My Leo is a hero

May 25, 2003 | Arpege92

[Arpege92]

New flash Eno....this department has been up and running for thirty five years and not one citizen has been killed by a police officer.

Also.....police officers don't recieve training on how to kill someone....it's all defense training!

[Arpege92]

Hello? Eno?

[eno_]

Well, if you followed my previous calculations, it costs NYC about $100,000 to solve each solved crime (actually that's probably low, since it assumes a low proportion of burglary in the mix). In part that's due to the low solution rate, in part to high costs.

In your town, a cop costs about half what one does in NYC. But what is the solution rate in your town? In some small towns it is pretty good. The cops solved a case of stolen bark mulch where I live (the costs are still out of whack since we have too many cops). But in some small towns, cops are too busy collecting revenue to deal with "civilians'" minor problems like burglaries.

How effective are your town's cops? How many crimes? How many solved? What is the cost per solved crime? THOSE are the difficult numbers.

[Arpege92]

Your stuck on the issues of cost....not that it is not important but how does it relate to your generalization that cops are no good. You make it sound so clinical when you talk about this subject and that is unfair because cops are human too.

If cost is your issue then that's fine but if you want to really get to the heart of the way our local government is spending our money then you must include other organizations as well. Schools for one.....our kids are not being taught like they should be.....this of course leaves kids open to all kinds of misfortune and that includes crimes. A large part of the crimes today are committed by children and who as a whole suffers for this....society. Kids today have no concept of accountability and I blame that fact squarely on the parents.

Starting to get off track here......getting back to police officers.....do yourself a huge favor and get involved in your local police department. Learn exactly what really goes on behind the scenes.....I can almost guarantee that you will gain a better understanding and a new found respect as well.

[eno_]

Everybody is human. Some humans willingly, even gleefully, take part in corrupt, counterproductive, anti-freedom, tax-eating enterprises.

As you point our, public schools suck. Almost all conservatives know this. What many don't know, but is becoming increasingly obvious, is that police departments have gotten as bad as public schools, and in some cases worse.

As I already pointed out I am invovled in my local PD. As with most towns, my town now has a budget crisis. Two cops are leaving for other PDs and we won't have to have a layoff because our chief listens to our selectmen when they say the sh*tstorm is coming. Now if we could only get our schools to realize they don't need so freakin many people to "counsel" kids and not threaten the town with laying off teachers before they touch the fat in their budgets.

[Arpege92]

It's really good that you are involved with your local police department but you mentioned you spend alot of time with the chief of that department, right? Do you actually sit down with the cops who are actually in the field? I ask this question because most times they feel like their views or even their questions are being ignored.

My husband who is now a Sgt. has told me stories about how different it was for him when he was a junior officer as compared to now and far too many times, he was ignored and told to just do his job. My point is that you should take some time to talk with these guys, away from any senior officers. I can't guarantee that they will share everything with you for fear of it getting back to the top brass but if you could prove to them that what they tell you stays with you, your perspective could become even clearer.

[eno_]

Ha! We have a tiny tiny department, and one of the main things I gotta keep telling the chief is to get in a car and ride around.

Before the budget crunch my town built a big expensive new cop shop, with a lockup. The PD used to literally be based in a closet in the town hall, and the chief HAD to be on patrol. Everybody even peripherally in touch with town government is on a first name basis with all six of our cops.

But my town is an anomaly. The main reason we have police is to have someone in a car with a defibrilator in the trunk on duty 24/7 - we have a volunteer FD and ambulance. Our solution rates are high because we have almost no crime and solving the case of the stolen bark mulch is the most exciting thing that happened last year. We don't do revenue speed traps. We don't have DARE or SWAT or any foolishness like that. After expected attrition we will be down to the barest fixed costs - about one cop for every 2000 population. We have to mothball the lockup because the only person in the bulding will be the dispatcher.

A neighboring town that got saddled with a big "traffic safety" group when they had an empire-building chief are now up the fiscal creek. Even in small towns the difference in costs for PDs can easily vary be 5X.