Police foot patrols would be very beneficial in improving police-community relations in Baltimore.

This is a plea for our incoming mayor, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, to consider this positive alternative for utilizing those in uniform who patrol our city. Many citizens perceive police men and women in patrol cars as being distant, perhaps even aloof. There is no better way for Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III to utilize his officers than to saturate the city neighborhoods with foot patrols. It would certainly enhance the sometimes-strained relationships between the citizens and the city police force. I also firmly believe that petty "gutter crimes" (i.e. lower level drug dealings) would drop precipitously.

This is also a way of doing the environmentally conscious thing; fewer patrol cars would obviously decrease the emissions rate in the city. From a financial perspective, fewer repairs to the cars would save the city enormously.

Mayor-to-be Rawlings-Blake, Godspeed. Please consider these options to make the city a more habitable place.

Patrick R. Lynch, Baltimore

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