Texas town "fires" and shuts down entire police department

[Eri]

ALTO, Texas ? A small Texas town has shut down its entire police department.

Facing dramatic budget cuts, the city?s efforts to control costs in Alto sent the police force home June 15, and law enforcement is now on hold.
Former police chief Charles Barron and four ex-officers secured the evidence room, changed the passwords on their computers and locked the department's doors, preparing for a closure that will last at least six months.
If the $185,000 city budget deficit does not improve, the officers could be out of work longer, CBS News reported. 
"There have been accusations that the police department is not generating enough revenue,? Barron said. ?Well, police departments are not revenue generators."
"Everybody's talking about 'bolt your doors, buy a gun,' " said Monty Collins, Alto's mayor, who was against the measure.
Now, county sheriff's deputies will handle calls in Alto, but that means police response times that were less than 3 minutes are now up to 15 minutes, and deputies are spread thin, according to CBS News. Twenty-five deputies and reservists will oversee a 1,000 square mile county.
Alto residents are sending around a petition to try to get their police force back.

http://policeone.com/rural-law-enforcement/articles/3907046-Entire-police-force-laid-off-in-Texas-town/

I'm sure glad no emergencies take less than 15 minutes to finish occurring, otherwise this town might be in some trouble. Anything to save some money right?

 

[gCrusher]

My name is gCrusher, and I do not approve this message.

 

[the spud]

It only takes 8 minutes to rob a bank...

I will be back tomorrow...

 

[crimsonshrouds]

ah republicans "The rich dont need to pay taxes lets make budget cuts. Now lets see wat to cut. our income? nah, I know the police! its genius and we can blame the dems for it."

 

[dfphetteplace]

The cutting of emergency services is insane. They are not needed every minute of every day, but when they are needed, the need is immediate. Being a paramedic, I rely on the police to back us up when it is needed with problem patients or dangerous situations. They don't realize how this will impact their fire and EMS services as well. People will die because of this.

 

[GigaHz]

Uh... Police Stations are supposed to GENERATE revenue?

Now I know why there are so many crooked cops.

 

[crimsonshrouds]

ah republicans "The rich dont need to pay taxes lets make budget cuts. Now lets see wat to cut. our income? nah, I know the police! its genius and we can blame the dems for it."

And how do you blame that on republicans? Where in the article were republicans mentioned anywhere?

I only made a joke based on current politics sorry.

 

[Berethond]

The cutting of emergency services is insane. They are not needed every minute of every day, but when they are needed, the need is immediate. Being a paramedic, I rely on the police to back us up when it is needed with problem patients or dangerous situations. They don't realize how this will impact their fire and EMS services as well. People will die because of this.

This. The police help at almost every emergency, of any kind. Traffic control during fires, etc etc.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

ah republicans "The rich dont need to pay taxes lets make budget cuts. Now lets see wat to cut. our income? nah, I know the police! its genius and we can blame the dems for it."

And how do you blame that on republicans? Where in the article were republicans mentioned anywhere?

I think he's implying that because it is Texas a fairly Red State that it is the Republicans fault for it.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Here in Northern Ireland most of our small police stations have been shut down, for example I live in a village of 500 people, and the nearest police station is pretty much 15 minutes away, so we are in the same situation as this town, although according to wikipedia its population is 1164, so thats twice our size. Americans seem to have this belief that were it not for their extreme deterrants they would be getting burgaled every single night. Oh, hold on, theres a noise downstairs, I'll be right back...

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Well now, might they be in need of a masked vigilante? I might just know somebody...

 

[Atmos Duality]

This is quite possibly how Lone Star from Shadowrun gets started in real life.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

Was one of their excuses that the police don't make enough money? really?

I'm downright confused.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[Dags90]

It's a town of barely over 1,000 people according to Wikipedia, many rural towns of that size don't have their own police departments.

 

[Saltyk]

This is one of the worst ideas in the long sad history of bad ideas. Seriously, who would even suggest shutting down the police department? I could see cutting back on overtime or work hours, but to just shut it down!? Idiocy!

I'm no fan of police, but they have a purpose. We're better off with them than without them.

Uh... Police Stations are supposed to GENERATE revenue?

Now I know why there are so many crooked cops.

Why do you think you see so many cops on the side of the road waiting to give out speeding tickets? Oh, sure, they call it production (because calling it a quota would apparently be illegal), but they do have to give out a whole book of tickets each month. That's also why they tend to be less forgiving of violations at the end of the month. They got to meet that quota! Seriously, I've heard of plenty of cities talking about increasing the amount of tickets that the police have to give out in order to raise money. Did you really think it was to promote public safety?

 

[Vausch]

ah republicans "The rich dont need to pay taxes lets make budget cuts. Now lets see wat to cut. our income? nah, I know the police! its genius and we can blame the dems for it."

And how do you blame that on republicans? Where in the article were republicans mentioned anywhere?

It's Texas. Enough said.

 

[magnuslion]

This is one of the worst ideas in the long sad history of bad ideas. Seriously, who would even suggest shutting down the police department? I could see cutting back on overtime or work hours, but to just shut it down!? Idiocy!

I'm no fan of police, but they have a purpose. We're better off with them than without them.

Uh... Police Stations are supposed to GENERATE revenue?

Now I know why there are so many crooked cops.

Why do you think you see so many cops on the side of the road waiting to give out speeding tickets? Oh, sure, they call it production (because calling it a quota would apparently be illegal), but they do have to give out a whole book of tickets each month. That's also why they tend to be less forgiving of violations at the end of the month. They got to meet that quota! Seriously, I've heard of plenty of cities talking about increasing the amount of tickets that the police have to give out in order to raise money. Did you really think it was to promote public safety?

which violates the constitution and the bill of rights, and the spirit of america. I am glad they were shut down.