Active Drug and Theft Reduction Measures

Proposal Abstract
 

The Village of Sabina, Ohio is a rural community in southwest Ohio with a population of approximately 2700. The community’s economy was significantly affected in 2008 by the pull out of DHL from the area, as well as Palm Harbor Homes and Mac Tools, which employed many of the citizens. Since then unemployment has been a huge problem, as well as the insurgence of drugs and theft into the area. The Village Administration and police department have worked hard to fight these problems with little success. The current administration is working to clean up the Village and make it more attractive for residents and businesses to move into by improving amenities, paving streets, updating water and sewer infrastructures, passing building standards legislation and updating police vehicles. To continue to improve and make the community feel safe, the Village needs to combat the drug and theft problems and would like to purchase security cameras to place around the Village. These security cameras will be used to track the drug distribution and thefts in the Village so police resources can be used wisely. Most of the cameras will be used on the bike trail, where drug and theft activity is occurring, as well as using a couple of the cameras in a mobile fashion around the Village to catch more criminal activity. In addition, the Village would like to purchase bait bikes, as bike theft is a huge problem. This will also assist the police department in their ability to catch and stop those who are stealing in the community. These measures along with current procedures used by the police department, such as the use of black cruisers at night and unmarked police vehicle, should drastically curb the violent crime in the area. All video related to criminal cases will be kept as public record by being downloaded to dedicated, secure, redundant external hard drives.