Police face cuts as economy falters (maybe we will be safer now!)

[Raineyrocks]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/23/police.economy/index.html

Police face cuts as economy falters

   
From Kevin Bohn
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. police departments are streamlining patrols, reducing training and cutting back on some preventative programs as their budgets fall victim to the struggling economy.
A Naperville, Illinois, police officer cites a motorist at a traffic stop.

A Naperville, Illinois, police officer cites a motorist at a traffic stop.

Many police chiefs are warning deeper cuts may be coming.

Naperville, Illinois, a middle-class city of about 145,000 people, has a force of 189 officers and 114 civilians. Because of a reduction in real-estate and property tax collections that pay for public safety services, Chief David Dial is cutting nine vacant positions, including three officers, and $60,000 out of his training budget.

"We've gone through the non-personnel related expenses in our budget, and we've cut everything that we possibly can in there," Dial said. "Some of our training monies have been drastically reduced, and there is virtually nowhere else to cut ... except in the personnel area."

The community, which has repeatedly ranked as one of the best places to live in the country, will see the effects, Dial said.

"I think it's going to mean less police visibility ultimately in the community, and we're going to need a lot of community cooperation to keep the crime rate as low as it's been," he said.

Naperville is not unique. A poll of 200 departments during the summer by the Police Executive Research Forum, which studies law enforcement trends, reported 39 percent of respondents said their operating budgets were cut because of the economy and 43 percent said the faltering economy had affected their ability to deliver services. Video Watch how police face budget cuts »

Among the actions taken by other departments contacted by CNN:

• The Virginia State Police delayed starting a new class of 63 cadets until next April and is leaving open 27 civilian positions.

• Plano, Texas, is leaving 13 vacant positions unfilled.

• Montgomery County, Maryland, is leaving open 11 officer jobs and cutting overtime.

• Lincoln, Nebraska, is cutting back on services. For example, it will not respond to some medical emergencies and non-injury motorcycle accidents.

Personnel costs represent the bulk of most departments' budgets.

Many jurisdictions, such as Phoenix, Arizona, and Fairfax County, Virginia, have been particularly hit by the foreclosure crisis and the precipitous fall in real estate taxes. Phoenix's Chief Jack Harris says he has cut his budget by 3 percent by delaying purchases and some new programs.

Several of the agencies contacted by CNN said they have not had layoffs, but they have been asked to prepare for the possibility next year -- especially if the economy worsens.

"We have been asked to look at what we would do if we were asked to cut up to 15 percent. And if we do that that will get into sworn personnel," Phoenix's Harris says, referring to officer positions. He said he fears that could mean up to 250 jobs.

The chiefs CNN contacted said they didn't think the cuts have affected public safety, but they predicted that further cuts will. Some agencies may not respond to minor calls, take longer to answer requests for assistance or cut the number of patrols.

David Rohrer, police chief in Fairfax County, has cut anti-gang operations, education initiatives and DUI enforcement -- and has been told to prepare for the possibility of layoffs of about 280 officers.

"I cannot cut officers who serve patrol areas, that answer direct calls for service, that work the streets .... I can't cut detectives who investigate homicides, rapes and robberies," he said.

What is left, Rohrer said, "are all those great programs and the collaborative programs we have done for many years ... education, crime prevention, traffic-safety training...

"All the things we have done in the last 20 years are at risk," he said.

Although the number of major crimes such as murder, burglary and theft have decreased in Naperville in the past year, minor but serious violations such as misdemeanor battery, narcotics and fraud have spiked by about 1,000 cases.

That survey of police agencies says 74 percent of respondents noticed increases in at least one category of property crime this year over the previous one, including burglaries and thefts. Law enforcement authorities don't know if the economy is directly to blame, but suspect it is.

Community group leaders said they are worried about short- and long-term effects.

"I get concerned about the quality of life in the community," Ronald Hume, executive director of NCO Youth and Family Services in Naperville, said. "We're hearing forecasts that it could take into 2010 before the economy starts turning around. ... It does worry me that we're going to have an increase in crime.

"When people are hungry, they need to feed their families somehow," Hume said. "Not all those ways are always legal."
advertisement

Naperville's Chief Dial says the nation is facing a crisis and fears crime will increase.

