TAMMS RESIDENTS WANT POLICE

TAMMS, Ill. -- A department of two may have mustered enough personnel to control Mayberry's crime, but a number of residents in Tamms believe their police department needs more help.

Only two police officers are on the payroll to handle the village's crime, which Police Chief Don Martin said has risen dramatically over the past five years. When neither officer is on duty, residents call county or state law officials, even if the incident occurs inside the city limits.

"I work 35 hours, and the other gentleman works 40 hours -- there's just no way we can cover it all," said Martin.

Six months ago the village received a $159,000 federal matching-funds grant to employ three police officers over three years. The Tamms Board of Trustees voted to return the funding in a 3-2 vote on April 1 (one member was absent), and the decision upset may village residents.

Four Tamms residents recently began passing around petitions to get the board's decision reversed. Nearly 300 of the town's approximately 750 residents have signed the petition, which asks the board to reverse its decision and accept the grant.

"People want 24-hour protection," said Wanda Pang, one of the residents circulating the petitions. "We've got a lot of senior citizens and a lot of widow women here. That's why we four ladies -- all of us are senior citizens -- got together a petition a couple of weeks ago."

Pang said board members canceled their May 5 meeting, but will receive the petitions and hear from residents during a meeting May 12. She said she hopes the board will reverse its decision and do what "all the other towns in the area are already doing."

Walter Pang, president of the Board of Trustees and Wanda Pang's husband, said the federal grant would provide 75 percent of the salaries for three new officers. The village would need to come up with about $39,740, or $13,246.66 per year.

There's no money in the village's budget, he said, but that fact ignores a much larger issue.

"When you get two people, one full-time and one part-time, you got to stretch them out six days a week," said Pang. "With the SuperMax (a super-maximum security prison just outside Tamms) being completed in December, you never know who's coming in or going out."

The Pangs said the current police officers deserve to have sick days and the occasional holiday off. They hope the board will reverse its decision and find the money to hire at least one more officer.

"I'd like to see full-time protection 24 hours," said Walter Pang. "I'd like to have at least one more officer to help cover the time. I'm like a Boy Scout: Be prepared."