Given that, WTF is up with the staggering increase in police budgets? Armored personal carriers? SWAT teams? Canine units? Helicopters, GPS tracking, drones... what's next? Submarines?
The police will try to argue that it was something they did, some policing tactic or strategy... and of course it was no such thing (feel free to correct me with data). Technology forced changes in behavior, not the police.
The police will argue that we need to keep beefing up those budgets to protect "property"... or until ALL violence is ended... ROFL!!
Ever report a property crime to the police? In no particular hurry an officer might come to you and issue you a police report... often, they won't even do that. You will have to go to the police station to fill out a report that is really a formality for your insurance company. When they do come, there is no investigation or finger print collection (unless it is burglary, et al).
If anybody did a time/motion study of "law enforcement" they will find that essentially all of the payroll resources are spent on traffic issues. Not that this is not important, it is, but the increase in police budgets is overwhelming and in many localities far too heavy handed. A perfect example is the use of 911 for domestic arguments absent violence as the number 1 source of all 911 calls. (What's that all about?)
The federal government is using grants to local law enforcement as a means to stimulate the economy. The unintended consequences of that politically expedient strategy should be plain to see.
-----------------------------------------
For the homesteader in you:
This is a Surge brand belly milker milking my Jersey, Naomi. A milk cow is the most economically and nutritionally productive component on a family farm/homestead. After hand milking, a milker is just an unbelievable convenience:
I just hung these hams today after 4 weeks in salt. Because they had been completely skinned, 4 weeks should be enough. With skin on, 6 to 7 weeks is more like it. After the salt, just wash them good with a hose and hang for a couple days "naked" (if it is still cold enough that flies are not apparent) and then cover with a cheese cloth bag (or you can make a bag out of an old t-shirt or pillow case) and leave for 4 to 6 more weeks in a dry, cool, dark place. My neighbor likes to leave his for 1 year... I don't have the patience:
6 comments:
Yet we see reports of all crimes being way up in places like Detroit, Camden, Birmingham and metal thefts from all over.
I know around here there are considerably less assault charges these days because the cops don't even bother to show up in time to even witness them if someone calls about a fight. Now if the victim waits they take a statement.
Statistics on crime, inflation, unemployment etc are just getting harder and harder to believe these days. My bet is you get less crime when you give out more and easier welfare anyway and the cops will spend as much as they can get regardless.
The use of 911 for non-violent domestic arguments is the precursor to most divorces. The woman calls 911 and claims she fears for her life due to her husband. The police come and take away the husband, this is standard policy. The next morning, the wife goes and gets an order of protection, thus evicting her husband from the house. She then files for divorce. The husband may be allowed back in for 15 supervised minutes to collect some clothes, but that's the most he will get. All part of the great feminist divorce racket.
Some women have taken this a step earlier, doing the 911 call while a live-in girlfriend. The owner is removed and kept from taking possession of his property by an order of protection. It's not as lucrative, but she still can sell the owner's belongings and live there for a month or more before the owner can evict her.
One would think that with crime down so substantially, over the past 2 decades now, we'd all feel safer, yet I'm pretty comfortable saying most Americans feel anything but safer.
Why is that? Is it because perception hasn't caught up with reality...or the reality crime *hasn't* gone down in some areas, or areas still saddled with higher crime rates get disproportionate airing? Is it that some entity, such as government, is creating an air of fear, on purpose or unintentionally?
When we can answer some of these questions, then maybe we can better understand the militarization of our domestic police forces.
Maybe too, this has something to do with our skyrocketing national "defense" and war expenditures.
(And I write all this, not as a glassy-eyed liberal, but as a libertarian.)
Our military and police activities and expenditures are grossly out of countrol and it's all driven by fear.
Get to the bottom of the source of that sense of fear and I think we'll begin to find some answers.
Stephen B.
Stephen:
I think the answer lies within the media... the media needs to sell ad time/space, and are in the business of scaring the snot out of people as that is a tried and true method.
The fact is that technology is forcing people to behave themselves - criminals and cops alike.
Tweel
We had a local case where a guy picked up a one nighter and she called the cops the next morning. While he was being given the run through she loaded up all his stuff worth anything into his truck and took off.
They found the truck out in Oregon I think.
Had another where some guy flipped a chick the bird who cut him off and she reported his license number for sexual assault.
Just craziness.
Greg - I just am not buying it. I think the reports of decline are rigged just like unemployment.
The Prussians worked out that you need about 1.5% of your adult male population in military/police service to maintain order. They also noted that the prison population tended to be around the same number; at least after execution for petty offences fell out of fashion in the mid-1800s. We are a little high on both.1.6% incarcerated and 1.9% on military/police. But then again, We aren’t just trying to maintain order, TPTB seem to want a full blown police state.
Best,
Dan
Post a Comment