dcarter Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Today 111 Police Officers got pink slips from our wonderful city. A few newer supervisors are being demoted. But don't worry, if the city has anything to say about it we will have a brand new street car system at the cost of over 100 million dollars to take people into a city that no one will want to visit. If I sound bitter it's bacause I AM! I weap for the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caz41 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 That sucks horribly. Being a LEO I know what the outcome of this will lead to. My department has not done anything like this yet, however the budget is always in the crosshairs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarter Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 The part that really burns me up is that they keep spending money on projects that nobody wants. I haven't met one person who believes the trolley will do anything good for this city. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mscott Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 It sucks the people in charge seemingly make very dumb decisions. They'll probably say the street cars are from a different budget Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerTrace Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 A big part of why we get into and stay in law enforcement is the security/stability and benefits of the government job. Now that isn't even true any more. They're talking about cutting some of our retirement benefits too. No pay cuts or lay offs here yet. Sorry to hear about the lay offs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EEH Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I ma not a LEO--and I get mad when I get pulled for traffic ticket--but DA**T we need cops,police or what ever you want to call them,if we build more bus lines and public transportation,who ya gona call when you need help--OH I KNOW CITY HALL--just my .$02-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Same thing happening here. Local PD chronically short-staffed (and worn out from long shifts and overtimes), but we have this growing auxiliary transit system that is seemingly costing millions and everyone's objecting to it; but the regular local bus system is cutting staff and cutting vital routes around the city to "cut costs" and all that. None of it is making sense to The People... especially folks who regularly use the bus system (bless their hearts) to get to work, attend medical appointments, get to school/college/whatever. It's crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JQ- Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I hope you make the cut Dan. We need all the good guys we can get...er...keep. Trolleys, Segways, Bengals...we got it all..except Cops and Firefighters...glad to live out of that county Good luck sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chills1994 Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 the East St. Louis PD and the St. Clair Country sherrif's department is laying off officers as well. Things are so bad down in East St. Louis that people are stealing the manhole covers, I guess, for scrap. A little boy fell down one of the holes the other day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 I haven't met one person who believes the trolley will do anything good for this city. Haven't you ever met the Mayor?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcarter Posted December 19, 2010 Author Share Posted December 19, 2010 I haven't met one person who believes the trolley will do anything good for this city. Haven't you ever met the Mayor?? No I haven't and I have no desire to. He is the only person that I am aware of that is in favor of it. I am not one of the jobs on the chopping block. Hell, they would have to go through 3/4 of the department to get to me. If you see my name on a list the city is about to fold into the county....which is the new rumor by the way. Our Chief was heard on one of the local radio stations stating that he was thinking of running for Sheriff when he retires. He thought the idea of moving patrol duties of the city over to the deputies sounded like a good idea. OF COURSE IT DOES WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO BE THE MAN WITH ALL OF THAT POWER!. I don't even want to get into his dealings with companies selling usless equipment to the city when he is a major stock holder. The man his setting up his personal retirement count and future employment while selling us down the river. The people who live in our wonderful city are running around with blinders on. They have no idea about half of the STUFF that goes on around them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aglifter Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 If you can, push for a good man for DA. The politics in our, little, town is cleaning up tremendously since we got our current DA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFlowers Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Having been on the inside of City/County level budget processes, its hard enough when you take the graft, corruption, and personal interests out of it. Approximately 75% of a local government's budget is mandated by forces outside of its control. For example, Area Mental Health must be budgeted at no less than a certain minimal level based on size, population, etc, same with most other Social Services programs. In the end, employee costs (both governmental and law enforcement) is one of the few items that the local government has it can manipulate to try and bring a budget to the table. Local governments have also ramped up law enforcement on Federal Grants with no idea how they would pay for the officers once the grants expired, and with the economic downturn they are really feeling the bite. The only other area most governments can work with is "Special Projects", but unfortunately most of them were entered into when times were better under the assumption they would bring in money at some point..... Now the government as stuck with contracts and no money. I saw the writing on the wall several years ago and left government employment. Luckily, my skill set was immediately translatable into the commercial world and better valued there as well. In Charlotte, NC they laid off a lot of the Government workers and officers on July 1. Been firing a lot of other officers for gross incompetence and criminal behavior lately too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Large metro "leaders" are....[ hmmm...how can I say this without being political? I can't. ] Closed. Good luck, DJ, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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