Two-Deputy Deployment

* Re “Needs, Risks Determine Deployment,” Ventura County Perspective, Aug. 20.

It has been said that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks has spent most of his career patrolling the safest place in the United States. This kind of experience has a tendency to distort the reality of police patrol, for him as well as for his critics. Thus the recent flap over the sheriff’s use of two-person patrol cars.

What is the view of police science textbooks on two-person versus one-person patrol cars?

* The two-person patrol car may provide greater officer safety by doubling the firepower and physical presence. Mistakes made by one officer may be picked up by his partner. They can take turns driving and writing repots and, of course, two pairs of eyes can be better than one pair. On those quiet, dark, lonely nights, the officers have someone to talk to and help keep them awake.

* The one-person patrol car is supposed to cover half the area of a two-person car. This doubles the number of cars patrolling an area. That’s important because even an empty patrol car parked in an area has been proven to reduce crime. A lone officer can devote full attention to the job rather than joking or arguing with a partner. In the confines of a patrol car, personalities can cause difficulties and reduce effectiveness.

So much for the sheriff’s and police union’s desire for two-officer cars. Let’s talk about what is really important to the citizens who receive police services.

It’s called response time. Let’s say a huge, hairy dude with bad breath is kicking in your front door. What is more important, the two officer / one officer bit or how fast a patrol car gets there? Whether it’s burglars in your house or some bad guy stealing the battery from your car, it’s response time.

Kathy Long, chair of the Board of Supervisors, is active in the debate over the two-person versus one-person patrol car. Because Ventura County is experiencing financial distress due to the mental health merger mistake that Supervisor Long helped vote into being, I sure hope the sheriff does not ask her for advice on how to run the Sheriff’s Department.

County Ordinance 4088 will result in continuing degradation of all other county services including other public safety services such as food inspection, animal control and public health. This has already happened to all departments except the sheriff’s, which is flooded with extra sales tax money from Proposition 172.

The citizens of Ventura County would be better served if the sheriff listened to his critics.

DICK CLEMENCE

Ventura