DAMASCUS, Va. – A day after town council candidates said the police department should be cut by two members – and less than a year after the former chief’s arrest on drug charges – Mayor Creed Jones said the entire department will be on the chopping block after next month’s election.
None of the current six-member police force has been charged with a crime.
However, Jones says the department is sucking the town’s budget dry – and officers are not doing their job.
"The chief actually runs the department. If you want change in the department, you’ve got to begin with the chief," Jones said, adding that the rest of the officers are "lackadaisical."
"I think that’s what the people of the town want," Jones said. "It’s not me, the people come to me and tell me, and I get complaints all the time. The people are not happy with our police department with a long list of reasons, not because we have too many or they spend too much money, but because they’re not doing their job."
He said if town council members Marina Farmer and Maurice Parris lose their seats in the May 6 election and he is re-elected mayor – all of which he predicts will happen – he thinks the entire department will be fired when the next council term begins in July.
Police Chief John Rouse said the mayor’s statements and town council candidates’ call at a Tuesday forum to cut police department spending are political posturing and nothing more.
"I don’t see that happening myself, but the mayor’s entitled to his opinion" Rouse said. "Everybody that I’ve spoken with seems to support us."
Rouse said he "wouldn’t want to speculate on" what would happen if Farmer and Parris lose their council seats.
He addressed some council candidates’ comments about the police department needing to be cut by at least two members in order to reduce the budget.
"I know that one of the candidates made a comment they saw a police officer do 10 laps around Food City one time, and he probably did because we were watching a vehicle that was in Food City parking lot at one time, and there’s not a better way to watch the vehicle than to be in the area," Rouse said.
He said officers are generous about not ticketing all speeders. And high fuel bills for police cars are driven by rising gas prices – "it doesn’t have anything to do with us running the cars too much."
As for allegations made last year by two women who claimed sexual misconduct by officers on the job, including Rouse, the chief discounted the accusations as "another rumor started by a former employee."
Jones said he believes the allegations are true.
"They’re just not the caliber there," Jones said of the officers. "One good man is worth a dozen sorry ones, and you need some good people, some people that are energetic and want to do something for the town, not just want to hang on."
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
Amount budgeted for Damascus, Va., police salaries:
2008 - $167,000
2007 - $167,000
2006 - $143,094
2005 - $94,300
2004 - $91,493
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