Online Petition Questions Cost, Scope of Redding PD

An online petition critiquing the size and cost of the Redding Police Department is gaining traction among residents concerned with taxes and the size of government. 

By Monday night, the petition, created by Alexander Gray on March 12, had been signed by 194 residents. In the petition, Gray alleges the budget for the police department has nearly doubled in a little more than two decades, while population has increased by less than 30 percent.

(According to the Redding Pilot, Gray was mistaken in his original calculations. In 1990, the police budget was about $490,000, while the current budget proposal raises that number to $1.45 million.)

"While the residents of Redding are struggling with [a] sever[e] economic downturn, decreasing property values and an overall difficult economic environment, the police department in Redding continues to expand beyond necessity and far beyond the residents' ability and willingness to support the expansion through very high taxes," Gray writes in his petition.

Fuchs said Gray's petition is "factually inaccurate." According to the Pilot, Fuchs said the police department's budget has hovered near 4 percent of the town's total budget request over the past decade-plus. He also said the department has to deal with unavoidable fixed costs, like gasoline. 

In the petition, Gray also argues the department is using the recent tragedy in Newtown to its advantage, as they "have succeeded in forcing the parents of Redding to add more police officers [to] the payroll."

In February, the town meeting voted to add two officers to the department's staff, per Police Chief Douglas Fuchs' recommendation. In the realignment of the department, two current officers will become Student Resource Officers, while the two new ones will replace them on the regular roster.

The Board of Selectmen is scheduled to discuss the petition at its April 8 meeting, according to Fuchs, which is scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. in the hearing room at town hall.