Public Safety

There are many faces to this core function of government.

Public safety is much more than simply police protection or first responders in the event of an emergency. It is about clean air and water and proper disposal of hazardous waste. it is about responsible behavior behind the wheel of an automobile, a healthy food supply, pandemic protection systems and more.
All who are elected to serve the public recognize that promoting safety and responsibility in shared systems is a number one priority. In a fiscally constrained environment, it is critical that we appropriately maintain these vital services. Indeed, most view this as a fundamental function of government.

Unfortunately, the system is being compromised due to our lack of funding. Local government aid, a primary source of that funding for our police, fire and emergency responders, has been cut back dramatically or eliminated. Many departments across the state have had to lay-off officers or put a freeze on hiring. This is a very worrisome trend that must be reversed.
Where we can provide a new public/private partnership to pay for public health safety issues to reduce the financial burden on our law enforcement, municipalities and counties we should do so. A couple of programs in the works include a new post-consumer collection system and a prescription drug take-back program. Both programs envision unique partnership between public and private entities that utilize public infrastructure and private financing to achieve the desired goal. 

With the prescription drug recovery program, we can save lives and dollars well as keep our water supply safe. Our communities are becoming saturated with pharmaceuticals and many of them are getting in the wrong hands. People are overdosing, some are dying. Good people are turning to criminal behavior to satisfy drug habits that started out as a prescribed treatment to a condition. Law enforcement is prepared to act, yet without appropriate funding and partnerships most efforts will remain simply good intentions. Proposals before the legislature that I am working on will engage the health communities, law enforcement and the pharmaceutical industry in a coordinated manner to address this growing epidemic. Upon enactment this program will provide our community a means to safely and securely dispose of unused, unwanted and highly toxic chemicals from our medicine cabinets.