PAUL BLART:

GARAGE COP

Montgomery County Council Puts

Public Safety at Risk Again,

Replacing Police Patrols with Security Guards

The latest example of the Montgomery County Council risking the safety of the public for political gain, is the reckless idea of having private security guards replace county police officers on patrols of county parking garages. And it's one that brings to mind one of this blog's "greatest hits:"

http://robertdyer.blogspot.com/2009/02/paul-blart-casino-cop-mommy-whats-slot.html

They haven't even filmed Paul Blart: Casino Cop at Arundel Mills mall yet, and now our County Council is helping to write the script for the third movie: Paul Blart: Garage Cop!

Rather than pay our police officers overtime - a relatively modest amount of money budgetwise - the council would have XYZ Security Agency take over patrols in county garages.

Now, if you were a woman (or a man, for that matter!) returning to your car by yourself after an evening out in Bethesda, who would you want patrolling the garage you are entering? A highly-trained, professional county police officer, or... Paul Blart?

As Tommy the Matchmaker used to say, "Isn't it obvious?"

There is no comparison! Our police officers are trained to deal with any number of violent or potentially-violent situations. What a private security officer can, would, or is allowed to do in a violent crime situation is unclear - and that's assuming these guards would even be armed at all. A police officer would have far more training, discretion and judgement to handle dangerous scenarios than a security officer.

The City of Rockville has its officers patrol the Town Center garages. With our developers and their agents on the county council replacing the county's dwindling number of public surface lots with riskier garages - and with gang activity increasing each day - garage safety is more important than ever.

If you were being accosted by a criminal in a county garage, which vehicle would you hope would round the bend at that moment: a county police cruiser, or Paul Blart's Segway?

Your answer will determine your vote on November 2.