Tough economic times? Not for SB Police Department
I went to the San Bernardino City Council meeting Monday to check up on Police Chief Michael Billdt's proposed $2 million expansion of red light camera surveillance systems in the city.
The issue interested me because I've done two stories in recent weeks about the growing specter of red light cameras, which cities contract with out of state firms to install and maintain at high volume intersections.
Surprisingly, I saw something else nearly as interesting.
In an era likely to see draconian cuts and already marked by harsh rhetoric concerning the looming fiscal crisis at national, state and local levels, the city council is rather selective about who to cut and who to fund.
The Police Department seems poised to continue enjoying unprecedented budget growth, despite plummeting revenues and calls for deep spending cuts in other city services.
The evidence?
On Monday, the following occurred:
1) After a drawn out, testy discussion, the council narrowly rejected spending $46,000 on a public health nurse to work the high crime, high poverty Operation Phoenix areas.
2) The council unanimously, and without discussion, approved a recommendation from Chief Billdt to spend $47,000 for the "demolition and resurfacing" of the police department's shower stalls. Again, council members moved to and voted to approve this measure before discussion could commence. The backup report said the department was concerned that buckled tiles had been penetrated by moisture, creating a health hazard to officers. It did not say how old the floor was.
3) After some debate, and with Councilman Tobin Brinker the lone dissent, the city pulled the trigger on $750,000 for 27 new police cars from Fairview Ford. Under Brinker's questioning, fleet managers said the cars would replace models in current usage approaching 90,000 miles, which is the general cut-off point for the life of police cars. Brinker said that given the current budget crisis he thought it may be prudent to hold off on the purchases.
He was alone with that thought.
The purchases come on top of 101 vehicle purchases by the department since 2004, at about $25,000 per vehicle (Around $2,5 million).
Now, the department is scheduled to go back to council in two weeks to ask for red light cameras at seven additional intersections, an expansion that would make the traffic surveillance operation the county's largest.
What does it all mean? San Bernardino city leaders committed long ago to making public safety paramount. They are putting their money where their mouths are, and it will probably mean that the proportion of public expenditures funneled into police spending will be higher than anyone could have expected a few short years ago.
We pay (A LOT) for police protection so when are we going to get it?
They want to keep buying these red light cameras - how about some cameras to catch the taggers responsible for all the graffiti? While people that run red lights are annoying, they aren't defacing property. And I personally believe these taggers eventually move on to bigger crimes - let's nip it in the bud.
And my shower needs new tile too - where do I sign up?
We are rapidly becoming a police state with local law enforcement agencies falling in line behind federal trends to crack down on its citizens. This is a growing phenomenon not just in San Bernardino but across the nation as federal funds doled out under the guise of Homeland Security is militarizing the very departments which are meant to protect us as citizens. The use of deadly force is on the rise and accountability on the decline. Obviously the media has a major role to play in this trend as the nightly news shapes our outlook and views on the status of our community, the nation and world at large.
So long as we continue to live in fear, we will see the types of abuses of public funds we are witnessing at the police department. $47,000 for new shower stalls? $750,000 for 27 new police vehicles in addition to the $4.5 million which Chief Bildt wants to throw down the Nestor hole. At some point you have to say enough is enough and review your plan of attack. By increasing the amount of money poured into police agencies at the expense of education, health care, social and city administrative programs, we are piling wood on a fire already raging out of control
The problem is past mistakes such as accepting state funds to allow parolees from other jurisdictions to be dumped into San Bernardino is affecting the security of our neighborhoods. Coupled with unemployment, economic insecurity and a poorly funded education system, we are in the midst of the perfect storm. Instead of approaching the problem with a realistic view, city officials continue to bury their heads in the sand and act as if nothing is wrong. It is much easier to point the finger at the lower class and say its all their fault, they're criminals and gang bangers than to say, look we've made some mistakes and we need to tighten our belts to get this thing back on track.
We all understand that the decisions being made are about money but again accountability is the issue. Its no secret that San Bernardino has been unable to attract federal funding in most areas because of fiscal mis-management issues. We need to demand transparency in all areas of city government and hold these elected officials feet to fire. If they aren't willing or capable of doing the job of representing their constituency then they should be removed from office. San Bernardino is still a city on the move, unfortunately we in a decades long slide into obscurity and insignificance. Its time for a change. A real change and it starts here and now.