And honestly, the incremental cost to assign two officers to this part of town on foot instead of in a car has to be offset by savings in vehicle costs and the reduced loss of business, property, and bodily injury. We pay taxes for this kind of service. Our town deserves it. It’s time for the council and town leaders to stop making excuses and do what the citizens have been asking for years. Put police officers on foot patrol in the downtown area. Now.