Hidden underneath the main stream media’s non-stop coverage of Impeachment Part Deux – how much longer can we milk Trump for ratings – was a story about the police department in Minneapolis.
You know, the city where the cry to defund the police was shouted from the rooftops after the killing last summer of George Floyd.
Not long after that period of turmoil and unrest a police department under siege saw what you would think they would see. Reduced morale and a sense of defeat. One bad apple had indeed spoiled the bunch. The result was a police force losing around twenty five percent of its officers to retirement, extended medical leave or just a fuck this career I’m doing something else decision.
Joy! cried the liberals who espoused this as exactly the solution to all the city’s problems. How could you not see it?
Of course if you have a brain in your head you’d think “how the heck is that going to work?” It hasn’t.
On Friday the city council in Minneapolis agreed to an emergency funding request for the now depleted police force. Everything you would think would happen has.
Response times were reduced. Patrol areas have been reduced. Citizens complained loudly at the lack of service. And, shockingly, violent crime has increased. Gosh I guess nobody saw that one coming. Probably Trump’s fault.
The city has a recruit class about to graduate that will bring twenty six more officers on to the force. They hope to hire another twenty eight before the end of the year. That barely makes a dent in the 200 plus officers they’ve lost in the past eight months.
Have no fear though – three Minneapolis city council members have a plan. They continue to push to replace the police department with a “public safety department.” It would be a more “health-focused” department that would included “licensed peace officers.” Hey, wasn’t Wyatt Earp a peace officer?
A coalition of local community groups has received grants from liberal cash coffers to try to get this as a ballot initiative in the next election.
It’s amazing to me that typically the answer most politicians have for a problem is to throw money at it. This new concept of taking money away from a problem … well I didn’t think ideas could get worse but there I go thinking again.
In this case of “what’s wrong” with police departments around the country there is simply no reason to believe that taking money will help anything. I’m going full Democrat with my thoughts here – it needs more money more money and then some more money.
Mental health services for officers who put their lives on the line on a daily basis should be expanded. There should be so much training that at the end of the day some officers literally quit over it. More equipment. More leadership opportunities. More common sense. Oh wait, you can’t buy that, which is too bad.
In the meanwhile I pray for the people of Minneapolis whose “leaders” are short sighted and ignorant. Perhaps I’ll send them a box of surrounded by biscuits t-shirts to wear at the next city council meeting.
Politicians are never afraid to throw $$$ at a problem. Why? IT ISN’T THEIR $$$!!! They think it is. However, it isn’t.
Until we see elected officials who treat government like they treat their business or household budget, we’ll continue to see corruption & bloated budgets.
When someone betrays a public trust, THIS is a hate crime & should have stiffer penalties attached.
If you want to fix the problem you have to start with replacing the city council and then work on the issue. No one wants to work for those who fed them to the wolves in the first place. Sad but true. Then look for answers and putting under experienced officers in that town where morals are low and citizens hate the cops well there’s another issue. Maybe they should start and incentives program to get and retain good officers in the first place. Most issues that arise are from undertrained or poorly trained officers in the first place so yes one bad apples can spoil the batch. I think all of us need a biscuits shirt to wear to town council meetings and other events where our biscuits make there feet disappear regularly with bad ideas.