I do most of my posting at my main site, but this was worth pushing over to here. In Cape Coral and across the state the people in charge are trying to figure out how to stop the drain caused by public sector employees on the straining resources. Most of the people in the system get that the good days are over and belt tighten must come. However, as it is said in the post there must be some common sense applied. You must be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. Here is the post.
Cops get tired of being lumped in with other public sector employees like school board administrators and such. Why? Because their job isn’t our job. It is that simple and it goes for firefighters and emergency responders. The three positions are what is considered high risk for a reason. Nowhere will you see teachers and bureaucrats running a line across a raging river and using it as a lifeline while dragging some idiot out of a tree top because the guy figured he could make it across the washed out bridge unlike everybody else who was smart enough to turn around. Nope and never will. Nor will you see this happen to most of the public service employee members. Sent to me by an active and very upset police detective.
This is becoming if not a daily occurrence a weekly one. I know this is not what the tea partiers want but they need to pay attention and OPENLY support their public safety while realizing that there are unattended consequences of even well intentioned actions! I know that there are people where I work (that have around 15 years or more here) that are thinking if they make drastic changes to our pension I will retire before they occur. How many officers would that put the city down? With altered benefits even in today’s market who would replace them and it they did get replaced how long would they stay?
A deputy U.S. Marshal seriously injured during a shootout with a felon sought on various charges has died.
A family member said 48-year-old John Perry, who was shot in the head by 35-year-old Carlos Boles just before 7 a.m., died exactly 12 hours after he was injured.
A fugitive-search team had gone into a two-family flat at 3117 Osage Street seeking Boles when he opened fire, hitting Perry, Deputy U.S. Marshal Theodore Abegg and a St. Louis city police officer before officers shot and killed him, authorities said. The home is near Marquette Park. Perry had been with the U.S. Marshals nearly 10 years.
Abegg, who has been with the agency three years, was listed in fair condition at St. Louis University Hospital with a gunshot wound to his ankle. The city officer, described by police as a 34-year veteran of the police department in his late 50s, was taken to Barnes-Jewish Hospital with graze wounds to his face and neck. He was treated and released.
Police first reported officers down by radio at 6:51 a.m.
The case unfolded after two city officers, assisted by eight deputy marshals, went to the residence before 7 a.m. to arrest Boles on indictments charging him with assaulting a police officer and possessing narcotics. Those charges are from an incident at the same address in October.
Police said the officers had escorted several children from the residence before the gunfire erupted. A police statement, released this afternoon, said officers checking the second floor encountered Boles, who wounded one deputy marshal and a city officer.
Officers returned fire, but Boles continued firing and hit a second marshal. Boles was then killed by more shots by officers. The police statement said it was unclear how many officers and marshals fired at Boles.
St. Louis police Lt. Col. Tim Reagan said the department’s violent offenders unit had requested help from the U.S. Marshals office in St. Louis in arresting Boles. The St. Louis Grand Jury indicted Boles on Jan. 11 on charges of assault and drug possession, stemming from the incident on Osage on Oct. 11.
William Sibert, the U.S. marshal in St. Louis, went to St. Louis University Hospital, where he was joined by Mayor Francis Slay and St. Louis Police Chief Dan Isom.
“This is a tragic example of what our law enforcement officers go through every day,” Slay said. “They need our support and their families need our support.”
At the hospital, officials said the officer who had been wounded was grazed by a shot that struck his bullet-resistent vest.
St. Louis Circuit Court records show that Boles was accused of striking and choking a city police officer on Oct. 11 outside the address on Osage. Police reports say two uniformed officers suspected Boles of dealing drugs and tried to question him, but he fought and struck one of the officers. The report says officers used a Taser to subdue Boles.
Reagan, chief of staff for the St. Louis police department, said officers applied for warrants the day after the incident on Osage in October, but no charges were filed until the drug-analysis report was completed one month later. The grand jury then indicted Boles in January.
Court records show that Boles has six felony convictions. In 1993, he pleaded guilty of assault. In 2005, he pleaded guilty of four instances of felony possession of controlled substances and of resisting arrest. Police said the pill bottle that officers saw Boles toss at the scene in October was found to contain heroin and cocaine base.
Now teachers and such will get involved in violent incidents in some schools. But it isn’t part of their job. They aren’t called by citizens across the nation every day to clean up the messes and fight the bad guys. How much damage can the lack of teachers cause? Some, but they can double up classes etc. How much damage can happen if you cut your cops? Ask Camden.
The average salary for a rank-and-file police officer in Camden, after benefits, is around $140,000 a year - in a city where more than half the residents live below the federal poverty line. Camden’s police chief, Scott Thomson, vows that the city can absorb the cuts by restructuring the police to focus more on violent crime and on street patrols. (For years, New Jersey has supplied state police to help patrol Camden.)
Behind closed doors, though, the Mayor’s Office is clearly worried. That is evident in Camden’s application last fall for transitional state aid for 2011 (over and above all other state aid that Camden regularly receives).
Signed by Redd, the application raises a concern that the mayor is reluctant to state in public: “It is anticipated that the reduction of sworn officers within our Police and Fire Departments will result in a severe public safety crisis affecting residents, workers and visitors.”
That concern is well-justified. Statistics show violent crime has been on the rise in the city. There were 37 murders in Camden in 2010, compared with 34 in 2009. Shootings have spiked 20 percent in the past year.
Camden’s violent-crime rate is five times the national average, according to the FBI, while its overall crime rate is three times the national norm. A recent national survey ranked it as the country’s second most dangerous city.
Wait until the bad guys get comfortable with half a police force being on the street, tired and frustrated. Criminals work at several levels; instant opportunistic crimes (think bait car TV shows), long range deeply detailed crimes (series of bank jobs for example), and the most common- the half-assed thought out crimes. These are what Camden is going to suffer. These kinds will be like robberies on the street, robberies in convenience stores, carjackings, etc. What will motivate the criminal will be the chance they’ll get away with it since they know the police will be slow in responding and will not have the resources to really work the crime. One article on the subject indicated the department is focusing on emergency responses (street patrol) and is being forced to give up in depth investigations. That means if you get robbed in Camden and you don’t get shot or killed, chalk it up to what amounts to an armed purse snatching.
Breaking it down as simply as I can the difference between teachers being cut (which is bad) and cops being cuts (which is far worse) can be put like this- If you have a shortage of teachers your kids could end up dumber, if you have a shortage of cops they can end up dead.
Your choice.
Governor Scott is trying to figure out a way to slow down the drain on resources public sector employees create. I applaud his efforts. However, the problem isn’t with the police and most of their unions and contracts. He needs to be smart enough to separate the wheat from the chaff. The police are necessary and good people choosing to become career police officers are even more important. How are we supposed to attract quality people to this high risk field? When I started back in 1990, the paying rate was a little over 24,000.00 a year. With that I got the opportunity to get shot, stabbed, run over, beat up, infected, sued and jailed if someone thought I had screwed up under the color of law. Not actually screwed up, but others figured I had, especially during a presidential election. So, who among you college graduates or military veterans- the educated, well balanced, intelligent people that you are- want this gig?
Besides, as much as I think Scott gets it, I’m not sure the rest of the Florida legislature gets it, as they are still whining about some damned train or something.