San Bernardino is so bankrupt that the city’s attorney is advising residents to “lock your doors and load your guns,” in the face of budgetary cuts that have downsized the police force by 80 officers.
City Attorney Jim Penman made his comments to about 150 residents at a council meeting assembled to address the uptick in crime, including the recent murder of an elderly woman. Since 2011, the California city has seen a 50 percent increase in murders.
“Let’s be honest, we don’t have enough police officers. We have too many criminals living in this city,” Penman told KCBS-TV. “We have had 45 murders this year. That’s far too high for a city of this size.”
What a surprise.
Also, if you go to the link, you will see a bunch of anti-gun idiots in the comments section, with an extra taste of racism! Yummy.
jefferson101 on December 2, 2012 at 7:10 pm said:
It's a mind boggling thing. I'm not finding any real information on what their budget actually is, in any detail, but I did see a statement in one article that 73% of their budget was being spent on Police and Fire Department salaries, penisions, and benefits.
That does seem excessive to me. If they have a population of 200,000 and receipts of $140-odd million per year, that means they are collecting about $750 per citizen per year. That doesn't seem terribly low to me. If they can't provide basic services for that, they might need to look at where they are going overboard.
I also don't get the whole thing about their Budget people having been giving them fraudlent numbers. If true, it would seem to me that some criminal charges might be appropriate. In the absence of that, I have to suspect that it's like CBO numbers. The City Council told the Budget people how to figure things, and when that proved to be the wrong way, they blame the people who followed their instructions.
W. C. Taqiyya on December 2, 2012 at 9:58 pm said:
Far be it for me to notice, but locking your doors and loading your guns has always been sound advice. Especially if you live in a crime riddled city. That's nothing new. Plus, when have cops ever stopped a violently inclined criminal from invading a home? Right, never. Forget the banruptcy, cops have always been useless. Shoot, most of em can't even direct traffic properly anymore. What did the cops do during the LA riots? Correct, they ran away. Fire them all, you'll hardly notice they're gone.
Meep on December 3, 2012 at 4:18 pm said:
Oh, I agree with you there. I'm a lifetime NRA member, after all.
I find it rich that these guys plump up on the "get a gun" solution after bitching at law-abiding gun owners for years.
Starless on December 2, 2012 at 10:22 pm said:
Wow. It only took five comments before they got into an all-out flamewar.