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What's going on, Albuquerque?
Do Police Actually Prevent Crime
I read an article on November 25 in the ABQ Journal about how APD officers
feel they are underpaid and how many are leaving for higher paying positions.
When crunching the numbers, the average APD officer makes $39,000
per year; translating to $750 per week; $150 per day and $15 per hour.
This is using a 10 hour shift and a 5 day work week.
In addition, they get to take home their vehicles; free medical and dental
and receive 70 percent retirement.
Does a seargeant in the US armed forces make this kind of money? I spoke
with a master seargeant in the US Air Force and he estimates his hourly
pay to be 80 cents. His retirement is about 50 percent.
Furthermore, military personnel are often deployed for years at a time to
foreign nations, where they are often resented and not wanted by the
locals. They do not get to go home after their shift in a government issued
vehicle. While they may get the medical and dental benefits, they are
truly underpaid for the jobs they are asked to carry out. Many families
of enlisted personnel qualify for some form of government assistance such
as food stamps.
The fundamental question is, do police truly make the streets safer? A study
done by the National Institute of Justice says that more cops do not
equal less crime. They use a report by the Federal Government
Accounting Office that says only 5 percent of the aggregate reduction in
crime could be attributed to an increase in cops on the streets.
Under the 1994 Crime Reduction Act, the goal was to increase the
number of cops on the street by 100,000. The actual increase was only
82,000 at the high end.
But, the study argues that even if 100,000 cops were added, that amounted
to less than 1 new cop per department in a nation of 300 million.
Furthermore, some agencies such as the Albuquerque Police Department
used the funds from Uncle Sam to purchase new cars and computers and
tried to argue that they were the equivalent of new cops.
Police are a reactive force. They cannot stop the crime from happening.
The most they can do is try and find the perpetrator and that is done not
by uniformed patrolmen but by guys who wear suits most of the time.
The main function of a uniformed police force in my view is to issue citations
and tickets; to rack up arrests and make quotas which in turn make money
for the municipality. After all, what crime prevention do they actually do?
Could they have stopped this weeks murder of Tak Yi and his wife? Could
they have prevented the January 1986 murder of Linda Lee Daniels? No!
They are a reactive force.
Most of the time I see cops, they are harassing young people just for being
out late on Saturday and laughing. This happened to me. I was with a friend
and my brother in a Hastings parking lot when a fat piece of shit APD cop
named George Wood rode over on his bicycle and started yelling at me
for laughing and gave my brother a hard time over an unsecured license plate.
Needless to say, this waste of flesh was never fired even though he was
rude and abusive for no reason.
Two years later, a jury awarded $120,000 to a man who sued for false arrest.
The cop involved, Tom Sholtis had been sued before and was NEVER fired.
He voluntarily left in 2005.
There lies a major problem. These people cost the city millions of dollars
in lawsuits and no one is ever FIRED! In private enterprise, people who
cost the company millions are usally fired and sued for restitution.
Yet, this never occurs with government because the government just passes
it on to the bottomless pit, the taxpayers.
I am of the opinion a uniformed police force should be abolished. Place
detectives under the District Attorney's office. As far as catching DWIs,
place that with the sheriff's department. I do not see the need for having
a sheriff's department AND a metropolitan police department that more
or less serve the same function. Consolidate the DWIs, domestic violence
and noise violations with the Sheriff's office and get rid of the Nazi Gestapo
wannabes called the APD. As far as a guy who wants a blowjob for $50,
why do I give a shit? It's his money and the prostitute's mouth. What do I care
what she (or he) opts to stick in it for cash. The same for pot. Why do
I care if someone wants to smoke a little weed in his home or office? He
ain't harming me.
Lastly, recall that in 1987 when the cops went on strike, crime in ABQ actually
went DOWN? Why? People armed themselves and took self defense
courses. After all, if the cop does not see it, it must not have happened.
So, people learned to rely on themselves.
My conclusion: Cops do not prevent crime; they simply react to events
around them and often end up doing more damage than good.
feel they are underpaid and how many are leaving for higher paying positions.
When crunching the numbers, the average APD officer makes $39,000
per year; translating to $750 per week; $150 per day and $15 per hour.
This is using a 10 hour shift and a 5 day work week.
In addition, they get to take home their vehicles; free medical and dental
and receive 70 percent retirement.
Does a seargeant in the US armed forces make this kind of money? I spoke
with a master seargeant in the US Air Force and he estimates his hourly
pay to be 80 cents. His retirement is about 50 percent.
Furthermore, military personnel are often deployed for years at a time to
foreign nations, where they are often resented and not wanted by the
locals. They do not get to go home after their shift in a government issued
vehicle. While they may get the medical and dental benefits, they are
truly underpaid for the jobs they are asked to carry out. Many families
of enlisted personnel qualify for some form of government assistance such
as food stamps.
The fundamental question is, do police truly make the streets safer? A study
done by the National Institute of Justice says that more cops do not
equal less crime. They use a report by the Federal Government
Accounting Office that says only 5 percent of the aggregate reduction in
crime could be attributed to an increase in cops on the streets.
