Replies

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.

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.