It was surprising to hear the City Council was on board with hiring three additional police officers in an attempt to muzzle the increasing numbers of gun crimes happening in the city.

As is the case with a plan to hire additional firefighters, there are concerns about costs. In particular there are concerns over existing impact arbitration payments and whether or not hiring police officers opens the door to higher payments if the additional officers aren’t retained after federal stimulus funding runs out.

But there is also an operational question that should be answered publicly before the council pulls the trigger on hiring the three officers. Will three officers make a big enough dent in the number of gun crimes to justify the additional expense? As we said in this space recently, gun crimes are concerning. New solutions are needed.

We don’t expect Tim Jackson, city police chief and public safety director, to say publicly exactly what the gun violence unit would do to decrease gun crimes because that would just make the unit’s work harder. But council members should be concerned about more than just cost for the new officers. They should be comfortable that a gun violence unit can have a demonstrable effect on the number of guns making their way into the city. And if it remains true that much of Jamestown’s gun problem is tied to the sale of illegal narcotics, then it’s fair to ask how three additional officers will effectively deal with the gun problem if the city’s illegal drug trade isn’t being dealt with as well.

The gun problem is something the city can’t ignore. Give the council credit. They’re not ignoring the problem. But the city should take a lesson from New York state education policy — the act of spending money doesn’t, on its own, solve problems.