"How do we know this? I have yet to see enter into the discussion, not just
on this list by at the city level, any significant studies on what are minimal, safe, adequate, optimal, excessive, and such police officer levels for any city, let alone Minneapolis."<
I thought this was a joke, but after some consideration I thought to answer it for those who "NEED" a study about the minimal levels of police service. A very quick study if you will. Allen would there be enough police officers in Minneapolis if each day when you came home to Lowry Hill you had to push through drug dealers to get in your house? Allen would we need more police officers if criminals were selling drugs openly on your block in Lowry Hill? Would there be adequate numbers of police if the children from Lowry Hill were being sold drugs and solicited for sex? Would there be adequate police officers if you came out of your house tomorrow and someone stuck a pistol in your face and asked for your money? Would there be adequate numbers if your women friends from Lowery Hill were being raped at say two to three per month? Would there be adequate police if people routinely shot guns at each other , or left bodies laying around your neighborhood?
The answer to all these questions is probably NO. Well until every block, in every neighborhood, can say that yes they do not have those problems then we do not have adequate numbers of police officers in Minneapolis. It is difficult to say how many more we need, it is NOT difficult to know how many are too few. It clearly is the number we have right now. It does not need a study to tell a crime victim that we DO need more police officers. Because we do have many individuals from many blocks from some neighborhoods who have those problems and clearly do not have adequate police protection.
Through participant observation many people can and will tell you that they might not know how many more police officers are needed, but they clearly know how many are not enough. The number we have right now! That number is clearly is not enough. When Wizard looks out her window and sees there are not enough police to address the problems on her block, hey your study has been answered. NO, not enough!
When your own house is burning down, with no fireman there, looking for a study on how much fire is tolerable before a fireman is necessary is a laughable matter. The problem is that we simply have a hard time "studying" how many is too many, but most people know when they do not have enough. A study of how much water a person really needs may be problematic for you, but someone dying of thirst has no problem telling you that they do not have ENOUGH water. Telling that person that on average you and your friends have more water than they need probably will not lessen the thirsty person's need.
Another easy study is to ask police officers on the street (NOT in the offices) if there are enough of them. Those police officers are doing the best job they can, but there are just not enough of them. Why would anyone think there are adequate numbers when they do not even have enough officers to investigate or pursue such simple things as hit and run if no person is injured? We would not be spending NRP dollars to hire off duty cops to fill the gaps if there were adequate numbers. If there are adequate numbers then why in hell did the Mayor and Council demand some of our NRP dollars to fill the gap. Even they know darn well there are not enough. They need to stop playing games with people's lives and provide the same level of public safety for poor children and families as they themselves enjoy. What we need to study is why the politicians feel the electorate is so dim as to realize this.
We need a little less fluff about how good things have gotten, and a lot more substance and leadership to solve very real problems that people in Minneapolis do have.
Jim Graham, Ventura Ventura, Phillips, Sixth Ward, Minneapolis
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