AP - Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann said Monday that if elected, he would authorize putting up to 5,000 additional law enforcement officers on the streets of Pennsylvania's largest cities by 2010 to fight escalating crime.
PHILADELPHIA - Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann said Monday that if elected, he would authorize putting up to 5,000 additional law enforcement officers on the streets of Pennsylvania's largest cities by 2010 to fight escalating crime.
At a campaign stop at a West Philadelphia community center, Swann also said he would increase enforcement of current gun laws, expand community-based crime fighting programs and create a "drug dealer registry" similar to sex offender registries.
However, Swann said that the figure of up to 5,000 additional law enforcement was not a set-in-stone goal but a "benchmark."
"'Up to 5,000' doesn't mean that we're shooting for a specific number, but we need to have a presence on the streets ... that is a meaningful number," he said. "Not just a number for the sake of a number, but putting bodies on streets where the crime is high."
The law enforcement officers could be added in cities with higher crime rates including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Altoona, Harrisburg, York, Reading, Williamsport and other municipalities, he said.
Swann also said he would, as governor, resuscitate community-based anti-crime programs like Operation Weed and Seed and Operation Trigger Lock. The programs have been around for years but Swann contended they have been underused by Gov. Ed Rendell's administration.
"The governor continues to support these programs, that's why they're still in the budget," Rendell campaign spokesman Dan Fee said.
Fee said more information was needed about Swann's proposal for a drug offender registry.
"It's a new idea. I guess the question is how it's implemented and whether it becomes more of a networking thing for drug dealers rather than a crime prevention tool," Fee said. "The devil's in the details and he did not provide any."
Swann also said he would urge the Legislature to enact legislation establishing a mandatory 25-year minimum prison term for some child sex offenders, with lifetime satellite-tracked monitoring after they are released. Seventeen states have enacted versions of the measure, called "Jessica's Law" for a 9-year-old Florida girl who was raped and murdered.
Attorney General Tom Corbett, who joined Swann at the community center, said that law enforcement "has not been the focus" of the Rendell administration, and he expressed support for Swann's crime-fighting plans.
Asked about the cost of adding 5,000 police officers to the streets of Pennsylvania's cities, Swann and Corbett said that they did not know how much such a program would cost. However, Corbett said that the average cost of adding one police officer — depending on the city, the benefits involved and other factors — ranged from around $60,000 to $75,000 a year.
The state would not absorb the full cost of those added local officers but would help cities with funding, Swann said.
09-18-2006, 10:50 PM
