“Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman. “You know, obviously, if he comes inside the residence and assaults you, can you ask him to go away?”
A few people that actually talked with me (as in using voice), often mentioned about crime rates in their country of Britain (horrible) or other places (Australian gun controlled knife crazy bars). I tell them stories about the US, particularly Georgia, where anyone is welcome to come busting in my door and home. However, I will require that they only get to leave in a body bag.
It's a very strange kind of thinking to foreigners. And it's going to be a very strange kind of thinking to Americans as well.
Well, they could take the advice of those within the Colorado legislature who suggested that women vomit or pee on themselves, blow their "Official Campus Rape Prevention" whistles, make use of the campus call boxes to report an assault -- that is if the cord will reach to the ground after the assailant has knocked them down. See? Sooo many different solutions to that icky ol' gun thingy.
And, Ymar? It's nice to see you around the more familiar haunts once again. 0>;~}
"I thought in some cases with budget cuts; deputies, sherifs, or even cops will volunteer on their own time to uphold the law in times like this when it is needed. Guess it was not that case here."
In his world, police who aren't paid to work at a certain time should be morally obligated to come save your life on their own personal time. And while to a certain extent I agree that we have a duty to protect our innocent neighbors and even strangers from the predations of evil men (and evil women... don't want to be accused of sexism here), wouldn't it be better to protect ourselves or at least have the ability to?
They expect citizens, strangers, or neighbors to have the courage to save a complete stranger at the risk of their lives. But they disarm and prevent men and women from obtaining the honor, the courage, the independence to take that kind of intentional behavior. Instead, evil and slavery, multi cultural acceptance, is preferred instead.
Logick, as always, has failed to restart the heart of a dead society. When the heart dies, so does the brain. Feelings and emotions were far more important than the rational Communist revolution gave it credit for.
Makes me wonder how much time the liberal volunteered to patrolling his neighborhood in the face of reduced police patrols. Or volunteered much of anything anywhere.
Ymar, but, but ,but, it you dig straight down don't you end up in China?? That's what we always thought as kids. Nobody wanted to go to China, it was a communist place. Now if it was Australia....well, then my Pop would have had a much larger problem than just gophers. heh 0>;~}
Grim, that's cool! Although, after zooming down to where my childhood house was, I discovered I would have come up in the "Texas Leaguer" area of the Indian Ocean between Australia, Antartica and Africa. Bummer. Bob, that's one of the main reasons why Oregon, while both MH's and my *home of record*, was never a consideration for retirement.
I'm a Texan exiled to Oregon (in-law reasons) & have lived/worked in that area of Josephine County. Their budget problems go way back, & are not unlike other areas. I'm not surprised at the story.
We had a brief respite last bi-ennium when the Republicans held an equal number of seats in the State House as Democrats, & forced a more workable budget, but now we're back to the Dems in charge with budget crises popping up again.
They'll pledge not to cut the Arts Development Council, but are quick to cut law enforcement & the like. Their main complaint is that the state isn't getting enough Federal revenue -- God forbid they should do anything local to address the economy. They'll tax the business interests until they close (a local paper factory - 300 jobs - went toes up for that reason a couple years ago, despite their warning), but can't understand why the business climate isn't producing more revenue.
I don't know about the specific case, but I think there's a general point to be made both about priorities and about what you can expect from the police.
The point about what you can expect from the police is that you need to be prepared to do your part to at least hold off the problem -- if you lack the capacities to stop it entirely -- until the police can arrive. That will be a different amount of time in different places, but there's a general point that (especially in an era of decreasing budgets) you need to assume that the police won't always get there in time to save you. In many places they usually, or even nearly always, will not.
The point about priorities is that it may make sense in many cases to respond to decreasing budgets by cutting law enforcement. There are places where that isn't true, and I don't know the specifics of this place as well as you do. But let me talk about my own home, which I do know something about, because it illustrates the case at least as well.
