The Martinez case illustrating the issue is a perfect case in point. [Josephine Martinez dialed 911 when her daughter's boyfriend said he was on his way to her daughter's house to "kill" her and their two children. When Martinez arrived, the man had come and gone; Martinez dialed again for help. Police arrived 16 minutes, nine seconds after the initial call.]

Although the reporter is correct on the total response time, a closer look at the call reveals about 10 minutes 30 seconds spent with the dispatcher, followed by response time of just under six minutes by the police once dispatched.

This is according to the radio logs as recorded for the call. Bottom line for the police department is that the police officer was there within a few minutes of being sent. While the story correctly pointed out that what matters to the caller is the time from call to arrival, it neglected to illustrate the issues contributing to the response in the case.

Worse than missing a major point in the case chosen as the highlight story, The Tribune then goes on to chastise West Valley City's administration and police department with a "duh, guys," solution: Hire more police officers. Using the Martinez case as an example, it's obvious that it wouldn't matter how many officers we have on staff if they aren't dispatched for more than 10 minutes.

The point here is not that we don't need more officers; that may well be the case. The point is that The Tribune editorial board's taking a position as to what's best for our department and city is something akin to my telling them my ideas for how to increase circulation at the paper. My knowledge would be limited, at best.

The Tribune's coverage of the city is welcome and desired; we're not afraid to have our warts shown as well as our good attributes. We would ask, however, that the good coverage of the city might sometimes get as big a headline on the front page as the bad.

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* WAYNE PYLE is West Valley City manager.