tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post7328351311620747226..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: Spelman: Hiring more cops low on public safety priority listGritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-72228528141710514282011-08-04T09:40:49.695-05:002011-08-04T09:40:49.695-05:00If we just had more Andy Griffiths we wouldn't...If we just had more Andy Griffiths we wouldn't need so many Barneys.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-22358477469983814752011-08-03T11:42:48.894-05:002011-08-03T11:42:48.894-05:00Actually Grits, the militarization of police does ...Actually Grits, the militarization of police does have an impact on the hiring of more cops and the "2 per 1,000" ratio. Every SWAT officer and their team has to spend numerous hours off the street in training to be effective which means that a city needs to have more officers to maintain the same standard of service when they decide to implement a tactical response team in their department. When you take a metro area such as Houston with numerous balkinzed agencies, that means dozens of officers/deputies lost to serving the community on normal matters if each department has its own team. <br /><br />HPD once had a policy that they would support any police agency in their metro area with their own SWAT team responding, if needed, as long as that agency didn't establish an independent SWAT team. Prevented conflicts and all the local agencies didn't need to waste manpower and money on duplicating SWAT units.<br /><br />To bad the current sheriff (who is short on manpower) doesn't see it that way. He wants both an air force (for air support) and a SWAT team.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-29489034903902537012011-08-03T11:20:58.318-05:002011-08-03T11:20:58.318-05:00Ah c'mon Grits. What money is to be put into A...Ah c'mon Grits. What money is to be put into Austin's coffers by investigating burglaries? The money is in them DWI's.Charlie Onoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-43053210957023755632011-08-03T11:18:15.506-05:002011-08-03T11:18:15.506-05:00Hiring more cops is low on my priority list.Hiring more cops is low on my priority list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-60503503685449651212011-08-03T10:58:22.038-05:002011-08-03T10:58:22.038-05:008:57, since you've provided no facts, law, cou...8:57, since you've provided no facts, law, court cases, statistics, nor anything else to support your (off topic) assessment, I don't know why you think anybody should take your word for whether the police have become more "militarized" (whatever that means). That's a subjective assessment - I can't imagine what statistics, etc., would prove or disprove it one way or another.<br /><br />Anyway, this post is not about SWAT but whether police need more patrol officers, who, you're right, in most situations operate far closer to realm of workaday government bureaucrats than as a "militarized" force. And of course, police officers don't face nearly the risk that soldiers do, so you're right the comparison really doesn't work. As a practical matter, garbage collectors' jobs are statisticaly <a href="http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/09/police-have-dangerous-jobs-but-some.html" rel="nofollow">much more dangerous</a> than cops'. Those fellows picking up your trash are putting their lives on the line every day.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-44532560948677071132011-08-03T08:57:40.248-05:002011-08-03T08:57:40.248-05:00Deb said: "Levy doesn't care about the fa...Deb said: "Levy doesn't care about the facts; he gloms onto something and sticks with it come hell or high water or proof otherwise!"<br /><br />I know exactly what you mean. It's kinda like those people who just KNOW that the police are becoming "militarized." No amount of facts, laws, court cases, and statistical evidence to the contrary will disabuse them of this false notion. There's no point in trying to convince them either because the confirmation bias effect is very powerful on this issue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-24786106781426461012011-08-03T01:45:43.563-05:002011-08-03T01:45:43.563-05:00Sandy: you are right. PERF (The Police Executive R...Sandy: you are right. PERF (The Police Executive Research Forum) has been saying as much, in terms of the overuse of SWAT - that the militarization of police especially increases the backlash effect.Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01654599360807767386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-75600307736434999572011-08-03T01:41:34.894-05:002011-08-03T01:41:34.894-05:00Our 2008 Public Safety Assessment said we are extr...Our 2008 Public Safety Assessment said we are extremely under par on our civilian to sworn officer ratio. Criminal justice experts are now coming out to say there is no quantitative basis for this magical 2 per 1000 number. Levy doesn't care about the facts; he gloms onto something and sticks with it come hell or high water or proof otherwise!Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01654599360807767386noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-80924794736727985742011-08-02T14:46:32.049-05:002011-08-02T14:46:32.049-05:00I could be wrong - and I expect someone here will ...I could be wrong - and I expect someone here will prove me wrong - but seems to me that the more police officers there are, the more the citizenry becomes criminals.<br /><br />I respect Mr. Spelman's call for restraint.Sandynoreply@blogger.com