We are a largely rural county (there are three tiny little towns in the county, but it's mostly rolling forest and ranch country) in Georgia with a population a little under 30,000. The economic crisis that started in 2008 has hit us hard because a lot of the people work in timber (which was killed by the housing collapse) or transportation (generally harmed by an economic slowdown). Property values are down which means property taxes are down, income taxes to the state are way down, etc.
The cumulative effect of all this is that next year's school budget has to be cut by two million dollars. Now, if we assume that 20% of the population is school-aged, that's about 6000 kids who are using the school every day. Per capita income is near the poverty line, so we can't get it by raising taxes on the population (at least not much!).
It's already the case that if I were to call the police, I could expect it to take them between twenty minutes and an hour to arrive. It's a small department, located mostly in the largest of the three small towns on the opposite side of the county. I almost never see them. Unless one of them happened to be nearby by pure chance, it'd be twenty minutes if they just got in their car and started this way. If they were tied down -- and there aren't many of them -- it might well be an hour.
So, given the already limited benefits of the Sheriff's Department and the massive budgetary shortfall, maybe shifting some resources to the schools makes sense. The cost is that you'd have to be prepared to deal with problems for even longer than 20 minutes to an hour; but the baseline is already so high, and the crime rate so low, that it makes reasonable sense to me.
It's better that only police have guns.
ReplyDeleteThat way, the state will decide who gets to live or die. In a fashion, that'll be a lot easier for some people to live with.
Fighting is hard. Thinking for yourself is hard. Improving yourself is hard.
Slavery is easy.
That's just what Lars Walker said in his new book. You should read it.
ReplyDeleteThat name sounds strangely familiar.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd just kill em.
A few people that actually talked with me (as in using voice), often mentioned about crime rates in their country of Britain (horrible) or other places (Australian gun controlled knife crazy bars). I tell them stories about the US, particularly Georgia, where anyone is welcome to come busting in my door and home. However, I will require that they only get to leave in a body bag.
It's a very strange kind of thinking to foreigners. And it's going to be a very strange kind of thinking to Americans as well.
Well, they could take the advice of those within the Colorado legislature who suggested that women vomit or pee on themselves, blow their "Official Campus Rape Prevention" whistles, make use of the campus call boxes to report an assault -- that is if the cord will reach to the ground after the assailant has knocked them down.
ReplyDeleteSee?
Sooo many different solutions to that icky ol' gun thingy.
And, Ymar? It's nice to see you around the more familiar haunts once again.
0>;~}
Actual quote from a liberal on my facebook feed:
ReplyDelete"I thought in some cases with budget cuts; deputies, sherifs, or even cops will volunteer on their own time to uphold the law in times like this when it is needed. Guess it was not that case here."
In his world, police who aren't paid to work at a certain time should be morally obligated to come save your life on their own personal time. And while to a certain extent I agree that we have a duty to protect our innocent neighbors and even strangers from the predations of evil men (and evil women... don't want to be accused of sexism here), wouldn't it be better to protect ourselves or at least have the ability to?
They expect citizens, strangers, or neighbors to have the courage to save a complete stranger at the risk of their lives. But they disarm and prevent men and women from obtaining the honor, the courage, the independence to take that kind of intentional behavior. Instead, evil and slavery, multi cultural acceptance, is preferred instead.
ReplyDeleteLogick, as always, has failed to restart the heart of a dead society. When the heart dies, so does the brain. Feelings and emotions were far more important than the rational Communist revolution gave it credit for.
Sly, I see you are as lively as usual (genki).
Best comment ever:
ReplyDeleteIf anyone comes through my door uninvited, the last thing they'll ever hear is, "Smile... And wait for flash."
...quote from a liberal on my facebook feed....
ReplyDeleteMakes me wonder how much time the liberal volunteered to patrolling his neighborhood in the face of reduced police patrols. Or volunteered much of anything anywhere.