"I have been in this business for a long time, and I have experienced cutbacks in the past. Those, however, were done through attrition. I have never experienced the cuts that we are anticipating next year when we anticipate the very real probability of layoffs occurring in our community," he said.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

U.S. police departments are streamlining patrols, reducing training and cutting back on some preventative programs as their budgets fall victim to the struggling economy.

"Streamlining patrols" as in... rather than responding to calls, having them just go door to door extracting money?

"Reducing training"... Like the "tolerance training" they get, the "Basics of the Constitution". I'm quite sure they'll still be training on how to play wiht their "put holes in people" toys.

"cutting back on some preventative programs".. Like that pesky "oversight" thing. "Having officers investigate complaints of abuse tends to lower the numner of officers who abuse contacts. We're forced today to get rid of that investigation capacity..."

But there's some positivity in all of that...

The Virginia State Police delayed starting a new class of 63 cadets until next April and is leaving open 27 civilian positions.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is leaving open 11 officer jobs and cutting overtime.

Literally, those things reduce the general amount of potential cops in my drive to and from work. 13 miles of my trip are in Frederick county, the rest is in Montgomery county till I cross into Virginia.

[J’raxis 270145]

Good.

I've advocated that one way to take apart the system piece by piece is to cut government budgets to the point where they have to decide between enforcing bad laws or, say, buying new uniforms and patrol cars. Maybe the economic unraveling will do it all for us instead of tax cuts and spending caps.

[dalebert]

Good points, Kevin, but I don't have much faith in any system to keep itself in check anyway. I'm inclined to be optimistic. Smaller is probably better.

[doobie]

Oh no!  I better go buy a couple more pistols to protect myself... one or two for each hip and leg should be sufficient right?

[AnarchoJesse]

Slap a pair of breasts on me and call me Cassandra, but I have a feeling that the reduction won't mean much. I suspect automation is going to become the norm. Cameras on every corner, check points (which don't actually need that much manpower), the works.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Good points, Kevin, but I don't have much faith in any system to keep itself in check anyway

Nor do I. I've just found that ironic immitation of the govenrment people's ability to take easy-to-understand phrases and twist them to something most people don't get is personally amusing.

Even reducing the cops to 50% would still leave me feeling a bit uneasy and I have no faith they'll police themselves.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

It breaks my heart that some cops won't be able to get 40 of our bucks an hour for parking their cruisers at a highway work site.

[Raineyrocks]

It breaks my heart that some cops won't be able to get 40 of our bucks an hour for parking their cruisers at a highway work site.

Me too!  Oh shit, what will Dunkin Donuts do now, close down?

[J’raxis 270145]

Slap a pair of breasts on me and call me Cassandra, but I have a feeling that the reduction won't mean much. I suspect automation is going to become the norm. Cameras on every corner, check points (which don't actually need that much manpower), the works.

Even if reduction does happen, the highly lucrative Drug War—asset forfeiture, &c.—will probably be the last to go. The article has one of the cops claiming that he "can't cut detectives who investigate homicides, rapes and robberies," but I bet that, if pressed, they will cut that before they throw out their drug task forces.

I'm hoping that the minor/petty/stupid stuff, like prostitution stings, and expensive stuff like police patrolling neighborhoods like an occupying army, will, however, be among the things that squeezed police departments get rid of first.

[J’raxis 270145]

It breaks my heart that some cops won't be able to get 40 of our bucks an hour for parking their cruisers at a highway work site.

In all fairness, cops doing such duty are usually paid for by the construction companies, not the police department. (Of course, if it's public road construction, that just means it comes out of DOT or city highway funds, not public safety.) And of course the time worked is counted toward their retirement pension.

[ByronB]

YES, Naperville, IL is right by me and I go thru there fairly often... though I have to wonder that since their budget is low are they going to be trying to pass out more tickets?

[Kat Kanning]

Good.  Cut all those jobs.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

Good.  Cut all those jobs.

So they can go out and get real jobs that give back to society and not leach from it.

[Porcupine_in_MA]

In all fairness, cops doing such duty are usually paid for by the construction companies, not the police department.
(Of course, if it's public road construction, that just means it comes out of DOT or city highway funds, not public safety.) And of course the time worked is counted toward their retirement pension.

Thats what I meant, was public road construction. Eventually money stolen from everyone is paid to them in someway and they normally make a ridiculous amount of money for parking their cars at the construction sites.