Fewer Cops? Expect MORE Crime

A major central Fornicalia law enforcement agency (of which I am familiar) must, due to lack of cash, cut its complement of deputies back to 1970s levels:

Patrol staffing will be knocked down by 74 percent – leaving just 10 cars patrolling the entire unincorporated county at any given time. Detective staffing will be halved. Helicopters will be grounded, the Problem-Oriented Policing program will be disbanded and dispatchers will be in triage mode as they assign precious few resources to calls for service.

The department will look “pre-1970,” said sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran.

“While the population of the county has grown exponentially and so has crime, we’ll have the same number of deputies patrolling the streets of Sacramento County as we did in 1970,” Curran said. “The impact will be devastating to the taxpaying citizens of Sacramento.

On Friday, (Sheriff) McGinness said his department will have to lay off 80 more deputies than initially anticipated – for a total of 209 – to cut $57 million. In addition, 22 non-sworn employees will be laid off.

“There’s nothing good about it,” he said, “unless you’re a criminal.”

The Sheriff was taken to task, recently, by publicly revealing that the budget cuts would in fact decimate the department. The fight for public safety funding, between the Sheriff and the County Executive, who controls the budget figures before sending them to the Board of Supervisors (and few persons trust the CEO), went into the media domain recently and, it would appear, the County Executive’s Office is winning.

Some time ago, our County Executive promised to make this county the “shining star” in the state in terms of providing social services. Police and fire response? Ehh, not so much. Let’s just say he’s not the Prime Cheerleader for my department, and leave it at that.

Remember the final sentence from the above quote? It’s odd our Sheriff would say that, because a local TV channel began to interview inmates leaving the massive downtown jail this past Monday and Tuesday. One quote from the article:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Inmates inside the Sacramento County Main Jail are using deep budget cuts as an opportunity to plan more crimes, KCRA 3 has learned.

“There’s going to be hella crime. There’s going to be a lot of crime,” said Alfredo Gaeta, a man who admitted he just recently got out of jail for assault with a deadly weapon. “People are actually talking about it.”

Those cuts set to begin as early as next week, according to sheriff’s staff, could mean the number of patrol cars working at any given time would drop from 38 to just nine countywide.

The sheriff’s union said such cuts would mean that its deputies could not adequately enforce the law or protect people from crime.

“There’s no doubt the ability to protect the innocent and the most vulnerable people in the county is going to be compromised,” Sheriff John McGinness said.

According to Gaeta, that reality could mean a spike in crime if those cuts are made as planned. “There’s a lot less eyes looking at crime,” Gaeta said.

On the other hand, our Sheriff has said he’ll have no alternative but to begin issuing more CCW permits.

It’ll be the Wild West all over again.

BZ

P.S.
I carry a gun and I’m glad I live 79 miles away from where I work.

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20 thoughts on “Fewer Cops? Expect MORE Crime

  1. It is interesting that VA has laws against open carry of a loaded firearm, but none for an unloaded one (outside of courthouse, place of worship, schools though locked in container or rack in the car/truck is fine, ) and carrying magazines with you… CCW gets you the ability to carry it loaded along with the concealed part, too and getting around the insane handgun purchase regulation of 1/month.

    That is actually pretty civilized as these things go in ‘modern’ America. Makes one wonder exactly how many States do this? I know that NV does something a bit more expansive on it and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the inter-mountain States do similar. Really someone brandishing a weapon is cause for alarm and reason enough to go with survival tools on you.

    Now why students at VA Tech did *not* go back for their guns in their vehicles as there was a person who was a clear and present danger and who knew when security/police would show up… those students ARE too civilized to think security/police can protect you and your fellow citizens.

    Your defense of yourself is up to YOU.

    Police do what they can to restore order where there is larger order maintained by society, but that the police are no panacea and no excuse not to stand up and do so yourself. Only those seeking to be subjects think they can give away their rights under the Law of Nature… and yet it is inalienable from you, and self-evident that it is your liberty to do so. California, NY, MA, IL, and a few other States are far too civilized to survive hard times… look to the list of States now going insolvent and you will see States where the people trust the State more than themselves. They will pay for that, not in money… they should be so lucky.

    I will be Open Carry… and then go through the rigmarole for CCW which is a bureaucratic nightmare in VA. I do doubt the ability of any State to protect me and I’m barbarian enough to know that my liberty is in my hands and no others. From now on I’ll file for extensions on paying taxes… indefinitely and legally… the State and Nation now ask to do too much, and my money to both will now be delayed as long as the law allows. That can be awhile so long as you keep up the paperwork. I’m one of those civilized barbarians… and I know barbarism from government when I see it.

    Not in my name?

    No.

    Not with my money.

    Any State that cannot keep police and fire service going will not deserve citizen support via taxation. Ditto the Nation. Cut defense spending and create socialized healthcare? Not with my money you don’t.

