Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:23:52 -0400
From: Mark Stinson
Subject: Pittsboro and Siler City police
I read a post about speeding inside Pittsboro city limits . It seems someone wants to bitch and complain about the non enforcement of speed limits after moving from a big town with a big police department to a small town with a small department . I have known police officers from Pittsboro and Siler City all my life and their is one constant in the last 20 years . The powers that be will spend money on any and everything but the police department . Siler City has had days with only 2 officers on duty . Pittsboro is in the same boat . They have a beer can budget and these outsiders move in expecting Brinks like security while paying low taxes are upset for the lack of patrolling on a patch of road . When your a police chief over a town the size of Pittsboro or Siler City and you only have two or three officers on duty to cover an entire city you have to pick your battles . Do you want to police the neighborhoods to prevent break-ins and murders or write speeding tickets ? At the moment Pittsboro is pushing over 5000 residents in a 4.5 square mile area not including numerous business locations . With 3 cops on duty thats about 1660 plus citizens to protect per cop that covers and area of 1.5 square miles each . Why don’t you try that magic trick and see how many speeding tickets you can write while protecting the town .
The sheriffs department has a bit bigger budget but even the sheriff has to spread resources thin as Chatham County is one of the largest counties in the state at 710 square miles . With the recent infusion of people and rapid development it has left all of our police , sheriffs departments stretched thin .
If you want better policing of an area you need to be willing to pay higher taxes and push your elected officials to quit blowing money on pet projects and allocate more to Law enforcement in this county other wise shut your trap . We have some of the best dedicated officers in the state and for what they have to do they aren’t paid enough nor is there enough of them with the gang related drug trafficking in the 3 corners of the county .. We have issues with phentenol , opiods , heroin and other powerful drugs like meth as big business for local gangs . These are centered around Pittsboro and Siler city so now you have that to deal with on a handful of officers . All these folks move into Chatham for its low taxes and scenery ,, then they bulldoze down the scenery for Mc Mansions and demand more infrastructure to feel safe with the end result of explosive taxes in just a few more years to pay for all this extra security and infrastructure .
So in my opinion if you want to bitch about anything why don’t you bitch about the lack of support for our law enforcement from the powers that control the cash to pay for them with . I personally think our Police chiefs and Sheriff do an awesome job with the resources they have to work with . Goodnite Mark 🙁