Growth forces law enforcement agencies to get bigger

Wendy Edmondson has spent her whole life in Valley. It’s where she grew up and where she now lives with her husband and children.

And yet, it’s now, more than ever, that she’s worried about public safety.

If the Kia Manufacturing Plant in West Point, Ga., does in fact encourage numerous people to reside in Valley, Edmondson is convinced the amount of law enforcement currently patrolling the streets won’t be enough to keep everyone safe.

“I think the crime is going to get worse as we continue to grow,” she said.

Valley’s new Police Chief Michael Taylor understands the potential for an increase in crime as the city grows, but he said adding dozens of officers might not be the best solution. The veteran police administrator would rather review how Valley can best utilize its resources to optimize its service to the public. Taylor believes this could involve using more technology to patrol the city than in the past.

When Taylor arrived in April, he didn’t think having two officers on each shift was enough. Since then, there are between four and six officers on each shift. That number is bound to increase, as Taylor hopes to add 15 more officers during the next five years. Valley currently has 25 sworn officers.

“We don’t know how we are going to grow, but we have an idea,” Taylor said.

Besides Kia and its suppliers, cities like Valley in east Alabama could see a population surge from the expansion at Fort Benning, Ga., under the Base Realignment and Closure of Fort Knox, Ky. Then, there’s a retail mall — a “mini-TigerTown,” according to Valley City Administrator Tim Bryan — being built at exit 77 in Valley and Celebrate Alabama, a massive retail and entertainment complex planned for nearby Opelika, that are bound to draw visitors.

Larry J. Williams, a West Point native now living in Lanett, said he’s happy to see potential growth in the area, but it’s also a cause for concern.

“Most people only see the good — jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “But I see crime, crime, crime.”

Chambers County and Valley

Chambers County Sheriff Sid Lockhart started asking for more deputies last year. The County Commission allowed him one then and he hopes to add one more each of the next two years.

Lockhart justifies his request with the growth expected from Kia. Simply put, he believes more people mean more crime and more areas to patrol.

“Crime has picked up and we haven’t had in increase in deputies in years and years,” he said.

In Valley, Taylor and Bryan hope to learn how the police department can best serve a growing and diverse community by developing a new strategic plan. Bryan said Valley was once a busy textile community where people walked to work. Now, because it’s more of a commuter city, he said he expects the city’s own strategic plan to call for improvements to support the transformation.

Taylor said they plan to survey the community, business leaders, city leadership and department employees and hold town hall meetings in order to create a priority list of goals for the police department to achieve in the next five years.

“As a police department, we will not be able to grow at the rate the city does,” he said.

The amount of traffic in the city is already on the rise, so Taylor said he plans to create a traffic enforcement unit next year to specifically focus on that growing issue.

Other changes will emerge from the strategic plan. Taylor said it’s possible for the city to use technology, such as cameras and lights, in specific areas of the city to assist officers in enforcement.

Lee County

According to the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, the ratio of sworn officers employed by Alabama law enforcement agencies last year was 2.3 per 1,000 residents, a slight increase over the national average of two officers per 1,000 population.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office isn’t even close to that ratio, according to Sheriff Jay Jones. The office simply can’t grow as quickly as the county is, especially now.

Smiths Stations, which has seen dramatic growth in recent years, is expected to experience a huge growth spurt in the next few years because of the expansion at Fort Benning, Jones said.

Then there’s Kia. Between the plant and its suppliers, there could be employment opportunities for more than 8,000 people. They are expected to live in nearby cities.

Lt. Glen Hall, a veteran employee of the sheriff’s office, said he sees Lee County cities like Beulah and Beauregard growing, but none as fast as Smiths Station.

“Our call volume has just exploded in that area,” he said. More people has meant more crime, he said. “It’s really snowballing and it’s every day.”

Jones notices the county’s growth every day he reports to work. A new jail and administrative offices were added onto the justice center a couple years ago as a direct result of the county’s growth. The new facility opened in June 2007.

Jones said he has requested four additional deputies in the coming fiscal year and plans to seek at least that many in the next. It may not improve Lee County’s ratio by much, but every bit helps, he said.

Auburn and Opelika

Auburn’s Assistant Police Chief Tommy Dawson said the department gets the most out of the numbers it has, at least for now. Dawson would like to see Auburn reach 111 officers in the next two years.

The potential impact of Kia or BRAC may not reach into Auburn, but given past trends and citizens’ desire for more traffic enforcement in neighborhoods and more visibility, Dawson believes the department must grow.

“As police chief, we always want more,” he said. “We never feel like we have enough, but we try to grow with the community.”

Opelika Police Chief Tommy Mangham shared Dawson’s desire for more officers. The issue seems more pressing now as Mangham expects growth from Celebrate Alabama, BRAC and a number of new subdivisions in the city.

“We are going to be looking at future growth and looking at projections,” he said. “As the city expands, we create more sectors to patrol.”

Opelika officers — seven to 10 per shift — cover six sectors now, but Mangham said all that could increase in the coming years.

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