OFFICERS COST MORE

Re: Ontario pays Ottawa $1.127M for new officers, Aug. 5.

How about this for a headline instead: "Ottawa pays $10M for new
officers"? When international crime-prevention expert Irwin Waller
spoke to my criminology class earlier this year (shortly after the
first time this money was announced), he pointed out what really goes
into hiring more police officers.

While the province is offering to reimburse Ottawa less than $30,000
per officer, other costs associated with employing police officers --
such as training, equipment and office space -- bringing the total
closer to $100,000 per officer.

That means the City of Ottawa must find $10 million in its
chronically strapped budget to accommodate the hiring of these 95 new
officers. This money will come from property tax hikes or, more
likely, from cuts to social services.

The real pity is that police can only arrest the people who have
already chosen a life of crime; social programs actually provide
genuine alternatives to those who need them.

Charles Akben-Marchand,

Ottawa