Feuer Frei!
07-02-11, 12:53 AM
WTF?
ALTO, Texas—People here are bracing for a spike in crime after the city put its police force on furlough.
"Everybody's talking about 'bolt your doors, buy a gun,' " said Monty Collins, Alto's mayor, who was against the measure.
City Council members sent the police home when they decided they couldn't afford them. On June 15, the police chief and his four officers secured the evidence room, changed the passwords on their computers and locked the department's doors for six months—longer if local finances don't improve by then.
For now, the Cherokee County sheriff's office, based 12 miles north in Rusk, is policing Alto, a city of about 1,200. Sheriff James Campbell said the extra load would strain his 25 deputies and reservists, who oversee a 1,000-square-mile territory. The sheriff is already responsible for the nearby city of Wells, which has a population of about 800 and earlier this year shed its only police officer. Crime went up initially, he said, but has stabilized.
"I'm going to try, but I can't guarantee you there will always be an officer in the town," Sheriff Campbell said of Alto.
With city budgets tight across the country, police departments are under the gun to cut costs. Some are disbanding special units. Some are shedding other personnel. And some small jurisdictions are doing away with their police forces altogether.
Half Moon Bay, Calif., is now patrolled by the San Mateo Sheriff's Office after city government earlier this month dissolved the local department to save more than $500,000 a year.
Whether a county sheriff is obligated to provide public-safety services free of charge to a local community or is paid for them depends on state law. In most cases, the sheriff's office is paid, said Fred Wilson, director of operations at the National Sheriffs' Association.
The closure of small-town police forces is part of a broader consolidation of services in communities across the U.S. Keeping the peace is rarely a revenue-making operation and is easier to outsource to county or state agencies than responsibilities such as utilities, some officials say. Others see advantages in having a bigger, more professional force patrol their communities.
SOURCE (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304231204576405763808298714.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5)
So what the hell is the local council doing with all the money?
We had to do something drastic," said Jerry Flowers, councilman and hay farmer. "The police department, being a non-money-making entity, was the easiest to get rid of while we catch our breath and build up some cash.
:timeout::har:
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304231204576405763808298714.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5)
ALTO, Texas—People here are bracing for a spike in crime after the city put its police force on furlough.
"Everybody's talking about 'bolt your doors, buy a gun,' " said Monty Collins, Alto's mayor, who was against the measure.
City Council members sent the police home when they decided they couldn't afford them. On June 15, the police chief and his four officers secured the evidence room, changed the passwords on their computers and locked the department's doors for six months—longer if local finances don't improve by then.
For now, the Cherokee County sheriff's office, based 12 miles north in Rusk, is policing Alto, a city of about 1,200. Sheriff James Campbell said the extra load would strain his 25 deputies and reservists, who oversee a 1,000-square-mile territory. The sheriff is already responsible for the nearby city of Wells, which has a population of about 800 and earlier this year shed its only police officer. Crime went up initially, he said, but has stabilized.
"I'm going to try, but I can't guarantee you there will always be an officer in the town," Sheriff Campbell said of Alto.
With city budgets tight across the country, police departments are under the gun to cut costs. Some are disbanding special units. Some are shedding other personnel. And some small jurisdictions are doing away with their police forces altogether.
Half Moon Bay, Calif., is now patrolled by the San Mateo Sheriff's Office after city government earlier this month dissolved the local department to save more than $500,000 a year.
Whether a county sheriff is obligated to provide public-safety services free of charge to a local community or is paid for them depends on state law. In most cases, the sheriff's office is paid, said Fred Wilson, director of operations at the National Sheriffs' Association.
The closure of small-town police forces is part of a broader consolidation of services in communities across the U.S. Keeping the peace is rarely a revenue-making operation and is easier to outsource to county or state agencies than responsibilities such as utilities, some officials say. Others see advantages in having a bigger, more professional force patrol their communities.
SOURCE (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304231204576405763808298714.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5)
So what the hell is the local council doing with all the money?
We had to do something drastic," said Jerry Flowers, councilman and hay farmer. "The police department, being a non-money-making entity, was the easiest to get rid of while we catch our breath and build up some cash.
:timeout::har:
(http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304231204576405763808298714.html?m od=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5)