[Gorzaloon]

Near Pittsburgh, Fallowfield, Pa., also voted to disband its police department

Well, THIS won't last long.

[Lorianne]

But the crime rate is significant in Maywood, Calif., an industrial working-class town of more than 30,000 residents. There were four murders in 2008, twice the national average, according to the website city-data.com.

Maywood had a $450,000 deficit in a $210 million budget. In addition, it had been unable to obtain insurance and workers' compensation coverage because it had faced too many lawsuits, many involving the police.

Rather than declare bankruptcy, all city functions were outsourced this month. The duties of the 41 police officers -- who also patrolled the neighboring city of Cudahy -- were turned over to the sheriff's department in neighboring East Los Angeles.

[Steely Tom]

Traditional government functions now require a "user fee," or go un-done.

Tax money is needed to buy votes for politicians.

[a fool in paradise]

So if they disband the police force, does this mean that they also are turning over the lockups to the county?

Too many cities want the revenue from tickets without the expense of trials, court appointed attorneys, and lockup expenses for violent and thieving offenders.

[discostu]

If they’re following the same model as TPD the cops aren’t doing much anyway. We’ve got cameras for traffic violations, traffic accidents that don’t involve major injury aren’t responded to, call in that your place got broken into they mail you a form. Might as well get rid of them.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

The absolute threshold responsibility of a government at any level is to ensure the safety of its citizens," he said, adding that local police officers are more effective because they "know the town, know the people and know the nuances.

Ah, the old 'public safety' saw, again.

It has been reaffirmed in the courts, time and time again, that the police are not there to ensure anyone's safety. They're job is to uphold the law --period.

Perhaps the real reason why so many municipalities are disbanding their police forces is that they can no longer afford to pay settlements to the next of kin after the cops are done riddling the citizens with bullets.

That, along with the practice of padding their retirement pay was probably the straws that break the camels' backs.

[balch3]

from what I’ve seen of my local small town PD, we’d be better off without them.

[Little Bill]

The delegation of enforcement of the law is from the people to the town and city in which they reside. If the cops piss you off fire them but remember you have to fill in the gap, they only reason cops are there is to save you the trouble.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"know the town, know the people and know the nuances nutcases."

There. Fixed it. I don't want a local police force who "know the nuances".

I want them to know who the nutcases are and keep them away from me and mine.

[DariusBane]

What if they disbanded the Police department and nobody notice...

Just Union Thugs without jobs.

[Brookhaven]

A small city near us eliminated their police dept. to save money. After they did, people started asking “Exactly what are we getting for paying city taxes?” The county was already running the schools. Even the garbage collection was done privately. All they were getting was some extra city regulations and the honor of paying for a mayor, city council, and city bearucrats.

In other words, when the city quit providing extra police protection there was no reason for the city to exist. Eventually the city disbanded (or whatever the right word is for ceasing to be a city.)

[ridesthemiles]

Oakland laid off 80 officers last night.

On the heels of the riots last Thursday night over the Bart police officer shooting New Year’s Eve of 2008, this lack of fiscal ability to pay the cops is 80 fewer cops trying to keep the peace in Oakland.

One other note:
Written on the brick wall of a locally owned business the night of the riot:

SAY NO TO WORK

SAY YES TO LOOTING

That says it all-—

Thanks, LBJ, all that integration, welfare, Head Start & ‘education’——this is the end result.

The activities of the DOJ & NObama are setting race relations back over 100 years & cramming a double standard of activities at polling places will cause serious payback, IMO.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Will the SWAT teams disappear, too?

[Gaffer]

Allow residents more freedom less fear in keeping and using firearms, when duly needed, and you don’t need no stinkin’ police force. A sheriff will do when you need somebody to document a lawful shootin’

[cyclotic]

My recently former hometown of Mt. Clemens, MI ditched the PD and contracted with Sheriff about 5 years ago. Saved a ton of money and there is better law enforcement now. Most of the officers were absorbed as deputies.

[goat granny]

The last little one horse town I lived in had a police force and no large base for taxes...So it cost a small fortune. I sat down one day and tried to figure out what a police force cost. Cost: at least enough men to cover a 24 hour period, 3 shifts...another few to cover vacation time for the cops. Upkeep on the 5 cars they had, office workers pensions etc....it came to close to one million dollars for a town that had a population of less than 5000. The sheriff's department could do the job for a lot less money....We are not talking about big cities here, but rural towns miles from big cities...The taxes were horrible and the town was so small that if you lived within 1/2 mile of the post office, you had to have a p.o. box as they didn't deliver mail to those close to the post office and it was perfectly legal...

[tlb]

Leslie Fish addressed this sort of thing in song. Excuse it’s length but it speaks to the question:

See him stalking day or night
The islands of the bay
Like some veteran tiger
Come to hunt his chosen pray
He’ll never lack a target here
For scum will always rise
And to the man who guards your walls
That comes as no surprise

Chorus
And who will be the guardian
To take your dangers on
Who will guard your sleep at night
When old Black Cal is gone

For one in ten’s a predator
Who treats the rest as prey
So someone’s always needed here
To drive those wolves away
We never left the jungle
We just carted it to town
The leopards took on human form
And follow us around

Chorus

Who will dare deny him there
And say it isn’t so
Must claim there’s no walkway at night
They wouldn’t dare to go
That sovereignty or righteousness
Will keep them safe from harm
And if their own front door is shut
The whole wide world is warm

Chorus

Who will say the job is wrong
And shouldn’t be at all
Must then take up the gun themselves
To guard each door and wall
Must spend their nights in sentry lines
Their days in packing heat
It’s easier to pay the man
Full time to guard your streets

Chorus

Evolution never stops
We always have to choose
The thug who waits to mug you
Is collecting Darwin’s dues
And you can’t drive hyenas off
By kneeling down to pray
So who will raise the weapon then
To keep the beasts at bay

Chorus

Run like deer
Or die like sheep
Or take your dangers on
For you must guard your sleep yourselves
When old Black Cal is gone

[meadsjn]

Can't these police forces just auction off the gazillions of dollars worth of military hardware they've been using to keep Grandma in line?

I could use an APC and some RPGs for the upcoming elk season.