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<br />allocate funds, but did not believe under the City Charter, Council has the right to <br />tell the City Manager who to hire and who not to hire. <br /> <br />Mr. Crow agreed with Mr. Sharpe and did not believe anyone was speaking in a <br />panic, rush or too emotionally. He recognized from the data that crime is down, <br />but the crime of having five people killed in University City did cause all of us to <br />take pause. Mr. Crow felt it may be beneficial to have more police. He felt the <br />dollar surplus was not the reason to increase the number of police officers, but it <br />did enable the Council to add more police officers. He stated since being on <br />Council he has not received as many calls as he does now regarding crime in the <br />past several months. He noted he would be very dissatisfied if he were a citizen <br />living through the past several months with the murders that have occurred and <br />was told that it will be addressed later in June. Mr. Crow said it would not very <br />responsive to our citizens. He also questioned why the City Council was bringing <br />it forward and not the administration. <br /> <br />Mr. Glickert referred to the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, where the Council had <br />authorized 59 police officers. For the Fiscal Year 2013, the Council authorized 62 <br />police officers, which was an increase of three new police officers, so there were <br />three of the four positions being requested that could be added now based on the <br />Fiscal Year 2013 budget. He said crime is down across the board except for <br />violent crime. Mr. Glickert stated the cities like St. Louis and Detroit and their <br />surrounding suburbs are experiencing the same statistics as U City. He said as <br />Council weighs in on staffing of one department, they need to take a look at what <br />was the right number, is it four or three which is on the books right now. Mr. <br />Glickert said he semi-annually rides with an officer and asked the question to the <br />“White Shirts” if they were adequately staffed and was told yes. He also <br />suggested hearing from Chief Adams regarding the adequate addition of police <br />officers needed. Mr. Glickert asked Council that when something was going to be <br />talked about at a Council meeting, that it is important the rest of the Council and <br />public are made aware of what would be talked about. <br /> <br />Ms. Carr stated since her election she has received many phone calls about crime <br />happening and being observed. She noted what Mr. Price read from the previous <br />minutes which stated that Chief Adams said he could use extra people. She said <br />she asked Captain Jackson if the crime was increasing and Captain said yes. Ms. <br />Carr said she gets a least a couple of phone calls a week and the perception was <br />that crime was happening. Ms. Carr said she would hope the extra police listed on <br />the FY 13 budget would be hired sooner than later as she would like to say to her <br />constituents that Council was doing everything they could to harden the targets <br />around the City and to make sure one felt safe. <br /> <br />CITIZEN COMMENTS <br />Mr. Edward McCarthy, 7101 Princeton Avenue <br />Mr. McCarthy stated there was an extra 10% in the FY 13 police budget so <br />allocating more money was not the issue. He said the issue is if you want more <br />policemen, then it would be best to ask Chief Adams and the City Manager. It is <br />not a budget issue because the money is already there for it. If they are needed <br />9 <br /> <br /> <br />