Reasons for more police fall short

Amherst has an affluent population, low poverty rate, and high quality law-abiding residents. Supervisor Satish Mohan is correct in his contention that the demographics of Amherst don't lend themselves to high crime. Poverty, drugs, failing schools and an overall breakdown of the family are the forces that drive crime. These factors for the most part are not present in Amherst. We are below the average number of officers for a town our size. Population is not the only factor when considering police force size. The demographics and the crime rate should also be considered. If we look at wealthy suburban communities with low crime rates, how does the size of our police force stack up?

The head of the police club mentions a high transient crime rate in Amherst and falsely suggests that marked police units deter these criminals. These people are usually hardened career criminals and will not be deterred by anything once they set their mind on committing a crime. If more police deterred criminals, Buffalo would be the safest community in our area. As far as people traveling in Amherst to work or college while it may mean more traffic accidents, there is little evidence to claim these people will be breaking the law. Also University at Buffalo has its own department to handle crime on the campus. Last year $19 million of the $25 million dollars for general town tax section of my tax bill was used for the police budget, that is 75.4 percent of the total. If the Amherst police worked on the east side of Buffalo, where demographics were not stacked in their favor, they would have a lot less to brag about.

Robert Kolmetz

Williamsville