My responses are bracketed. You cover a lot of ground
in your post, hence my lengthy response.
Bob Parker wrote:
Russ, one of the biggest the reasons that we don't
have a greater crime
rate in St Paul is BECAUSE we have an effective and
proactive police
force. (Thank you, by the way, to Bill Finney! I have
been proud of the
difference in how our city's police force operates
compared to other,
western forces in the news the last several years.)
I understand that Mayor Kelly is going to blackmail
his own home
district by underfunding them if he doesn't get to
have the dike built
at Holman. This disturbs me for so many reasons, but
one of the biggest
is that I live in an area that could combust easily
without a strong
police presence. And these guys have always been
there, as long as I
have lived here, and been polite, accessible and seem
truly concerned
for the neighborhood and its occupants. Without the
strife of overt
racism, overzealous harassment or unnecessary
violence! As far as I am
concerned, 50 grand is too little. Teachers, cops and
firemen are the
greatest assets we have in a modern society,
especially compared to the
fatcats in those jets taking off from Holman all day.
How much are they
worth in comparison to the benefits we receive daily
from our underpaid
civilization-builders/saviors? Think about it when you
smell smoke,
hear a noise in your house at night or look at the
recidivism rate of
under-educated urban kids. Read the back page of the
East Side Review
and then remind us why you feel that cops are
under-worked and
overpaid, please.
Bob,
[The biggest reason why we don't have a greater crime
rate is because this city doesn't have the hard
attitude of big cities like LA / NYC / Chicago. We
have more educational opportunities here in relation
to the population, which softens attitudes. The cops
in those other cities make $40k and some make LESS!
St. Paul is a silly little small to medium
"marshmallow" city and we simply don't need to gold
plate our cops.
The ratings driven, capitalistically forced media
likes to sensationalize police "work" by
over-emphasizing the "danger factor". Don't think that
the cops don't take full advantage (capitalism) of
this at contract time and in their public relations.
In reality, there's very little "danger factor"
involved in being a cop in a soft city like St. Paul.
There are more dangerous jobs in this city than being
a cop.
Admittedly, we do have some SMALL problem areas that
require more policing than others, however, small
problem areas does not �a city�make!
>From your post, it would seem that we currently have
more than enough police power to handle it.
We need to kiss a lot more teachers and firefighters
and lot less cops.
Please don't lump in the firefighters and teachers as
they are the people who ACTUALLY DO some work. Your
paramedics come from the fire department and not the
cop-shop. The unfortunate teachers don't have built-in
media glorified assistance working for them. They have
to prove their value and be held accountable for every
thing they do. They should be paid more because
they're worth more to the citizens. The cops, on the
other hand, are just report takers, and rarely do they
ever "solve" a crime. Usually a citizen has to POINT
THE COP in the right direction!
You don't have to "point" a firefighter to the fire or
a teacher to the classroom!
The city is not experiencing a "crime wave" and why a
disingenuous Kelly wants even more cops is probably
just another grandstand on his re-election bid and
it's being funded by the over-worked and under-paid
taxpayers! Why should the taxpayers be forced to
INDIRECTLY assist in funding items on the mayor's
re-election resume?
What if we took the some of the money given to the
police and fund good paying, living wage jobs for
recidivists, maybe they would be LESS tempted to steal
and rob?
Drug treatment programs instead of jail terms would
also help. Wouldn't jail costs be reduced and fund the
cost of the programs? (Socialism to rescue!)
In sum: The police practice "advantage taking",
(capitalism) and one can easily see where it's gotten
us. We now have a bloated gold plated force of
statistic writers that can accidentally shoot you and
rarely do what they're supposed to do, which is to
solve crimes.
At the bottom of it all, it's NOT THE FAULT OF THE
POLICE OR THE MEDIA!
It's the fault of an awful capitalistic system that
holds us all hostage! ]
Rowdy Russ Hanson.
The Truth in St. Paul.
On Mar 10, 2005, at 8:13 AM, popman wrote:
>
>
> Dann points out that the cops are over-worked.
> Huh?????
>
>
> Being a cop in St. Paul is the most ridiculous job
> that one can get paid a whopping $50k / year for!
> They're not worth half that amount and Kelly wants
to
> hire more of them!
>
> St. Paul is not a crime-ridden town unless 3 people
> spitting on the sidewalk is going to be considered a
> major crime wave :=)
>
> The cops are definitely not "overworked". They're
> "over-paid" and "under-worked" is more like it. Did
> you know that the cops also get TOTALLY FREE HOUSING
> in St. Paul? It's true!
>
> And
> that's The Truth in St. Paul.
>
>
>
> Rowdy Russ Hanson.
> The Truth in St. Paul.
>
>
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