bucs90
Gold Member
- Feb 25, 2010
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Police training halts as agencies face budget cuts - USATODAY.com
The Tea Party austerity push is going to have some serious effects. Some are good: Cutting unnecessary govt waste, like parks and rec depts, cultural and arts programs, and other things that the private citizens can do for themselves.
However...some have taken it very far. And, according to the USA Today source, 70% of police departments have been forced to slash basic training and in-service training budgets. That includes weapons, tactics, crime scene investigation, etc, etc.
Add to that less competitive pay packages, which draws fewer good candidates.....and makes retaining good cops harder.
The result? Well, as the article says, it wont be seen overnight. Which is probably why TP politicians like cutting police/fire/education budgets. Because it's not an immediately visible result. It takes a few years for that cut to show, and by then, heck, they'll be in the Senate!!! SC Gov Nikki Haley sure seems to be following that plan.
So maybe you'll get a cop who is less trained with his weapon responding to a hostage or school shooting situation. Or maybe he has never been shown how to process a crime scene, and thus, can't find who stole your car. Or....in some cities, they may not even fucking bother showing up, like Oakland, CA who no longer come to car or home burglaries if the suspect has already left the scene (you have to file a report yourself online).
Or...maybe, since they can't attract or keep better officers, you'll get a cop who was the bottom-of-the-bucket in applicants, and he's the one who pulls you over, and thinks it's a wonderful service to write you a $200 ticket for doing 1mph over the speed limit.
But, hey, at least no one's property taxes went up 0.3%!!
The Tea Party austerity push is going to have some serious effects. Some are good: Cutting unnecessary govt waste, like parks and rec depts, cultural and arts programs, and other things that the private citizens can do for themselves.
However...some have taken it very far. And, according to the USA Today source, 70% of police departments have been forced to slash basic training and in-service training budgets. That includes weapons, tactics, crime scene investigation, etc, etc.
Add to that less competitive pay packages, which draws fewer good candidates.....and makes retaining good cops harder.
The result? Well, as the article says, it wont be seen overnight. Which is probably why TP politicians like cutting police/fire/education budgets. Because it's not an immediately visible result. It takes a few years for that cut to show, and by then, heck, they'll be in the Senate!!! SC Gov Nikki Haley sure seems to be following that plan.
So maybe you'll get a cop who is less trained with his weapon responding to a hostage or school shooting situation. Or maybe he has never been shown how to process a crime scene, and thus, can't find who stole your car. Or....in some cities, they may not even fucking bother showing up, like Oakland, CA who no longer come to car or home burglaries if the suspect has already left the scene (you have to file a report yourself online).
Or...maybe, since they can't attract or keep better officers, you'll get a cop who was the bottom-of-the-bucket in applicants, and he's the one who pulls you over, and thinks it's a wonderful service to write you a $200 ticket for doing 1mph over the speed limit.
But, hey, at least no one's property taxes went up 0.3%!!