Well, it now looks like Special Services District organizers don't plan to pay for more police officers to work downtown. For a number of sound reasons, the security plan being developed focuses on improving the way the Police Department functions in Center City with its existing manpower, and not on supplementing the real cops with private security guards.
Under the tentative proposal, a new police district would be created to coincide closely with the Special Services District - an 80-block area bounded roughly by Sixth, 21st, Locust and Vine Streets. The services district, for its part, would hire a number of civilians who would serve as part park ranger, part town watch function - walking the streets, offering visitors assistance and alerting the police via two-way radios if they spot trouble.
The plan appears to make sense from a policing point of view, as well as a political one. Right now, Center City is split between the Sixth and Ninth Police Districts. There are competing demands for protection from residential and commercial areas. Creating a new police district for the city's business district might placate property owners within the services district who have been doubtful that they'll see any improvement in safety for their extra taxes. It will also allay the fears of people living just outside the district that their police officers would be sucked into the effort to straighten out Center City.
The civilian guides, the police station (and its communications network) would be paid for by the Special Services District municipal authority. That sounds like a good deal for the city, but the Police Department's top brass aren't ready yet to sign on.
Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams is concerned about a number of details that all boil down to being sure everyone realizes the plan's cost. It takes more than new boundaries and a new police station to make a police district. The commissioner would need more supervisors and (probably) more patrol cars. He also needs money to plan the new district. The creation of the new police district could rest on whether organizers of the services district are willing to help the city meet more of the costs.
Commissioner Williams says he's willing to continue to try to work out a security strategy. Good thing, because it's his boss - Mayor Goode - who says he's "1,000 percent" behind the Special Services District project.
That's a strong mandate to work out the kinks in what appears to be a sensible proposal to give Center City its own police district.
