City and police officials said the decision to increase the local police presence to nine officers from seven follows the council’s decision that it can once again pay for police to patrol the entire jurisdiction, which includes Weaver proper and a three-mile area around the city.
That decision to expand coverage is one that Chief Wayne Bush said he supports.
“Crime doesn’t stop at the invisible (city limits) line,” said Bush, who noted that officers were forced to stop patrolling outside city limits as a cost-saving measure in 2004.
Since then, Calhoun County sheriff’s deputies have provided protection and emergency response for residents west of Cedar Springs Road and Alexandria Road, including those who lived in mobile home parks near State Farm Road.
But now the city budget is stable enough to allow officers to begin policing those areas again, said Mayor Garry Bearden.
“We had the ability to reconsider that choice … to withdraw from the police jurisdiction … and we chose to resume coverage,” he said.
Chief Deputy Matthew Wade, of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies met with Weaver police Thurs-day to discuss the city’s decision to patrol its entire jurisdiction.
“We told them we’re still planning on working out there, but it’s a significant amount of residences they’ll be picking back up,” he said.
Wade said he wouldn’t consider the police jurisdiction area around Weaver “high crime,” but that deputies often respond to mobile homes located off Cedar Springs Road for a variety of different crimes.
Bearden agreed that no part of Weaver was particularly crime-filled but said drugs have always been an area concern – another reason he thinks increasing police coverage is a good idea.
“It’s a constant battle, the current enticement of drugs out in the area,” he said, but emphasized that drugs are a problem for all of Alabama, not just Calhoun County or Weaver.
Bearden also said he expects the expanded police coverage to boost city revenue a little, although he said that’s not the main goal of the expansion.
The police jurisdiction includes a busy, four-lane stretch of Alabama 21 between Anniston and Jacksonville.
“I’m sure as we broaden our horizons there could be an increase in revenue due to the increased citations (officers will write),” Bearden said.
But Bush said if revenue increases, it won’t be by much and will most likely be offset by the $40,000 per year the city will pay for each new officer. On average, Bush said, a Weaver officer brings in about $10,000 in fine revenue each year.
Still, Bearden pointed out that just because the 2011 budget provides for two new officers doesn’t mean the police department will need to fill both positions. He said there will be an observation period while the department figures out what kind of burden the increased patrol coverage places on the seven officers they already have.
“Obviously, we’re going to try to maintain coverage and minimize expense as best we can,” Bearden said.
Nevertheless, Bush –- who’s in charge of hiring the new officers –- said applications for the positions will be available soon.
Currently, Bush said, the Sheriff’s Office is the agency notified when alarms go off at homes and businesses in Weaver’s jurisdiction but outside city limits. Bush said residents and business owners with private alarms should call their security companies and ask them to switch the responding agency from the Sheriff’s Office to Weaver police.
Contact Star Staff Writer Cameron Steele at 256-235-3562.
