1988-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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Report of the Report of the ' Board of Assessors Chief of Police To the Honorable 1 Board of Selectmen To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and the Citi- and the citizens of the Town of Mashpee: zens of the Town of Mashpee The Board of Assessors submit the following I hereby submit this, my ninth annual report of report for the Fiscal Year ending June 30, 1988 the Police Department for 1988. (valuations as of January 1, 1987): The year 1988 proved to be a difficult one for the Department. We were faced with many obsta- Gross amount to be raised $11,451,915.03 cies, challenges and tragedies. One of the biggest obstacles was the serious manpower shortage dur- ing our busiest season when the police force is usu- from other sources $2,832,891.00 ally at full strength. This was due largely to vacan- j cies created by several officers on extended injury Net amount to be raised $8,619,024.03 leave, administrative leave and one resignation. The vacancies required other officers to work Real taxable property valuations $753,739,815.00 more than the average number of hours of overtime as well as additional hours on private detail assign- Personal Property valuations $29,807,824.00 ments. This situation once again forced us to yeas- sign a Detective to the Uniform patrol, thus leaving Total taxable property valuations $783,547,639.00 some investigations to be conducted on overtime hours and days off. Tax Rate per thousand $11.00 Once again, the continuing rapid growth of the Town of Mashpee is reflected in the increased need Real Property tax levied $8,291,137.97 for police service in a wide range of areas. Unfor- tunately this growth is not always beneficial to the Personal Property tax levied $327,886.06 Town, as it has brought with it many of the crime problems associated with more urban areas. ` Total taxes levied on Real and Although there was a drop in the number of ser- Personal property $8,619,024.03 vice calls made by this Department, there was a substantial increase in the number of so called Part The above valuations reflect an update increasing I crimes as well as a small increase in Part II the total taxable town value from crimes. Whenever there is a rise in the number of "j $724,727,989.00 in Fiscal Year 1987 to these types of crimes such as rape, breaking and en- $783,547,639.00 in Fiscal Year 1988. tering, larceny etc., more time is spent conducting an on-scene investigation by the Patrol Officer, thus The following is a breakdown of the Fiscal Year decreasing time available to answer other calls dur- 1988 taxable valuation into five classes of prop- ing his tour of duty. Further, the 1,669 false bur- erties. glar alarms this Department responded to in 1988 is a 16.5% increase over the previous year and repre- Class % of Total Total Value sents approximately 556 police man hours that Value could be utilized more appropriately. The False Alarm By Law that was enacted in 1985 did not de- I Residential 89.33835 $700,008,500.00 crease the number of false alarms but the by law II Open Space .03927 $307,700.00 fines returned $2.225.00 to the Town. So, in fact, III Commercial 5.26563 $41,258,715.00 Chronic Violators are paying a small portion of the IV Industrial 1.55254 $12,164,900.00 cost. i V Personal Property 3.80421 $29,807,824.00 In 1988, the Mashpee Police Department and 100.0000% $783,547,639.00 the District Attorney's Office investigated a violent murder at Attaquin Park. Drugs and alcohol may Respectfully submitted have played a part in the young man's death. Each year we are finding that alcohol and drugs are fre- Arthur V. Morley, Chairman quently playing a major role in a number of crimes C. Ben Lofchie, Vice Chairman being committed in Mashpee. We have also found Robert R. DeLory, Member that a great many of the breaking and entering cases are for quick turnovers of goods for drug money. As we have tried to explain in the past, home- - 78 -