Geauga record. [volume] (Chardon, Geauga County, Ohio) 1952-1962, 1953-01-15
RohcsDSpur7ment Should
N@Be 3SEJ4Bp0y7Ing"

In presenting the police and mayors court report the
Chardon village council last Thursday evening Clerk Jennie
Davidson called attention to the fact the Chardon police OPP
Grafton more than "self-Supportng"
Various councimen have made similar statements in
justifying increasing police department expenses.
To my mind dangerous and to consider
police department 'self-supporting."
1t is good practice hire young man. give him
blue uniform gun and high powered automobile and
pect him to go out and be ''self-supporting"
Actually the police department is not and cannot be
self supporting in true All the money they take
in from John O. Public. It's the John O. Public
in the MAN. who pays the taxes for all village operations
The police department is merely tapping another pocket for
not otherwise available to village officials for taxing
purposes.
If the incentive to make the police department "sef
supporting removed it void make for better and pos
siby less expensive police department.
For example the closing of the village dump by health
officials could have been avoided with small of po-
lice work AS result of this neglect, Chardon folk
spending rather substantial amounts of money having rub
bish hauled to distant dump.
If the police department had included the village dump
in their regular tours of the village and the street depart
ment had cooperaed pushing ashes empty tin cans
Chardon today would have Clean sanitary easily available
dump Probably arrests would have been necessary few
searching out of offenders and warnings of future prosecu
tOn would probably have been enough.
But there is money in policing dump The work was
neglected The dump odorous The health de-
partment closed it. And Chardon taxpayers pay the bill
The uniformity of fines released from mayors court
provides in itself to doubt if the court is being oper
ated in the best interests of justice and the community. 1t
creates suspicion the court is operating arbitrary
system of fines designed to produce the maximum amount of
revenue with the least trouble and expense.
just doesn't make that all drunk drivers for
ample should be fined $100 One hundred dollars lot of
money to people and much to others Drunk
drivers to life and of them certainly
should to aeven if it costs the village little money to
keep them there And in it possible there
mitigating circumstances that might indicate the fine should
be less than the hundred dollars
The first consideration of court should be the protec
Gon of the community Second but of almost equal cOnsd
Grafton is adequate punitive and preventive in
gard the offender Certainly the last consideration should
be to make the court "self-supporting"
Time and gain small town communities like Chardon
have been exposed for operating police department and
court for the entapment of the traveller passing through
Folks in Chardon anxious to avoid any possibility of any
thing like that happening here.
Folks ntChardon would prefer their police department
NOT to be sefsupportng Adequate police protection
a thing able and willing to buy and pay for.
John.