Council candidate argues for a city police force

While public safety is at the forefront of many College Park City Council campaigns, few candidates are pushing for the city to develop its own police force because of the high costs and likely tax increases such a move would entail.

But District 1 candidate Fazlul Kabir said he thinks the city could add a police department while holding steady — or even decreasing — its tax rate, by soliciting grants and donations from local businesses, placing advertisements on patrol cars and contracting out city officers for special events.

College Park spends about $1 million annually to have extra Prince George's County Police officers patrol the city on contract.

But Kabir faulted the program and said its officers don't always respond quickly enough. He also said residents would find it more reassuring to see police cars emblazoned with the city's name.

"If many other small cities in the country have their own police force, why cannot we have our own?" he wrote on his campaign website's blog.  "It may take several years, but if we do not start now, it will never happen in future."

But longtime District 2 Councilman Bob Catlin said Kabir's plan seems unfeasible, even in the long-term. Catlin — who is not running against Kabir — said outside funding would be too unstable to rely on.

"How can you fund a police department based on people giving you money? What if they stop doing it, fire all the police officers?" Catlin said.

Two cities near College Park — Hyattsville and Greenbelt — have their own police departments, which are budgeted to cost $7.4 million and $10 respectively, this fiscal year:

Each sum represents about half of those cities' budgets. College Park's annual budget is typically around $12 million.

City officials estimate a College Park police force would cost $4 million annually, but $2 million of that could be saved by eliminating the contract police program and receiving a tax credit from the county for no longer needing to have its own officers patrol the city.

Kabir said that beyond his preliminary ideas as a council candidate, he would call for the city to study other municipal police forces if elected.

But many candidates said expanding the existing contract police is a more realistic approach to improving safety in College Park, a view that echoes the finding of a 2007 city-commissioned study that recommended against a full police force.

Other candidates also said they would ask for the University Police to expand their concurrent jurisdiction — the off-campus area in which they patrol. The jurisdiction already includes downtown, the Knox Box area and sections of Route 1 and Old Town, but some want to see it expanded to reflect the movement of students into rental houses in other parts of the city.

bholt at umdbk dot com