When the annual statistics are released next year, 2014 will look like a fairly average year for crime in Savannah.
But it’s been an uglier and more disheartening year than the numbers indicate.
Consider the relentless pace of shootings throughout much of 2014, including the recent ones involving children. Consider the conviction of former chief Willie Lovett on federal corruption charges. Consider the tensions surrounding the shooting of a handcuffed suspect by police.
Consider the refusal of so many witnesses of serious crimes to come forward.
And consider the increasingly likely collapse of the decade-old merger that created the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department.
We certainly have our fair share of police departments around these parts, so what’s one more?
In addition to the SCMPD, there are police departments for Bloomingdale, Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Thunderbolt and Tybee Island.
Given the decentralized nature of policing across the county, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if the unincorporated portions of Chatham County once again had their own police force.
And given the problematic leadership of the SCMPD and the city of Savannah itself, many county residents clearly support the dissolution of the merger. Those residents don’t feel that they are being well served by the combined force, and the city leadership has done little to convince them otherwise.
Alderman Tony Thomas himself blamed the city for the mess in a lengthy post about the “de-merger” last week on his official Facebook page.
“SO NO, I don’t blame the county,” Thomas wrote. “I blame the city and I lump me in there with it.”
We might still see a deal to continue the merger, but city and county officials seem to be speaking different languages.
If Savannah’s leaders — including Mayor Edna Jackson, City Manager Stephanie Cutter and new police Chief Jack Lumpkin — are serious about preserving the merger, they will likely have to give ground on costs, control or services.
City officials might see the county’s proposals as bad policy or as unfair to Savannah residents, but at some point they have to answer a simple question.
Would citizens throughout Chatham County be better served by a combined force under a new agreement or by reverting to two separate departments?
If the merger stays in place, the terms can always be renegotiated again in the future. If the merger is dissolved, decades might pass before there is any new effort at consolidation.
So will city leaders do what’s necessary to preserve the merger?
I’ve often been supportive of city initiatives in this column, but I was appalled by the city’s decision earlier this year to destroy historic homes and displace residents to build a new police precinct. And I was stunned by some of the elements of the proposed alcohol ordinance that city officials spent many months drafting.
Many of my readers were even more upset about other things.
We are witnessing a steady erosion of confidence in the city leadership, and, if the merger unravels, both elected and appointed leaders will suffer additional political damage.
Also, if Chatham County starts organizing its own police force, doesn’t it seem likely that some of the best officers in the SCMPD will join the county department? That will just exacerbate the staffing problems that Lumpkin is already facing.
Maybe Savannah officials will be able to hit the reset button on some of these key issues, but the city’s recent history of bureaucratic insularity doesn’t bode well.
Questions for 2015:
Will we see the local economy grow throughout the next year?
Will local employment continue to make up ground lost in the 2007-2009 recession and throughout the slow recovery?
What will Broughton Street look like a year from now?
What’s next for Hutchinson Island?
With St. Patrick’s Day on a Tuesday in 2015, what should we do differently than last year?
And what is likely to happen in the 2015 elections in the city of Savannah? Will the mayor and aldermen face significant challenges? What issues will define the campaigns?
Over the next couple of weeks, City Talk will be considering – and speculating about – some of these key questions for 2015.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 East 32nd St., Savannah, Ga. 31401.