Have police budgets been cut too deeply?
L.A. Times
2013/02/20 20:00:00
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In an office in a sleepy town in southern New Jersey, Harry Glemser's phone rang. With no buxom secretary to take a message, he answered it himself. It was a dame, looking to hire a private eye.
But this was no scene from a noir novel. The woman was calling because someone in a car kept lurking in her driveway, the engine running, when her husband wasn't home. She'd called the police, but they couldn't help. She hoped Glemser could.
Detectives like Glemser across cash-strapped states have been getting more calls like these as cities and towns cut their police forces to contend with deep budget cuts. New Jersey alone lost 4,200 officers from 2008 to 2011, according to the Policemen's Benevolent Assn., which tracks the state's most recent data.
As police focus more on responding to crime rather than preventing it, private detectives and security firms are often taking on the roles that police once did, investigating robberies, checking out alibis, looking into threats.
But this was no scene from a noir novel. The woman was calling because someone in a car kept lurking in her driveway, the engine running, when her husband wasn't home. She'd called the police, but they couldn't help. She hoped Glemser could.
Detectives like Glemser across cash-strapped states have been getting more calls like these as cities and towns cut their police forces to contend with deep budget cuts. New Jersey alone lost 4,200 officers from 2008 to 2011, according to the Policemen's Benevolent Assn., which tracks the state's most recent data.
As police focus more on responding to crime rather than preventing it, private detectives and security firms are often taking on the roles that police once did, investigating robberies, checking out alibis, looking into threats.
Read More: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-private-dete...
Top Opinion
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Fred For All 2013/02/21 07:04:31
But I will say cutting our Military is even worst as a nation it weakens us!!! They have cut so deep there that it is too the point, I'm starting to think its on purpose!
It took the US government to get electricity and phone service to rural areas because corporations didn't see it as profitable.
Until the government breaks up monopolies, you will never see inexpensive good cell phone coverage or high speed internet service. Why, because companies are not going to spend the money to update anything especially in rural areas because there isn't enough profit in it. It is just like the post office. A private company could never and would never give the service the US Postal Service does at the rates it charges because there isn't enough profit in it. The Post Office was never supposed to make money, at best it should break even. But when Republicans decided to force them to fund their pension plan 75 years in advance at a whopping 5 billion dollars a year, of course they look broke.
And sure UPS and FedEx deliver... at about twice the price of the postal service.
"average private sector employees without a college degree make 72% less than federal employees without college. Private sector employees with a bachelors degree make 42% less than federal employees. Here's the source. http://www.google.com/url?sa=...