Briny Breezes residents and government leaders tallied their pros and cons of Boynton Beach and Ocean Ridge police departments, both contenders for the town’s police contract, pondering factors such as policing style, patrol frequency, training and price at the February council meeting.
The town will decide by its May or June meeting which police department will win the contract, Briny Breezes President Sharon Kendrigan said. It must notify Boynton Beach police whether the current contract will be renewed within 90 days of its October expiration.
The difference between the two contracts, besides price, Kendrigan said, is that Boynton Beach provides an eight-hour shift, has a marine patrol, gives a police academy and a monthly report. Ocean Ridge will drive through at least six times a day, but if both towns have simultaneous emergencies, it will attend to Ocean Ridge’s first, she said.
The Boynton Beach contract is now $212,000 annually and will increase 4 percent to about $220,000. Ocean Ridge police — the smaller department, which served Briny Breezes previously — are offering protection for $185,000 annually with a 4 percent yearly increase.
Alderman Nancy Boczon raised concerns that members of Ocean Ridge’s Police Department have retired from previous positions and she didn’t know about that force’s training. Boynton Beach’s training gives them the wherewithal to deal with issues including gang violence, she said
“We’re lucky they don’t come here,” Boczon noted, adding, “If you’re here in the summer and alone on the street, it’s nice for (Boynton Beach police) to come by every couple of hours. I’m happy with what they do.”
A resident who favored Ocean Ridge, Dave Westgate, said, “I’m more influenced by the cost factor, the $35,000 we save by going with Ocean Ridge. I thought we all had good service with Ocean Ridge. They’re familiar with our lifestyle. They’re our age.”
The Ocean Ridge Police Department provided the tip that resulted in the arrest of a suspect in a recent crime spree, he pointed out, when GPS devices, cash and other belongings were swiped from unlocked cars in Briny Breezes.
Cost was an important factor to several residents, who said they faced steep increases when the town hiked the tax rate to the maximum $10 per $1,000 of assessed value. The town said the increase was necessary to cover rising costs of services including police and water, replace reserves tapped when negotiating its sale and ensure adequate revenues if a statewide voter referendum passes to limit municipal revenue increases.
Mary Sperazza said her taxes have gone up $1,717, “insanely high” for the size trailer she bought. She said it was fairer for Briny Breezes’ corporation to pay for police, which would distribute the cost by share rather than by tax assessment. Another said the tax burden was unfairly placed on residents without a homestead exemption.
Turning police costs over to the corporation, however, could threaten the town’s justification for existence, Town Clerk Kathy Bray said.
The visibility of the police force was a critical factor for resident Rita Taylor, who favored the Ocean Ridge Police Department. “It’s a well known fact that the greatest crime protection is visible police presence,” she said. “I feel the more advertised presence you have, the better it is.”
“Boynton said they’re here every hour,” Taylor said. “I happen to know when Ocean Ridge says they’ll patrol a minimum twice on every shift that means on every street every time. That doesn’t include when they come for a call. On A1A it’ll be more than that.”
Boynton Beach police are well-trained to perform in their atmosphere of retail, bars and gangs, Taylor said. She added that she didn’t believe they had been retrained to fit Briny Breezes lifestyle — nor was it fair to expect them to be. And Taylor said, according to her calculations, the ratio of Ocean Ridge officers to Briny Breezes population would be better than Boynton Beach’s.
“I favor Ocean Ridge because the type of policing they do is more fitting for the type of town we have,” Taylor said.
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