Voters will go to the polls on Tues., Nov. 3 to cast their ballot on a 3.85-mil renewal tax levy for the Boardman Police Department. The issue raises some $3.4 million a year, and funds are restricted solely for the use of the Boardman Police Department.
      Residents and business owners and operators in Boardman Township are especially fortunate to be served by the 60 officers of the Boardman Police Department, who serve a community of some 45,000 residents where, as the shopping center for the Mahoning Valley the daytime population swells to more than 100,000; and upwards to a quarter million people during the holiday shopping season.
      The Boardman Police Department is served by an excellent Narcotics Enforcement Unit (NEU), whose conviction rate on raids staged weekly is at virtually 100 per cent. As a side note, money seized from the dope dealers by the NEU is forfeited back to the police department and such funds have added additional financial support to our police department for use, for example, in purchasing police cruisers and equipment.
      The Boardman Police Department also provides a Juvenile Diversion Program, giving a chance to kids in trouble with the law to rehabilitate, before they enter the court system
      In the last four years, the Boardman Police Department has embarked on a daily school walk-though program at all Boardman public and parochial schools. The program provides a definite police presence in our schools and such a presence helps keeps kids and the schools safe when they are open. Additionally, two Boardman police officers, Sgt. C.F. Hillman Jr. and Ptl. Paul Poulos, work daily within the public school system, adding even more police presence in the schools.
      In October, the Boardman Police Department announced a new program, designed to help keep our senior citizens safe. The Care Call program provides computer generated telephone calls to senior citizens. If there is no answer to the ‘care calls,’ a police officer will be dispatched to insure a senior citizen enrolled in the program is safe. The program is provided free of charge to all residents of Boardman Township.
      We note however, in our opinion, more than 60 police officers are needed in Boardman, not only to insure public safety, but also to insure the safety of our officers, who are truly professionals!
      Annually, the Boardman Police Department answers more than 30,000 calls as the vanguard of public safety in the township.
      Given their professionalism and the wide variety of services provided by the relatively small numbers of employees in the Boardman Police Department, we recommend a YES VOTE on Nov. 3 FOR the 3.85-mil renewal levy for the Boardman Police Department. The measure calls for no new taxes.