Bill F, commenting over at BlogHouston, had the following to say in a discussion on funding extra cadet classes for HPD, and the connections between fewer cops and higher crime:
The last time our police force was this small, we were competing with DC and Detroit to lead the nation in murders each year. We significantly increased the number of officers and crime went down. Outta town Brown left the incoming administration with an underfunded pension plan for HPD that required significant changes to the plan to meet our obligations. Those changes resulted in a huge number of officers retiring over a very short period of time, and now we see our crime rate going way back up. I think that is enough causal linkage for me.
I made much the same point about non-police, non-fire services back when White was mucking with our pensions. We lost a lot of experienced people, and while that wasn’t always a negative, (in my department, several of the farewells were quite fond), it’s generally not a good thing to encourage a whole generation of experienced employees to hit the road. The drop-off in other services across other departments isn’t as dramatic (or as important) as HPD though. Let’s get that straightened out first, then HFD (if needed) and then the rest of the city. The only way it’s going to happen isn’t through finding new revenue streams, which will vary with the economy, but through proper prioritization of the streams we already have.
As I referred to it in an earlier discussion, the mayor and council need to get their core priorities in order. So what do you, the readers, see as our priorities? Here’s mine, just off the top of my head:
- Police/Law Enforcement
- Fire
- Public Works (Water/Sewer, etc)
- Code Enforcment (buildings, etc)
- Traffic/Transportation issues (excluding Metro, as non-city)
- Public Health
- Library Services
Notice where sports venues and entertainment in general come in on this list? And public housing?
Public Health gets dropped under Traffic/Transportation because too much of it is social spending. Core issues, such as resturant inspections and such might rate higher. And of course, even within a category, there are priorities, and then there are “priorities.” Seat belt enforcement programs are something we could do without currently; so is busting consenting adults for consensual activities in dark clubs.
Do you see things that should be added or prioritized differently?
If the COH needs more money for Police and Fire, get it from METRO’s sales tax “Windfall.” That’s what Mayor Bob would do. METRO has been averaging $40 million a month, and intends to piss 75% of it on unsafe, unreliable, and underutilized boondoggle rail, 100-year-old technology where the vehicles are tethered to a sparking wire!