How would I go about getting support locally on reducing our police force to save money?

Question

I live in a relatively small town, about 12 sq. miles (according to wikipedia), but has a lot of people living in it. Anyways, our small town has a small crime rate, with only one murder I can remember about hearing about 10 or 15 years ago, the worst that usually happens is kids smoking pot or an occasional drunk driver (which is also rare as our town used to be dry for 150 years until just a few years ago). Whenever someone gets pulled over in this city, there seems to be 4 or 5 police cruisers on that car at all times, it's unbelievable. No joke, 4 or 5 cars every time. My point is I feel that our city could be using the money for better uses than paying for unneeded officers that have nothing to do. I want to try and get a petition or something started to bring this to my local citizens attention's. How would I go about doing this? Should I talk to a city council, start a petition, or some other route...I just want it to work and make an impact. Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

Vote for BHO in Nov. He will replace the cops with troops from Iraq!

Answer 2

Local police forces are always funded and authorized by local governments.  Get yourself elected to the local council, come up with some reasonable proposals, and get support on your side!  If you are actually seeing 4 and 5 cruisers pulling over a single car - take video and pictures of it. Write letters to the local newspaper.  Fully examine arrest and conviction rates to see what's actually happening.

Answer 3

Umm... I could think of many more things to cut back on rather than law enforcement.  That presence of force it most likely a large factor in your town's low crime rate.

Answer 4

First off, I think that irrespective of your town's size, having a police presence is important for everyone's safety. Accordingly, I doubt a petition to eliminate law enforcement personnel and spending will be very popular with anyone in your town. I also doubt that every traffic stop involves 4 or 5 police cars- perhaps you have seen several instances where this is the case, leading you to believe that it occurs all the time.

Secondly, the decision to expand the police force and law enforcement spending is typically decided by a vote, if not a special item on a general election ballot, then by people voting for a local government candidate who has promised to make an expansion in the police force a priority of their tenure. I recommend closely monitoring items up for approval on ballots and consider your vote for local elected officials carefully.

Answer 5

I lived in a small town like you are describing. We only had two officers on duty in the day time one of those was the chief of police at night we only had one.

If there are 5 squad cars in your town, you do not live in a small town, as a small town could not support 5 cops, and 5 units.

Sorry you got to come up with better figures, city council and mayors are not stupid. Our population was 4000 what is yours, what do you consider a small town?

Answer 6

same **** in my town.

i'd say:

print up the crime stats and ****

write an articulate essay

hand out pamphlets on it (where they are legal to distribute)

ask those who agree to sign your petition

but watch out for pigs because they are the biggest gang in your town.

Answer 7

obama will fix it OBAMA 08!!

Answer 8

talk to  city council

Answer 9

Honestly, I just don't see your "small town" having a problem. If you have a town with little to no crime, and a giant police force, do not mess with success. Others have already stated the fact that your police force is what keeps the crime rates low. If you have a problem with your community, maybe you should move.

The legitimate way for you to ruin your "small town" is to go to city council meetings and formally request that the council look into the "excessive spending" on the police payroll. I am sure that if they were elected by you, they would be more than willing to raise the crime rate to relocate your tax money from a productive use to "better" use like funding a s*x offender half-way house for pedophiles right next to an elementary school, maybe a euthanasia clinic next door to a retirement home, or maybe an exploratory committee to inspect the benefits of a monorail to nowhere.

No doubt you will vote for Senator Barrack Hussein ABM to become our first Fascist dictator.

My suggestion to you would be do not break the law and let the police do their job in the capable fashion they have been doing it .