Last Friday, Mayor Morris & Company visited the San Bernardino Sun to discuss the Operation Phoenix molestation scandal.  During this meeting, it was reported via Robert Rogers over at the SB Now blog, Mayor Morris pointed fingers of blame at the San Bernardino Police Officers' Association for the struggles of Operation Phoenix and the Parks & Recreation Department.

An article in Wednesday's Sun reported on the SBPOA's response to this shameful dodging of responsibility by Mayor Morris.

The police union has denounced Mayor Pat Morris in a statement that accuses the mayor of scapegoating police for recently discovered problems afflicting the mayor's Operation Phoenix program.

"Mayor Pat Morris' recent attempt to blame ... (the police union) for the demise of Operation Phoenix is shameful and indicative of the systemic accountability failures undermining the program," was the statement's opening line.

The statement by the San Bernardino Police Officers Association concludes that months of alleged misconduct on the part of Operation Phoenix recreation supervisor Mike Miller - currently awaiting trial on charges of child molestation - shows "no amount of additional funding can overcome the gross mismanagement and systemic lack of accountability within the program and its leadership."

Mayor "Master Multi-tasker" Morris simultaneously stated that he would not rush to judgment and punish his underlings who never reported any of the molestation allegations or the litany of offenses committed by Mike Miller...er...allegedly.

Mayor Morris is very opportunistic in his rushes to judgment.  When the scandal broke, initial attempts appeared to set Parks & Recreation Director Kevin Hawkins up as the scapegoat.  Then Glenn Baude blamed the City Council, apparently the precursor to Mayor Morri's molotav cocktail launched Friday at the SBPOA and City Council.

In February, Mayor Morris trumpeted out an op-ed piece disguised as news in the San Bernardino through Chief Michael Billdt proclaiming San Bernardino was enjoying a drop in crime in 2006 that rivaled the early 80s when San Bernardino was only a few years removed from being named an "All-American City".  It sang the praises of Operation Phoenix. (SEE FULL ARTICLE BELOW)

Mature, intelligent adults can agree to disagree on whether or not Operation Phoenix is a worthwhile program.  We should all be able to agree that giving a program that wasn't even established (let alone up and running) until half way through the reporting year credit for drops in crime.  It defies logic and common sense.

It is equally ridiculous to then ignore the supposed efficacy of said program, when the same crime metric used to highlight the programs purported effectiveness in 2006 shows an uptick in 2007!  Yet, that was the front page "news" story this year.

Remember, according to this article, Operation Phoenix was the reason crime was reduced in 2006!  Well, Measure Z was approved by voters in November of 2006, didn't go into effect until April 1, 2007 and the city didn't start receiving additional sales tax revenue until the next quarter or so, which would be approximately in July of 2007.

Which begs the question of Mayor Morris.  If you were so quick to suggest Operation Phoenix was the reason for crime dropping in 2006 long before any Measure Z sales tax revenue was ever collected, how can you possibly blame the lack of Measure Z funds (or the SBPOA) for problems with Operation Phoenix or the Parks Department?

The article trumpeting Operation Phoenix for the supposed drop in crime follows:

BYLINE: By Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer

BODY:

SAN BERNARDINO - Over the past two years, the city's crime rate has dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades, a sure sign of the effectiveness of Mayor Pat Morris' Operation Phoenix, according to city leaders.

In 2006, the crime rate fell to 59 crimes per 1,000 residents, a substantial drop from 112 crimes per 1,000 residents in 1985, the earliest year for which statistics are available. The crime rate ticked up slightly last year, but remained below all years other than 2006.

"Are you in fact safer today than you were 23 years ago?" asked Morris, who advocated Operation Phoenix during his campaign for office in 2005. "The answer is a resounding `yes."'

The city's crime statistics follow the national average over the past two decades, drastically spiking in the early 1990s and then waning until shortly after 2000, when it climbed again.

Overall crime soared in the early 1990s due to a surge in gang violence and saturation of crack cocaine in urban cities, said Steve Tibbitts, a criminology professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Crime dropped in the latter 1990s, creeped up again in the early 2000s, but has been declining since 2003.

Violent crime, however, has risen nearly 7percent over the past year, a statistic that criminologists find disturbing.

"There is a problem with police statistics, and that is the reporting factor," said Andrew Karmen, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Tibbitts concurred, noting that the decline in crime overall was hard to fathom given recent increases in violent crime, which he believes to be a better indicator of general safety.

"I find it hard to believe," he said. "It may show the community simply is not reporting crime or there could be some problems with the definitions of crime."

All crime categories except murder and motor vehicle theft have a significant "dark figure," which means many incidents may go unreported, criminologists said.

Tension between law enforcement and the community may also be a factor.

"A department that develops good, close ties with a community will hear about (crime) more," Karmen said. "A department that alientates the public, they're not going to hear about many crimes because (residents are) not going to call for help unless they're bloody."

Relations between the Police Department and the Westside have deteriorated in recent months, prompting a federal mediator's arrival in mid-December.

After several community meetings, Police Chief Michael Billdt proposed policy changes to improve sensitivity training for officers and help residents feel comfortable interacting with police.

City leaders acknowledge they still have a long way to go in cleaning up crime, but said the Operation Phoenix anti-crime program has made all the difference because it has engaged the entire community and created a momentum that will carry them forward.

"Our partnerships lead to problem solving," Assistant Police Chief Frank Mankin said. "There are few communities in this county that have the model we have firing on all cylinders."

The program, which emphasizes suppression, intervention and prevention, helped push crime down by 38percent in a 20-block corridor during the second half of 2006.

The Police Department increased overtime budgeting, hired 63 new officers, repositioned 25 officers in high-crime neighborhoods and partnered with several other law-enforcement agencies.

Neighborhood Watch groups have sprouted up, religious organizations have pitched in, and officials have provided more recreation programs and children's services.

"The reason we've had success, as a department and as a community, is because we've engaged all our stakeholders and entered into collaborative work efforts to really solve all those risk factors," Billdt said.

Experts agree that an effective way to cut crime is to address issues like poverty, dysfunctional families, unemployment, school drop-out rates and teen pregnancy.

Still, violent crime is ticking up in surrounding cities as well, and the slumping economy and crashing housing market have officials bracing for further increases in criminal activity.

"We have great challenges ahead of us - let's make no mistake about that," Morris said. "But we have made substantional progress against crime."

stacia.glenn@sbsun.com

(909) 386-3887

LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2008