We stand here today 3 blocks from where I was born and 5 blocks from where I grew up. My family members have lived here on Newton Street, I went to elementary school around the corner at St. Francis School where I began my teaching career in the same room I attended Grade 2. That is why I am here today. That is why I am a candidate for mayor of Salisbury – because those memories matter, this neighborhood and all of our neighborhoods matter now, and all of my hometown is poised on April 7th to help me begin our mission to make Salisbury the Safest City in Maryland.

Here are the facts: In Maryland, Salisbury is tied for 5th for Murder, 2nd in Forcible Rape, 3rd in Robbery, 2nd in Aggravated Assault, 2nd in Property Crime, 2nd in Burglary, and 2nd in Larceny Theft. Our per capita violent crime rate is nearly 4 times the national average.

We stand here today in a city that was second in 2007 only to Baltimore City among municipalities in violent crime incidents. A city second only to Baltimore City among municipalities in forcible rape incidents. When looking at acts of violent crime per resident, Salisbury is actually ahead of Baltimore City.* As of 3 weeks ago, we are still seeing more Part One crimes year-to-date than we have seen in the last two years in the same time frame.**

PART ONE crimes: Year-To-Date (Jan-Feb)

2009: 522
2008: 489
2007: 495
2006: 563

The reality among neighborhoods is clear – this city, our city, has a crime problem and more must be done to address it. We know Salisbury deserves better and Salisbury can do better. We won the March 3rd primary and will win on April 7th because I am honest with our citizens about what happens in this city.

It’s time we start making Salisbury the Safest City in Maryland.

The fine men and women serving in the Salisbury City Police force are not the problem. They are working diligently to do what they can to make the neighborhoods safer for this city’s residents. They need a leader as mayor that will bring every effort to the table to assist them in protecting us.

This city needs a plan of action to fight crime and a leader willing do the hard work and make the hard decisions we need to restore order. My mission for making Salisbury the Safest City in Maryland is based on the best community policing programs throughout the nation, the crime statistics that are available here locally and through the FBI, and academic literature on crime fighting strategies.

As mayor, I pledge to the citizens of this city to take these actions:

As mayor, I will re-open substations, and decentralize our police department. My vision is one where the neighborhood substation is the basis for our efforts in reducing crime and basis for re-establishing faith in the collective relationship between citizens and a government that our people fear just as much as the crime that consumes them. Putting officers that serve in each neighborhood every day, with beats that they walk and ride, in a precinct where citizens know them and how to reach them begins to help our community restore order and tells the bad guys that this is not the place to do business.

As mayor, I will institute community policing strategies that have proven effective. We do not need to reinvent the entire police force – we simply need to use the ideas of community policing that have proven effective in our community with new ideas like Neighborhood Contact Officers, Community Service Officers, and the creation of the Salisbury Civilian Crime Corps, that will work in and keep open our substations when cops are on the beat and be another layer of communication between citizens and their police department.

As mayor, I will bring transparency to the operation of the police department for its citizens and its officers. Officers with ideas and concerns must have a work environment where they have the chance to be heard. The trust of neighborhoods, citizens, Salisbury University students, our minority populations, and of a new mayor must be regained.

As Mayor I will work with the legal community to create a Community Law Center to serve and protect the rights of our citizens and neighborhoods.

As Mayor, I pledge to recognize the connection between the lack of jobs, the poverty rate for individuals and families and the connection to crime in our city

As Mayor, I will work with every police agency that serves our citizens to create lasting and meaningful partnerships to fight crime because when a citizen becomes the victim of crime they do not care who comes when they call for help.

As Mayor, I will engage our judicial system in an eye opening discussion of how the decisions made affect the order that is so desperately in need of being restored in our neighborhoods. I will engage them in a frank discussion on recidivism rates among criminals, the creation of community courts that can deal with drugs possession , quality of life crimes such as prostitution and panhandling, landlord/tenant disputes as has been done in New York City, and Newark, Jersey because the price of handling criminals that cycle in and our of jails and make our neighborhoods tough to live in must be addressed.

The plan of action, my mission to start making Salisbury the Safest City In Maryland will become the official policy of my administration. And I will work with every governmental agency, Sheriff Lewis, States Attorney Ruark, every homeowner and business owner, every neighborhood association, every resident, and every law enforcement officer possible to make this a reality.  On April 7th citizens get am honest discussion about crime and a new vision for Salisbury

The citizens of Salisbury know that we have lost control of order in our city. When every newscast and newspaper tells us what we know that our government does not know about our everyday lives, a change must come. The status quo will not be accepted. So I say to the residents of Salisbury today: If we are to protect what we hold dear – Our hospital, our university and its students, our zoo, our neighborhoods, and most of all you – Help Is On The Way – help me in my mission of making Salisbury the Safest City in Maryland by electing me, Jim Ireton – the kid from your neighborhood who won’t accept the status quo – become the next mayor of Salisbury on April 7th. Thank you.

*All state-wide crime statistics taken from HYPERLINK http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2007/data/table_08_md.html , a copy of which is included with this transcript.

**Taken from HYPERLINK http://www.salisburypd.com/Crime_Statistics/City_Wide/COMPARISON.htm , a copy will be available with the speech transcript.