The Dispatch wrote
Most say city’s safe
Thursday, December 4, 2008
By Elizabeth Gibson
As the city’s budget crunch squeezes the police department, city officials say Columbus still is one of the safest cities in the U.S. How safe? It depends on whom you ask, and academics disagree about how much a decrease in the number of officers would affect crime rates.
With the city strapped for cash, Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s office has proposed not replacing as many as 57 officers who might retire next year. Such an outcome would be hard to deal with if it continued into 2010 and 2011, said George Speaks, deputy director of public safety.
“But Columbus is still one of the safest metro cities,” he said. “Overall, looking at violent crime, we’re doing very well.”
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