What good luck that the attempt to move the police headquarters to the side of exit 4 fell through!

Of course it only fell through because, we are told, our leaders at the time couldn't settle on a fair price.

So, the question remains: Why should the headquarters be moved at all?

1. "It is too crowded." How's that? Do we have that many more police officers than we have had over the past few decades. If we do, that would beg another question, In light of the static population (about 60,000) why has the police-to-citizen ratio gone up so much? You say, cars! But the fact is that with modern technology the greater number of cars should be easier to manage today, than 30 years ago. In fact, with powerful computers that can store so much information on all of us and our vehicles, one wonders if the police records-storing and the personnel burdens on the police haven't been reduced in the last ten years. (For example, officers can now check license plates via computers in their patrol cars, as opposed to radioing a live person at headquarters.)

2. "Transporting arrestees between the two existing police buildings is dangerous." This would be laughable if it weren't most likely another scare tactic. Firstly, we are not talking about murderers. Sadly, most of the town's murderers in the last 30 years have yet to be arrested. An exception would be town native Andrew Wilson; but he walked into police headquarters and politely turned himself in. It is hard to believe he metamorphized into a huge threat as he was handcuffed and escorted across the street by several officers. Secondly, the risk of a break-a-way is lower than it is later in the prisoner-handling process, such as when the not-so-well-equipped sheriff's deputies are moving prisoners in and out of vehicles and buildings.

3. "Morale is suffering because the whole department isn't under one roof." We are led to believe that poor morale (if in fact morale is poor) stems from the physical layout of the buildings, and not from all the misdeeds alluded to in the Checkers Report (funny money, boat storage, spare tires, ethnic references, sexual advances, etc.) The chief fought with the deputy chief who was in turn undermined by other high-ranking officers, because… the department was in housed in two buildings divided by a narrow street? Furthermore, how poor can working conditions be when, during the height of the troubles in the police department a few years ago, the local newspaper reported that a single opening in the department had generated 500 applicants?

4. The police headquarters should be as close as possible to the street life of the town. To the extent we have a street life, it is clearly on Greenwich Avenue, rather than along the north side of I95's exit 4. One assumes that this is why the town's early leaders put the station where it currently is, with its green lamp, conspicuous to all, good and bad alike. This point reminds one of how strange it is to go into the police headquaters and to encounter thick bullet proof glass; you have to pick up a phone to speak with the officer whom you're looking at on the other side. It is like communicating in a super-max federal prison. But who is afraid of whom? If they -- with their firearms, with their arrest power, and with the higher penalties a perpetrator faces for assaulting them as opposed to assaulting an ordinary citizen -- need such protection from life on our side of the glass, in the heart of Greenwich, how well protected should we now feel in this town.

The current buildings should be renovated so they look clean, efficient and professional and that's it. Perhaps the bullet-proof glass should come down, so we are all in the same boat.