On 5/20/05 8:18 AM, "Mark Snyder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On 5/19/05 4:42 PM, "wmmarks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Mark Snyder wrote: >> >>> As I pointed out last week, the budget for the Minneapolis Police Department >>> has been increased during the Rybak administration, not cut. >>> >> Increased budget does not necessarily mean increased numbers of officers. > > That's very true. It's quite plain to see that the number of officers has > gone down even as the budget has increased and I never claimed otherwise. > The question I've been trying to get answered is why? Not all funding for police comes from the city. $$ for cops were cut at the Federal level (I think Rybak said enough for 80 officers) and State Level (I think Rybak said enough for 40 officers). I don't know the details. This article is from a Dec. 12, 2003 issue of USA Today. (Read the last quote--from then Chief Robert Olson.) Federal, local cuts pull cops off streets By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY MINNEAPOLIS � The federal program that added more than 100,000 cops to local police forces and helped to cut crime to historically low rates during the past decade is being rolled back because local governments can't afford to keep many of the officers on the street. The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program was a hallmark of the Clinton administration, providing more than $8 billion in grants to saturate crime-plagued areas with officers and forging unprecedented ties between cops and neighborhood patrols. But now budgets are leaner, and law enforcement analysts say that the largest federally funded buildup of local police in U.S. history is being washed away by cutbacks and retirements. The COPS program, which is being phased out by the federal government, has provided grants to pay for all or part of entry-level officers' salaries during their first three years of work. Agencies that received COPS grants were required to keep the officers for a fourth year. Now, many cash-strapped police departments that have met their obligation to the grants program are trimming their ranks to meet increasingly tight local budgets. As a result, police departments are pulling officers off patrols at a time when crime rates are beginning to tick upward again. The COPS program's fading impact is being felt across the USA: � In Minneapolis, $6 million in COPS grants allowed the police department to hire 81 cops and boost the city's number of officers to 938 by 1997. But officials have had to cut 140 positions since then � including 38 this year. Officers are being shifted from neighborhoods to handle emergency calls; robberies are up by 20% this year, and burglaries are up 3%. "Our long-term, grass-roots initiatives are starting to fade," Minneapolis Police Chief Robert Olson says. "We're seeing a resurgence in gang activity. We've got gangsters showing up in hospitals with bullets in them. The real impact will be seen in a year or two." -Dale Cooney Whittier REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
