Economy forcing suburbs to lay off cops to cut costs

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2890368,CST-NWS-layoffs13.article

Layoffs hit suburban cops

'I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS' | Layoffs rise as more communities react to budget shortfalls
Comments

November 13, 2010

BY FRANK MAIN AND DAN ROZEK Staff Reporters

William Caponigro has joined the growing ranks of laid-off suburban police officers as his department became one of the latest to cut public safety to the bone to cope with the recession.

Caponigro, a Prospect Heights cop and former Chicago Housing Authority officer, is one of six members of the 21-officer force cut loose last weekend for budgetary reasons. His chief, Bruce Morris, resigned shortly before the layoffs were final. snip

O'Connor said suburbs have cut services in other areas and now they've moved to public safety, once considered a "sacred cow."

"I've never seen this in my life," he said.

[RandomThoughts]

1. Yea the news articles are getting pretty odd.

Wonder if they are true or not.

:shrug:

Might as well post about better things.

CCR-Have You Ever Seen The Rain?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDGuyGPJ_JE

[HereSince1628]

2. Firefighters, too. Here outside Milwaukee

Last months council mtg had a hearing on cutting the number of men assigned to each engine co. An often heard statement was that this was being done 'all over.'

[LiberalFighter]

3. That is why the unemployment rate is basically unchanged despite

private jobs being created. Local and state government jobs are being cut.

[Starry Messenger]

4. The pain is only beginning. n/t

[canoeist52]

5. Anyone ever play SimCity? Police. Firefighters, Teachers, Library,

Road maintenance,Trash pick-up etc....All goes to shit when there's no tax money coming in.

[NNN0LHI]

7. Ding, ding, ding ding! We have a winner

[SpiralHawk]

10. "Duh" - RepubliBaggers (R)

[blondeatlast]

20. Yep. I think we should challenge every person in Congress to play it.

If they can't sustain a healthy city with reasonable taxation, buh-bye!

[canoeist52]

21. My thoughts exactly. Should be required for all office holders.

[Possumpoint]

6. These Communities

Need to take a close look at where scarce tax dollars are being spent. Without knowing the particulars, questions must be raised by the voters. Are overheads and salaries eating too big a slice of the pie? Are bond commitments draining too much through interest demands? Just where is the money going? I would think adjustments could be made in lieu of people losing their jobs. It's just easier to lay people off then to do the difficult cuts.

[NNN0LHI]

9. The tax dollars aren't coming in any more since we happily shipped our industrial base overseas

Those were the workers that used to pay for our Police, Firefighters, Teachers and Library. Now those former factory workers are dependent on government programs such as unemployment, food stamps, etc. So we get hit twice. Instead of them paying taxes into the treasury they are forced into needing government assistance.

Now communities are trying to compensate for those losses with property tax hikes. I used to vote Yes, for all the school referendums around here. I can't afford to do that any more. My property taxes are killing me now with all the increases.

Sad but true.

Don

[Missy Vixen]

13. Here's the dirty little secret

Cities can't run without tax dollars. Those tax dollars have been starved by a combination of plummeting home values/foreclosures, high unemployment and assholes like Tim Eyman in Washington State, who continues proposing tax-cutting measures idiots keep voting for.

Maintenance of city property and structures eats up a HUGE amount of city resources every year. Ask your city how much it costs yearly to maintain local parks, for instance.

Cities do not cut public safety jobs unless they have NO other alternatives.

-MV
former city councilperson

[jody]

8. Govt. is not obligated to protect citizens anyway so how many anti-gun activists will get a CCW?

CCW is concealed carry weapon, e.g.handgun, for self defense.

Perhaps many will now rethink RKBA, right to keep and bear arms, that PA and VT recognized as a natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable right in 1776 and 1777.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Having a concealed weapon won't prevent some drunk driver from slamming into my family

Cops aren't out using their guns all day long. They hardly ever use them. Some cops go through their entire career without pulling their weapon once. They do a lot of other stuff besides that.

Think you may be looking at this too narrowly.

Don

[jody]

18. "looking at this too narrowly"? No, you missed my point that police are not obligated to protect

your life or do any other job they might often perform.

Law abiding citizens are on their own when it comes to defending self and property. :shrug:

[Missy Vixen]

14. Oh, neat

More people with guns that really shouldn't have them. After all, guns solve every problem, don't they?

:sarcasm:

[jody]

17. Feel free to call 911 when your local police force is reduced. They may never come but you will

have impressed me with your pacifist principles.

[Missy Vixen]

24. We're two minutes from the local police station

We know everyone on the force.

My husband is also a long-term volunteer for another department, and has a limited commission.

I'd love to say your dedication to your Wild West principles impressed me, but I've heard our chief speak before on those who insist on carrying who can't defend themselves (or anyone else), or shouldn't carry in the first place.

[jody]

25. What? Your special case is supposed to justify denying RKBA to law-abiding citizens when SCOTUS says

government is not obligated to protect individuals!

I'm for leaving natural, inherent, inalienable/unalienable rights alone and with them the vestiges of individual sovereignty.

Absent that, government would be omnipotent and the obscenely wealthy would control government.

But perhaps that what you want along with the following pledge?

[Missy Vixen]

26. Oh, yeah. That's right.

My right to stay out of the crosshairs of those who believe they have an inalienable right to pack a gun they don't have the first freaking idea how to safely use is, of course, trumped by their right to play Wild Wild West.

It's always comical to me when one of us posts truth, such as our police chief's comments that the use of a firearm is best left to those trained to use one, and the firearm fetishists can't wait to insist they are better trained/we're trampling on THEIR RIGHTS/any attempt to deter or restrict the availability of a firearm to those with mental illness or arrested because of violent crime is oh, so WRONG.

You might want to try the tired NRA rhetoric on someone who doesn't know well over 100 police officers IRL, have a family member that's retired Washington State Patrol, and another family friend that's a special agent with the ATF. Just sayin'.

[jody]

28. ROFL! Have a great evening. n/t

[Odin2005]

29. Why haven't you been banned yet? Your act is so transparent.

what are you, the resident Pet Freeper or something? :puke:

[w4rma]

12. Good. Something that will affect the wealthy. (nt)

[Skittles]

30. no it won't

you can bet their pampered asses will still be protected; it's always the poor areas that suffer

[Rex]

15. Recession my ass! This is from our record breaking corporate crime

spree that evidently no one wants to stop. Billionaire crooks get off, while cops get kicked off - not for behavior, but 'We don't have the money'. Brother can you spare a dime?

And the sick part is the Teabaggers have their cult convinced it is the liberals!

M$M? Yep, they go along with their corporate masters whims too.

[kentuck]

16. This is happening all over America.

I live in Colorado Springs. They auctioned off their police helicopters and cut their patrols to levels that do not provide security. They stopped cutting the grass in the mediums. They took all the toiets out of most of the city parks. They turned off street lights to save money. They are cutting government. If they make the taxcuts permanent up to 250K as expected, that means there will be even less tax revenues in the future and the entire country will slide rather quickly into a third world environment.

[jody]

19. LOL "do not provide security". SCOTUS says police are not obligated to provide security, that's your

personal responsibility.

[Forkboy]

22. Libertarians are getting a tingle up their leg.

They love this shit. Get to show everyone how tough and prepared they are, and how they don't need police.

[PA Democrat]

23. Just this morning I read that my municipality is considering this.

Tax revenues are down and the local infrastructure is crumbling. A neighboring town used to pay a fee to have our police answer calls there, but they are strapped for cash and have ended the agreement.

[Hannah Bell]

27. government jobs = next phase of the recession. there's a bullseye on you guys'

backs.