Finally, I get my wish. But you know what they say, careful what you wish for.
I asked for less police on my street. I wanted to see fewer police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks. It seems not a day goes by that we don't have some sort of police presence on our street. But soon, if Mayor Katz gets his way, that may change. He wants to save our fine city a little cash, ween the budget, tighten the belt on city spending. And he has found the perfect way to do it, just cut back on police overtime.
I wish he had thought of that sooner. Imagine how much money the city could have saved if he had cut police resources right after his latest election victory as mayor. You know, right after he promised 100 more police officers because crime was such a major issue in that election. That was right before the city experienced its highest homicide rate yet, closing 2011 with 38 homicides. Lets cut back on our police presence. Great plan Mayor Katz!
I know, the police spend their overtime sitting in court. And Katz is going to flood the city with new officers, so we won't need all that overtime. Except he has been promising these officers for a while now. Just how is he planning on rolling out this great cost saving measure? Does he cut overtime after the new officers arrive? Does it become a natural decrease in overtime that he takes credit for? Or does he slash the budget on overtime with no regard for public safety?
Wasn't Katz last comment on crime one that stated the Downtown was not dangerous? And didn't he just sign off on allocating police resources to walking the beat downtown? He says it is to bring the sense of safety, because after all, there is no real danger there. So, he is telling us that he is wasting police resources on a "feel good" solution to a "non violent" situation, and at the same time cutting police funding where it is needed. Who is this moron? And why do we think he is capable of running this town? Can we impeach him? No really, can we?
We have serious gang problems in this town, and a downtown that is actually experiencing violence. We should be increasing funding to the police so they can do their thankless jobs and protect the law abiding citizens of this fine city.
If you want to cut back on spending, figure a way of stopping the repeat offenders from continually being a burden on the police, the courts, and the correctional system. Look into ways of making the youth give back to the community. But for goodness sake don't remove the police from the streets.
Give your head a shake Mayor Katz. Save money somewhere else.
