Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in a county that has 23 separate police jurisdictions (24 if you count the county sheriff's office).
That is not efficient. There's a lot of duplication and waste there.
Same issue in my area where I live, you can travel about 10 miles in any direction and go through about 20 or 30 different towns/boroughs. It might be hundred different little police departments in the county where each town has their own little police department with 1 to 5 officers.
While I really like the home town atmosphere where everyone knows the cops on a first name basis it's very expensive to maintain them. The other issue is they don't have the funds for specialized services like dedicated detectives. No one wants to relinquish any power, many small towns still have a bad taste in their mouth from the forced school consolidation back in the late 60's which provided benefits but certainly wasn't ideal for many communities.
Same issue in my area where I live, you can travel about 10 miles in any direction and go through about 20 different towns boroughs. It might be hundred different little police departments where each town has their own little police department with 1 to 5 officers.
While I really like the home town atmosphere where everyone knows the cops on a first name basis it's very expensive to maintain them. The other issue is they don't have the funds for specialized services like dedicated detectives. No one wants to relinquish any power, many small towns still have a bad taste in their mouth from the forced school consolidation back in the late 60's which provided benefits but certainly wasn't ideal for many communities.
You got me thinking. I drive to work and it takes me about fifteen minutes and I drive through five different police jurisdictions plus add in the sheriff and state troopers if they're hangin around. It is overkill for sure.
You got me thinking. I drive to work and it takes me about fifteen minutes and I drive through five different police jurisdictions plus add in the sheriff and state troopers if they're hangin around. It is overkill for sure.
Where I live the Sheriff department only deals with County business, prisoner transport etc. They don't do law enforcement.
I don't know if necessarily overkill on the mount of police protection, it's the duplication of everything administrative and other things like every town has their own little jail. If you have town with one cop like where I live if officer isn't working the cruiser, radios and everything else is not being used.
Where I live the Sheriff department only deals with County business, prisoner transport etc. They don't do law enforcement.
I don't know if necessarily overkill on the mount of police protection, it's the duplication of everything administrative and other things like every town has their own little jail. If you have town with one cop like where I live if officer isn't working the cruiser, radios and everything else is not being used.
I live in a town of around 5K. We have a full time force 24/7 I think 18 officers, jail, the whole nine yards. Thanks to the DHS funding they got a nice little fancy watercraft and four new vehicles because the river is not too far away and they may need to save somebody even though nobody is trained to do it. Now five minutes to either east is the capital of the state with a huge police force and five minutes north is another small town with about the same size force. Sheriff's are too busy sitting in casino's keeping an eye out thanks to state law that one has to be on duty 24/7 along with a local officer. Add in the DARE officer at the hi skool who does nothing all day. Ah I could go on and on.
Thanks to the DHS funding they got a nice little fancy watercraft and four new vehicles because the river is not too far away and they may need to save somebody even though nobody is trained to do it.
ROFL, you could move here and you wouldn't have to change this a bit. The largest city near here got funding for one of those hovercraft a few years back. They used it a few times but then I guess it ended up in storage due to lack of training. They ended up auctioning it off, huge waste of money.
Besides that we have really large contingent of volunteer FF's in this area, nearly all fire departments are volunteers. One or two of them have certified dive teams and their own boats.
----edit-----
Here's news article, they had it for five years. Cost $30K and sold it for $12K after very little use:
Wilkes-Barre, PA -- Eddie Zymblosky has himself a new hovercraft. Actually it's slightly used, bought from the Department of Public Works in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania. The two-seat craft was purchased as a rescue vehicle for nearly $30,000 of Uncle Sam's money. But local fire officials considered it little more than a recreational vehicle and hardly ever used it. Zymblosky had the winning big of $12,000 for the hovercraft. So, what's he going to do with it? His son Eddie Junior says they're not really sure, but it will be a pretty cool toy.
I live in a county that has 23 separate police jurisdictions (24 if you count the county sheriff's office).
That is not efficient. There's a lot of duplication and waste there.
We also have 23 school districts, of which 19 have only one high school and one middle school. That is also grossly inefficient, with duplication and a waste of resources.
It wouldn't hurt to have some or all of those police jurisdictions and school districts merge to reduce staff and save taxpayers money.
Yes, some people will lose their jobs, but my function on this Planet is not to ensure everyone works for the government.
Each major city should have a police force. Other than that, policing should be handled at the state and county level. The fact that there are thousands of small-town/municipal police forces in this country is idiotic.
Small town politicians- 'If you don't pay higher taxes, we will have to disband the police dept.' You will never hear- If you don't pay higher taxes, the Mayor will have to give up his limo'.
Small town politicians- 'If you don't pay higher taxes, we will have to disband the police dept.' You will never hear- If you don't pay higher taxes, the Mayor will have to give up his limo'.
We all know that. When budget cuts loom..teachers, firemen and police are the first to go..pretty much the only ones to go because you never hear about looming cuts in "administration" do you ?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
