As baseball fans from around the world celebrated in the entertainment district, Arlington Municipal Patrolman鈥檚 Association members took the chance to advertise their requests of city management.
The union posted photos of an electronic billboard truck outside Globe Life Field stating that Arlington police have not dedicated more patrol officers in 16 years and the police department ranks 15th in starting pay in North Texas.
The post contrasted the claims with new development and increasingly high-profile events in the entertainment district 鈥� as well as City Manager
鈥淲hat will he and the Arlington City Council do for their employees?" one sign reads in part.
Chris CeBallos, AMPA president, said the association has brought forward several issues including pay, mass casualty event preparation and the need for greater police presence at the Arlington Municipal Airport, but have not been responsive.
鈥淭hey work hard to get companies to come here, they give them all kinds of subsidies, tax breaks, but they aren鈥檛 working hard to get officers to come here and stay here,鈥� he said.
四虎影院 asked a city spokesperson for comment.
Earlier this year, AMPA members asked the city for a ballot measure that would have created a Crime Control and Prevention District, citing the city鈥檚 larger tourism pull as a need.
Yelverton said during a budget preview presentation that Arlington has similar amounts of officers per capita as Fort Worth, despite Fort Worth鈥檚 collection of a half-cent crime tax.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 have that and our investment in the police department rivals what they鈥檙e doing on a per capita basis,鈥� he said.
Yelverton told 四虎影院 in February that 22 of 24 officer positions added through the federal would be dedicated to patrol. CeBallos said Tuesday afternoon that AMPA was told the officers would not be transferred to a different unit January.
"We just had those 22 that came out that luckily are going to get to stay on patrol 鈥� we hope," CeBallos said.
CeBallos said the truck ran Monday and Tuesday evening.
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