Whitewater’s had more than its share of property damage from vandalism. Strong property rights make a for a strong community; free markets in private property are the foundation of a productive society.
We have vandalism, too, and just about everyone contends that much of it comes from over-drinking, leaving a bar, after weekend last call. Some are students, others are likely non-student drunks.
Alcohol makes all this happen? There are many people who drink without damaging property. There are even many drunks, complete rumpots, who don’t do these things.
Over at the Royal Purple, Whitewater Police Chief Jim Coan comments on the subject, in two stories, “Alcohol likely contributor to downtown vandalism occurring during school year” and Downtown vandalism a concern of police, citizens.
Coan observes, in the first of the two stories:
City of Whitewater police say drinking, more than students, is the cause of vandalism near bars, but community members think students are involved too often.
“We ask students to respect the community that they live in,” said City of Whitewater Police Chief James Coan.
“We’d like to think they have as much invested interest in our town as anybody else does, and so to not engage in disorderly acts or vandalism because obviously it’s hurtful to people, it causes financial hardship and beyond that it’s just disrespectful.”
In the second story, Coan continues, after a list of ststistics on vandalism:
The department made 43 arrests in 2008 for criminal damage or vandalism and estimates the total loss to be more than $60,000.
“These are statistics, but I think that it goes deeper in terms of the overall impact it has on victims of crime,” Coan said.
“If you live in a house or have a business and come in and find a planter was destroyed overnight, or maybe a window was smashed, you truly are a victim of a criminal act.
“There is a physiological impact that you can’t calculate in terms of statistics or how much it was worth in terms of property value.”
There is such an impact. Coan’s right. If it should be true that this is a problem late in the evenings, and after last call, then an additional police presence — and it should be local — might help.
Why local, though? Because we’re a small town, and leaders should lead by example. If we need more people for some weekends, then why not the leaders of the department, in addition to other officers?
Whitewater’s too small to pretend she’s large, but large enough for leaders to slough off work demands behind layers of staff, administration, etc.
If we were a much smaller town, city and police leaders would be true, working leaders. Three or four might be assigned to frontline (customer-facing) work, and the one manager would be a working leader, spending only part of his or her time in managerial and administrative tasks.
Sadly, we’re just large enough so that leaders who don’t want to do the work of a small town insulate themselves from necessary tasks through an administrative or bureaucratic barrier.
It’s telling that in Whitewater, Wisconsin, a small town, City Mananger Brunner promises to reduce bureaucracy to save money. He’s been in office for years, yet bureaucracy still waits to be tackled. The same might be said of Coan — he’s been in office (and in office, and in office) for years, yet there’s been no real solution involving a true hands-on-deck approach.
There will be any number of protestations that the chief can’t do that, it’s unthinkable! Barriers here, obstacles there, limitations everywhere in between. It’s all so hard.
I’m not convinced. After all, if there were an awards photo opportunity involved, I’d guess that Chief Coan (or City Manager Brunner) would have no trouble climbing Everest to reach the camera.
Main Street is far closer.