To the editor:

Voting “no” on the proposed police facility in north Lawrence should not necessarily mean that we fail to see the inadequacy of current facilities and the need for new ones. At $28 million, the facility, as proposed, would give the police everything they think they need. Unfortunately, that’s been the problem: the police have been buying everything they think they need, be it armored personnel carriers, machine guns or souped-up SUV’s and performance cars for high-speed chases that will never happen — toys that will never be used for their intended purpose and that make us no safer. 

The current state of affairs did not happen on its own: facilities falling into disrepair indicate a systemic failure to plan and properly prioritize resources for maintenance and modernization. How, then, do we punish the poor management of the past while solving the problems of the present? I would suggest that we give the police some of what they think they need. If the police can get everything they think they need with $28 million, we should find out what they can get for $9 million. 

Perhaps, if we put the proper stranglehold on the budget, we can get those responsible for the past mismanagement to let loose of the unnecessary desires and find out what is truly needed while sending the message that we aren’t going to tolerate this recklessness in the future.  Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to vote “no” because there isn’t a middle option at present. Support a new police facility, but not the one that is proposed.