As an owner of a couple downtown firms and a Kirkland resident, I travel Market, Central and Lake Washington Boulevard several times a day. The huge increase in patrol cars on these streets is amazing.

I find Sgt. Robert Saloum’s comment that “when not responding to calls officers can allocate their time as they like,” concerning (“Traffic stops surge as more officers hired for annexation”). I would expect management to proactively focus any extra resources more on neighborhood patrolling where Kirkland taxpayers live, and are experiencing increases in car prowls and home invasions.

In my neighborhood in Rose Point, we have a continued problem with car prowls and home invasions. You would expect with a 23 percent increase in cops to see local patrols.

I have never seen a car patrol this neighborhood without a call. City management should be deploying these valued assets in a directed, balance and proactive manor. I expect more than “go do what you like if not on a call” as a resource management philosophy.

Dave Despard, Kirkland