President Obama and AG Holder announced the availability of $2B in funding for State and local law enforcement agencies on March 6, 2009. Like many law enforcement admins I was glad to hear it. I actually got an email this morning about the program and what my agency needs to do in order to apply for assistance.
What I found out surprised me: we don’t have enough violent crime to qualify.
We have the same budget restraints as other cities.
We face the same crime prevention issues.
We were forced to cut nearly 10% from our budget last year and I’ve been asked to find another 8% for next year. This, of course, will impact our ability to continue in preventing violent crime in the future.
So hold on my fair citizens, after making enough budget cuts to reduce our effectiveness as a result of the economy I’m sure we’ll be able to qualify for funding in the future – it just may require some of you getting hurt in the process.
Ok. I got all the negative stuff out of my system now and I’m moving on to positive thoughts.
Have a great day!
Postive thought (spin): If you keep cutting your budget, violent crime may rise. Voila! You now qualify for the funding. Stranger things have happened. 🙂