Posted on 08/07/2013 5:30:57 AM PDT by MichCapCon
Soon after the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy, many blogs and news sites began running "facts" about the city. One common "fact" repeated often was that "the size of the police force in Detroit has been cut by about 40 percent over the past decade."
Although it makes for interesting reading, just how much the police department has been cut is not that simple to determine and is another example of the city's dysfunction.
For example, the city's 2003 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report states there were 4,810 uniform police officers that year. However, the city's 2012 CAFR lists the city as having 3,981 uniform police officers in 2003 and then two pages later has the city with 3,965 uniform police officers in 2003.
And the confusion is more than just an accounting hiccup.
The city's Emergency Manager Review Team report stated that regarding police operations, "operational dysfunction contributes to the city's serious financial problem."
The emergency manager's report found that the city's police department had about 2,030 employees in 2012. However, city officials and police department officials couldn't agree to just what those 2,030 employees did. City officials stated that only 33 percent of the police department's employees were involved in patrolling the city. The rest were involved in "ancillary administrative functions" such as payroll.
Police department officials claimed that 68 percent of its workforce was involved in patrol work and another 15 percent were involved in investigations.
"The Review Team could not resolve this discrepancy because the City's administration had no reliable information concerning what staffing levels are, or should be, within the Police Department," the report stated.
James Hohman, a fiscal policy analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the city of Detroit has had problems getting the most basic pieces of information accurate.
"They've been unable to answer the basic questions about what they are doing and how much it costs," Hohman said.
Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is making progress, Hohman said.
"Orr is getting a handle on fixing these problems and his plan is encouraging," Hohman said. "They are closer to having a functional government now than they have been in the past decade."
For the record, the 2012 CAFR has the city with 2,708 uniformed police officers.
Bill Nowling, Orr's spokesman, said improving public safety is a top priority for the emergency manager and that new Police Chief James Craig is "working to provide honest and realistic crime stats and force deployment figures."
Unions lie, even to themselves.
It’s simple. Do what Governor Scott did in Florida. He had every employee write down what they did. Astonishingly, quite a few couldn’t. Some of these were in highly compensated positions. Scott fired them. (The employee I got this from was caught between outrage that he had to describe his job and glee that several of his many superiors were now gone.)
Part of the problem is the complete and utter corruption that permeates the whole city. Everybody has their own scam going on and nobody knows the truth.
So, what's difference if Detroit screams that it has to furlough police officers but CANNOT tell us how many there are on the books?!
“But I’ve got people skills!!!” /OfficeSpace
We tried passing a law that would allow the emergency manager to fire people at will (Including city council members). Unfortunately we’re stuck with the old emergency manager law.
The emergency manager for the Detroit public schools was far more effective. He stopped mailing checks to school employees and made them come take the checks from his hand. He found nearly 300 employees who didn’t exist but were getting paychecks.
Something in this math equation doesn’t figure. Only one-third are street cops? I’d go and fire half of the other guys overnight, or give them the choice of pulling street duty.
Charlie LeDuff just posted this a few minutes ago. Detroit gives the mayor a 20 cop protection force. Fortunately the new police chief came from outside and is cutting the force. I personally think 2 for the mayor would be plenty. Kevyn Orr on the other hand probably needs the protection.
The current situation of Detroit makes the Robocop series all too realistic
Did he bring in the Bobs?
Sooooo,
Is the Detroit police dept. killing young black boys on purpose like the Chicago police are?
How many Robocops does the city need? 10? 20? 50?
How many red-head babe girlfriends does a Robocop require and, more importantly, what about the race issue?
How many African American Robocops are required as opposed to Caucasian Robocops? What is a “fair” ratio?
The DPD must be an equal opportunity Robocop employer...
What they are good at doing is:
1. Spending money
2. Screaming racism at the top of their lungs
3. Stealing
4. Lying
5. Supporting Obama and other Democrats.
Amazing. I am required to write detailed plans of how I am to spend every minute of every workday, and have them ready anytime my boss wants to look at them. And so are everyone of my colleagues. And the cops can’t report a summary of their day?
Solve all of Detroit’s crime. Layoff the entire police force. Hire a couple of bounty hunters...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBfSbdAC-3k
Marion Shepilov Barry ran DC the same way. At his worst it was determined that NO ONE knew or could figure out how many people worked for the city. When he came to office, Dave Bing had all Detroit teachers come to his office to personally sign for their checks. Not surprisingly some - not many - but some were never picked up. Those checks had been cashed in the past, but no one wanted to be seen personally stealing them. Of course the matter was dropped for fear of union trouble.
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