mic | Tear gas. Armored transports. Military-grade weaponry. These
are the images burned into our minds in the wake of the
chaos in Ferguson earlier this month.
Just one of the many disturbing revelations coming out of Ferguson is the militarization of local police departments across the U.S.
This statistic captures the trend: Despite a global recession that crippled city finances, the total spending on police per American increased by 28% between 2001 and 2010, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. And that's the increase after taking inflation into account.
The story gets more interesting when examining police
spending at the city level. The map below shows how much it costs, per
person, to support police departments in various cities.
Are people in cities that spend more on police safer? No.
This is clear from the interactive chart below, which ranks cities
by their violent crime and property crime rates. Violent crimes are
defined as murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery,
or aggravated assault. Property crimes are burglary, larceny, or motor
vehicle theft.
Detroit and St. Louis top the violent crime ranking, and both spend more on policing per person than most major cities. Fist tap Dale.
9 comments:
[quote] the total spending on police per American increased by 28% between 2001 and 2010, according to figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.[/quote]
Brother CNu (and Brother Ed below) - the article attempts to throw several issues out in order to see which sticks:
You cannot claim that: "Weapons Spending" is equal to "Per Capita Police Spending".
I just saw Atlanta Police Chief on the news the other day promising to be more responsive to people's needs after a rash of car break-ins.
You are attempting to make the case of some "economic starvation" as the police are paid more and (ie) the teachers are paid less.
1) The "First Responders" in most cities are noted for their life threatening work and - as much as possible- protected from salary cuts that other classified employees on city payroll suffer during hard times.
2) There is a problem with turn over in one metro police department as they are losing their ranks to another department in a different county that pays more. Again - the local police chief asked for a salary increase to achieve parity - lest he be understaffed to sufficiently patrol
3) When bullet proof vests, non-lethal devices (tazers), body cameras are added for the purposes of making the officers safer and documenting the scene of interactions with suspects - is this money to be "damned" as "militarization"?
4) When large social events that bring money into the city - also require "Police Overtime" - yes these are seen as "increased police spending" - but again - can you claim this as "Militarization"?
5) Ditto for "Post-9/11" security spending in the 'Age Of Terror"?
I think the points in your post are biased against the Police and do not accurately represent the PUBLIC'S DEMAND FOR SECURITY or the new demands upon the police as criminals carry high powered guns like "Choppers".
the article attempts to throw several issues out in order to see which sticks:
nah, that's all ConFeed issuing a veritable aerosol of random particles in hopes that some will stick..., as far as teachers go, if subjected to this very same analysis, I can guarantee you that they'd look a WHOLE LOT WORSE as a colonial occupation force than the popo does, and they ruin damn near as many young lives on their end of the high-speed prison industrial railroading system. This has been true ever since teachers stopped putting their hands on bad kids in the early 1980's and armed, uniformed security personnel became normative in schools where they'd never previously been.
Too close to home, too many smart phone videos of the inappropriate show and use of force..., you can only get away with full-spectrum dominance half a world away and out of the glare of panoptic public surveillance.
So if the local F.O.P. (union) successfully wins a pay raise for all uniformed officers should be see this as:
* A victory for the "Police State"
Or
* A victory for "Organized Labor" in their attempts to achieve "Fair Pay For Valuable work"?
Since i don't value, utilize, or need the police, I'd look upon it as yet further oxygen-thiving, donut-munching, gun-toting, colonial-occupying parasitism. I say this as the board member responsible for safety and security of the largest, most politically powerful neighborhood association in this city. we don't get anything remotely approaching our per capita money's worth from the overseers...,
With all due respect - Sir - While YOUR little corner of the world is in order......
this Black Woman Seen Crying On The Television News - after a Street Pirate fired an AK 47 into her apartment, killing her friend - SHE NEEDS for you to loan some of your "worthless" police to her community in Clayton County, GA.
IF the Civil Rights Pharisees Of Georgia can fly to Missouri for "Justice" then Missouri should return the favor by lending some of your police officers to keep the community safe that the Civil Rights Pharisses are incompetent at addressing
lol, no. She needs to get and keep a strong husband to be a father to her (and his) kids, and a protector and guardian to her home and its surrounds. Outsourcing that to a parasitic colonial overseer is NOT an acceptable alternative solution.
Brother CNu:
If you would afford me the opportunity to say so: In your views expressed on this blog you vacillate from "a Common Dreams quoting" left wing activist to a "Right-wing" 'She Brought It On Herself' troglodyte
The story provides no evidence that this Black woman did anything to provoke her apartment being shot up with an AK47, other than take in the company of the target of the shooters attack.
If this was a time 100 years ago - a Black man at home in his own house was provocation enough for the "Klan" to perform the same actions but with less powerful weapons.
I don't vacillate, fluctuate, deviate, or accommodate. I administer school for would-be and practice-hall for accomplished radically autonomous cognitive sovereigns. Subrealism is the merciless pursuit of truth. Accept no substitutes....,
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