The Law of Unexpected Consequences

Posted by Larry Miller on July 25, 2010 under How | Be the First to Comment

The recent layoff of 80 Oakland, California police officers is representative of the way many governments at all levels are responding to the financial pinch all are feeling. While many Golden State public service unions appear to believe that gold is what the taxpayers are made of, this may not be the wisest choice… but certainly it is the most predictable.

The process of eliminating public protection in the city with the fourth highest crime rate the country shows the city fathers (and mothers) are following the old political practice of funding the lowest priorities first. Then, when the money is gone and the public still had needs, it is much easier to come back and ask for more money. For some reason, up to this point, people believed that the elected representatives were really working for the good of the public. How many citizens would accept a tax increase for extra flowers for the park across town? Yet, these things are often already bought and paid for when weeping and wailing is heard in the halls of power because some essential services will have to be cut. Here’s a helpful hint – don’t believe a word of it!

The idea is to create the maximum inconvenience for the maximum number of people. Oakland residents will have to make do with less police protection. This can have life and death consequences for those who find themselves in need. Cutbacks like this hit voters at the gut level as they see the criminal element taking over more and more of their city – and they become an easy touch as their representatives work to pry open their wallets. While the unions need to be reigned in, cutting down on public protection is not the way to make their city a better place to live.

A little trip this weekend showed me one of the possible results of these cutbacks. Police officers are not stupid. Many see the writing on the wall. Governments are a lot like real businesses. They are concerned with such things as expenses and revenue. When municipalities cut back on police departments, they are also cutting back on a source of revenue. This point was brought home to me as I headed down to Sandbridge Beach from the Richmond VA area.

On one short, ten mile stretch of Route 295, State Troopers had drivers pulled over in each direction. This is to be expected as we are told that heavy traffic, vacation times require tighter law enforcement in the name of public safety. However, as I traveled down Route 460 through one sleepy little town after another, with speed limits popping up and dropping down with predictable regularity, I passed through one such town that appeared to have a population of about thirty seven people and two shiny new police cars.

Each of these shiny new police cars, lights flashing brightly, sat by the side of the road, behind some hapless motorist as the officers, in the crisply pressed uniforms, politely produced traffic tickets that enhanced the finances of their sleepy little town. In the past, some remote southern towns have developed a reputation for fleecing unsuspecting, usually out of state, visitors as a matter of public policy and finance. As I said before, police officers are not stupid. It may be that the thought has occurred to some that by enhancing revenue for their employers, they enhance the likelihood that they can actually keep their jobs.

This is not to impugn the many officers working to keep us safe. Unfortunately one of the things they cannot protect us from is greedy “public servants” who maybe looking to increased zoning, traffic and building code enforcement to help cover budget shortfalls. This may or may not be happening in your area, but be forewarned… governments at all levels want your money… they say they “need” it, but we know the truth, don’t we?