  2. Shop: in the county where I work, when it comes to personal defense, you’re pretty much on your own.

    AJ: social programs in the county where I work? Predominantly spared because “they need it.” I suppose the people who actually PAY the taxes don’t need QUITE so much police and fire protection. Naaah.

    Once again, the TAKERS are more important than the GIVERS.

    It’s that simple.

    BZ

  3. oh, great, they’re PLANNING more crime. Back to 1974 levels, huh? Gee, correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t we finally wake up to islamic extremists in 2001? And, don’t we have a much bigger problem with illegals and crime NOW?
    It would be nice if we HAD crime levels like 1974!!

    Maybe they’ll close the parks instead$$….I’d have thought keeping us safe was more important than keeping lawns mowed, but maybe that’s just me 🙁

  4. Hold on, I don’t get it.. I thought there were a bunch of states that received tons of money from the prez. recently. Oh yeah, you live in California.. It doesn’t matter how much bailout money California gets. :0)

    Our state is having a hiring freeze in the public schools..I thought I heard Obama say the money he gave the states has helped hire many new teachers, firefighters, and policemen.. etc… What a liar.

  5. Shoprat,

    You say that like it’s a bad thing.

    Anyway, if I am paying taxes for services like fire and police, that a legitimate tax. If I am being robbed to provide “social services” for people who are not contributing, then the government has lost it’s legitimacy.

  6. So how’s that hopey changey bullshit doing for ya?

    Damned liberals are going to be the death of this country yet. Does anyone think we can make it until 2012 without a revolution starting? I doubt it.

  7. My son and his Dept were all PARKED at the office for a few days last week, and it was over money…

    No patrol, just a response to SERIOUS calls, all take home units were suspended and the city and parish were basically without police protection…

    Their Sheriffs Office covers the city and the parish as the city entered into contract, one that their state AG has since declared invalid, WITH the former Sheriff…

    The current Sheriff told the city, ‘cough up or start you own PD back up, but you’re not paying enough for MY Deputies to patrol and police YOUR city’, and they parked the cars…

    3 days later the city coughed up several million that was asked for..

    It took 3 days for the *hood* to find out the *Po-po* was not out there and they went nucking futs…

    Took the Dept 2 days to get em ALL back in line… But you gotta remember, the handle police work a lot differently in Louisiana than they do in the uber-PC California…

  8. BZ,
    This sounds serious. I have relatives in Sacramento County, Elk Grove etc. Your sheriff sounds like he has a pair.

    Are your sheriffs elected? I have always thought that a good idea to counter these appointed jackasses like your county administrator. He sounds like a political hack.

    There again he owes his job to those who appointed him. Social services my ass. The biggest social service would be to protect the taxpayers. What a shame.

    This is where America is headed. As usual be safe, don’t take chances for politicians who don’t care about you. Been there, seen that, survived that. Be careful, my friend.

  9. TF: that would work for Tejas but wouldn’t fly for Fornicalia.

    LOT: Elk Grove folks are covered by a separate city; they aren’t quite so impactly, but more businesses are shuttering so, I’ll wager, give it another few months and cuts will be considered.

    In Sacto County, however, it’s soon to be the Wild, Wild West. And yes, our Sheriff is elected. The people are about to realize that, when they call 911, no one much cares. Hope they like “Girl From Ipanema” whilst they wait.

    BZ

  10. Once we become dependent upon police to keep order, then we do have a culture that is based on not keeping it ourselves. In Queen Victoria’s day there were shooting ranges IN bars… she cut the ribbon at one and supported it as a worthwhile endeavor. The Victorian era was highly civilized. Yet they had shooting ranges in bars.

    Tells you a lot about the culture that the police could go unarmed, because gentlemen would stand up to defend themselves and society. Now that Britain is disarmed, the police need automatic weapons and body armor. California is on the wrong side of that divide, and the rest of America is now trying to right itself as this is an abyss we are facing. We are now far too civilized to survive our baser natures. When the police must be armed to the teeth the civil culture is in dire peril not just from criminals… because no one is willing to stand up to keep order on their own. We will not survive long like that.

  11. TF: that would work for Tejas but wouldn’t fly for Fornicalia.
    ******************
    And that my friend, is THE reason I wouldn’t live in California, for anyone, not love nor money…

    Texas may not be perfect, but we are damned close…

  12. Sounds like a great time to start a Personal, Executive or Corporate security firm.

    Employ the officers that may be laid off.

    California is a place where people have no problem paying for top-notch security.

  13. Lonerider: no it’s not. The Sheriff just laid off 209 full-time deputies. Before that, he laid off 400 “on-call” deputies. That’s enough to start any number of departments. Patrol will be gutted like a fish. It’s no scare tactic. It’s reality.

    BZ

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