Eric Hines
If anyone comes through my door uninvited they next thing I want them to hear is, "This elevator goes down."
ReplyDelete0>;~}
Sly, why would taking an elevator to Australia be a good thing?
ReplyDeleteYmar, but, but ,but, it you dig straight down don't you end up in China??
ReplyDeleteThat's what we always thought as kids. Nobody wanted to go to China, it was a communist place. Now if it was Australia....well, then my Pop would have had a much larger problem than just gophers.
heh
0>;~}
Sly:
ReplyDeleteSee here.
So the Europops were right. They were Indians in Americas. Going by earth tunnel migration theory.
ReplyDeleteShe should have called me.
ReplyDeleteThe Leftists in Oregon have choked our economy to near death. I'm not surprised most counties have inadequate resources.
A gun in your possession is much cheaper to maintain than yet another PERS position.
Grim, that's cool! Although, after zooming down to where my childhood house was, I discovered I would have come up in the "Texas Leaguer" area of the Indian Ocean between Australia, Antartica and Africa.
ReplyDeleteBummer.
Bob, that's one of the main reasons why Oregon, while both MH's and my *home of record*, was never a consideration for retirement.
I'm a Texan exiled to Oregon (in-law reasons) & have lived/worked in that area of Josephine County. Their budget problems go way back, & are not unlike other areas. I'm not surprised at the story.
ReplyDeleteWe had a brief respite last bi-ennium when the Republicans held an equal number of seats in the State House as Democrats, & forced a more workable budget, but now we're back to the Dems in charge with budget crises popping up again.
They'll pledge not to cut the Arts Development Council, but are quick to cut law enforcement & the like. Their main complaint is that the state isn't getting enough Federal revenue -- God forbid they should do anything local to address the economy. They'll tax the business interests until they close (a local paper factory - 300 jobs - went toes up for that reason a couple years ago, despite their warning), but can't understand why the business climate isn't producing more revenue.
I don't know about the specific case, but I think there's a general point to be made both about priorities and about what you can expect from the police.
ReplyDeleteThe point about what you can expect from the police is that you need to be prepared to do your part to at least hold off the problem -- if you lack the capacities to stop it entirely -- until the police can arrive. That will be a different amount of time in different places, but there's a general point that (especially in an era of decreasing budgets) you need to assume that the police won't always get there in time to save you. In many places they usually, or even nearly always, will not.
The point about priorities is that it may make sense in many cases to respond to decreasing budgets by cutting law enforcement. There are places where that isn't true, and I don't know the specifics of this place as well as you do. But let me talk about my own home, which I do know something about, because it illustrates the case at least as well.
We are a largely rural county (there are three tiny little towns in the county, but it's mostly rolling forest and ranch country) in Georgia with a population a little under 30,000. The economic crisis that started in 2008 has hit us hard because a lot of the people work in timber (which was killed by the housing collapse) or transportation (generally harmed by an economic slowdown). Property values are down which means property taxes are down, income taxes to the state are way down, etc.
The cumulative effect of all this is that next year's school budget has to be cut by two million dollars. Now, if we assume that 20% of the population is school-aged, that's about 6000 kids who are using the school every day. Per capita income is near the poverty line, so we can't get it by raising taxes on the population (at least not much!).
It's already the case that if I were to call the police, I could expect it to take them between twenty minutes and an hour to arrive. It's a small department, located mostly in the largest of the three small towns on the opposite side of the county. I almost never see them. Unless one of them happened to be nearby by pure chance, it'd be twenty minutes if they just got in their car and started this way. If they were tied down -- and there aren't many of them -- it might well be an hour.
So, given the already limited benefits of the Sheriff's Department and the massive budgetary shortfall, maybe shifting some resources to the schools makes sense. The cost is that you'd have to be prepared to deal with problems for even longer than 20 minutes to an hour; but the baseline is already so high, and the crime rate so low, that it makes reasonable sense to me.