Helicopter grounded
We have a story today about the end of the San Bernardino Police helicopter.
Whether you believe the city needs to pay for its own helicopter (it can more cheaply depend on the county sheriff's chopper) or not, the council's decision to ground the big, thirsty bird was clearly a big blow to Police Chief Michael Billdt's policing strategy.
This was first and foremost a move to save the city $654,000 in a time of budget crisis. Obviously, arguing to keep a costly machine in the sky while people are getting laid off is a tough position to take.
But, ultimately, the helicopter was slated for discontinuation because city officials never really proved to people that it was crucial to policing.
I can say that I sat in on many meetings (Measure Z, council, etc.) where the helicopter's costs and benefits were questioned. The answers amounted to "it helps us keep the city safe."
At the time, such an unsubstantiated answer was sufficient.
Now, the council has decided that's no longer the case.
The city's brief experiment with maintaining its own helicopter is over. Whether that is a benefit or cost to public safety may never definitively be known. But what is known is that the arguments and the justifications from police administration that once persuaded the council are now falling flat, at least in this case.
Maybe Billdt should have brought out his "crime statistics" that show that the city is safer.....the statistics coming from this department are questionable, and Billdt couldn't even produce statistics to show why the helicopter was a necessary crime fighting tool. I guess they didn't cover statistics and how to use them for the benefit of your department at Augie U.
Too bad the Council's plan to cut the helicopter isn't saving anyone's job. With the couple dozen lay off the city is making, all are civilian positions and cutting the helicopter is hiring 6 more police officers. I guess civilians don't mean anything to the Council.
No one was saved from layoffs......
3 officer and 3 sgt positions which were not currently staffed were pulled from the list. These positions will now be filled - they are part of the 40 officers that Measure Z was supposed to fund before Pat Morris decided to hijack it for his free hand-out program, Operation Phoenix.
Serenah,
What exactly do you mean in your post that begins "That's not what happened at all?"
Were you referring to our report? If so, what is the problem?
Thanks,
Robert
The benefits of having a helicopter assigned to the SBPD can be realized if proper planning and well thought-out decision making are exercised. I am not convinced this was done in the past but if done now, it could come to realization when opportunity knocks down stream. Objective planning is key. It should be done now in preparation for tomorrow.
Serenah,
From Andrew's story: "The council's decision, Billdt said, won't change the number of officers the city can hire but will allow police commanders to promote current employees to sergeants' and detectives' positions as openings arise."
Andrew's report, which I based my blog entry on, made clear that the helicopter's grounding did NOT save jobs.
I'm re-stating this here because I want to be as clear and accurate as possible for our readers.
Thank you as always for reading, responding and keeping us on our toes.
Robert
Got to get rid of the blood sucking, money pit called Operation Phoenix so we can pay for the OP lawsuits that are sure to come.
But if we dump Operation Phoenix how is Clan Morris going to be remembered? What about Pat's legacy?
Oh wait, we have Jimmy Boy playing Sim City with downtown - that's what the legacy can be!!!
Hi Serenah,
I'm not sure what you're talking about. In your last post, when you wrote: "I don't care what the truth behind what they were saying was." I got the impression that you were realizing that Andrew and I's reporting was 100 percent accurate.
I'm not saying you're not right, I'm only underscoring that our reporting is totally factual. It is important that I prove that when anyone suggests that it might not be. It's either the truth, or, if we make an occasional mistake, we have to correct it immediately. In this case, thankfully, no mistake was made.
I'm going to repost Andrew's writing below to again show what we're reporting because it is dead on:
From Andrew's story: "The council's decision, Billdt said, won't change the number of officers the city can hire but will allow police commanders to promote current employees to sergeants' and detectives' positions as openings arise."
Andrew's report, which I based my blog entry on, made clear that the helicopter's grounding did NOT save jobs.
I'm re-stating this here because I want to be as clear and accurate as possible for our readers.
Thank you as always for reading, responding and keeping us on our toes.
Robert
Serenah,
Accuracy is very important here.
You say: "But, ultimately, the helicopter was slated for discontinuation because city officials never really proved to people that it was crucial to policing." is wrong because they went around the table, expressing how important it was, but that they don't like to lay people off. THAT is what was said.
***********
You are reaching an unsubstantiated conclusion. Just because they say the helicopter is important and they say they don't want to lay people off doesn't mean those are the real reasons.
Again, GROUNDING THE HELICOPTER SAVES ZERO JOBS!
Thus, any argument that they "don't want to lay people off" is false on its face.
As to whether it's important. Considering the city approved $150 million in spending but not a dime for the helicopter, any public pronouncements about the importance of the helicopter need to be taken with a grain of salt.
Serenah, we are grateful for your reading and responding.
But in this one thread, you think you are "calling me out" on something when you are not. The truth of the matter is exactly stated in Andrew's report. You keep writing that the helicopter was grounded to save jobs, and that is simply false. It is false. Every time you repost it, it only clouds what was originally a simple, straight and truthful report.
Thanks again,
Robert
I think we are on the same page now. Thanks so much again for writing,
Robert
I think we are on the same page now. Thanks so much again for writing,
Robert