Under the 1994 Crime Reduction Act, the goal was to increase the
number of cops on the street by 100,000. The actual increase was only
82,000 at the high end.
But, the study argues that even if 100,000 cops were added, that amounted
to less than 1 new cop per department in a nation of 300 million.
Furthermore, some agencies such as the Albuquerque Police Department
used the funds from Uncle Sam to purchase new cars and computers and
tried to argue that they were the equivalent of new cops.
Police are a reactive force. They cannot stop the crime from happening.
The most they can do is try and find the perpetrator and that is done not
by uniformed patrolmen but by guys who wear suits most of the time.
The main function of a uniformed police force in my view is to issue citations
and tickets; to rack up arrests and make quotas which in turn make money
for the municipality. After all, what crime prevention do they actually do?
Could they have stopped this weeks murder of Tak Yi and his wife? Could
they have prevented the January 1986 murder of Linda Lee Daniels? No!
They are a reactive force.
Most of the time I see cops, they are harassing young people just for being
out late on Saturday and laughing. This happened to me. I was with a friend
and my brother in a Hastings parking lot when a fat piece of shit APD cop
named George Wood rode over on his bicycle and started yelling at me
for laughing and gave my brother a hard time over an unsecured license plate.
Needless to say, this waste of flesh was never fired even though he was
rude and abusive for no reason.
Two years later, a jury awarded $120,000 to a man who sued for false arrest.
The cop involved, Tom Sholtis had been sued before and was NEVER fired.
He voluntarily left in 2005.
There lies a major problem. These people cost the city millions of dollars
in lawsuits and no one is ever FIRED! In private enterprise, people who
cost the company millions are usally fired and sued for restitution.
Yet, this never occurs with government because the government just passes
it on to the bottomless pit, the taxpayers.
I am of the opinion a uniformed police force should be abolished. Place
detectives under the District Attorney's office. As far as catching DWIs,
place that with the sheriff's department. I do not see the need for having
a sheriff's department AND a metropolitan police department that more
or less serve the same function. Consolidate the DWIs, domestic violence
and noise violations with the Sheriff's office and get rid of the Nazi Gestapo
wannabes called the APD. As far as a guy who wants a blowjob for $50,
why do I give a shit? It's his money and the prostitute's mouth. What do I care
what she (or he) opts to stick in it for cash. The same for pot. Why do
I care if someone wants to smoke a little weed in his home or office? He
ain't harming me.
Lastly, recall that in 1987 when the cops went on strike, crime in ABQ actually
went DOWN? Why? People armed themselves and took self defense
courses. After all, if the cop does not see it, it must not have happened.
So, people learned to rely on themselves.
My conclusion: Cops do not prevent crime; they simply react to events
around them and often end up doing more damage than good.
Views: 756
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Steph on -
The times I have needed APD, they have let me down miserably. Tell me what you think.
When a group of 7 or 8 guys was beating up a woman in my apartment's parking lot I called 911, and they never showed.
When a deranged ex was stalking and threatening me, APD put a tracer on my phone and told me where the calls were coming from (as if I didn't know), but would never write the report I needed to be able to do anything about it. "We're not here to settle your domestic problems" is what I was told. Huh?
When I was pulling into my driveway with my two small children in the car, a man ran up and tried to get into my car but I was able to drive away before he got in. He stayed in my front yard for about an hour. I called 911 three times. They showed up six hours later. That was in about 2001, and I was told there were 9 officers covering the entire West Side, so they couldn't come any sooner.
When a family member attempted suicide, I called 911. Not only did they never dispatch an ambulance, but the help I was desperately begging for to keep this person alive was returned with nothing but argument. "Ma'am, I can't do anything until you calm down. Now I'm just going to wait for you to relax." (Relax with an unconscious man in a pool of blood in the bathtub. Right.) I actually had to hang up and call 911 again to talk to someone else who finally sent rescue. When the ambulance arrived, however, they parked half a block away and would not come within 100 yards of the house until the police got there (ten minutes later). Apparently they were advised there was a man with a knife, but not that he was unconscious. The fact that he lived had nothing to do with APD's response to me.
Most recently, just last week, the obvious and terrifying sounds of a man beating his wife could be heard down the whole block. I called 911, and guess what? They never showed.
I actually have one other incident that I won't detail here because this is just getting boring. But really, what are these cops doing and why don't they respond? -
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Permalink Reply by misterhinkydink on -
You sound like you don't like cops....
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Permalink Reply by the boy on -
Firstly, I'm going to ditto Sophie on the line breaks. They are awful, and only add to unreadability here.
Secondly, no one commits a crime with a cop standing next to them. Crimes are committed where cops are not, and so cops are rushed to the scene hopefully to prevent the crime in progress; failing that, they show up to catch the offender, so that justice can later be rendered.
Unpleasant experience with a cop or two does not equal cops doing more harm than good. Certainly, cops do harm; we've many reported cases of this, and a good chunk of LAPD history to reinforce this notion. More harm than good is hard to quantify - I'm not willing to trust the libertarian self-sufficient pipe dream where all citizens are allowed to interpret justice as they see fit. I'm in favor of the rule of law, and since the rule of law involves bureaucracies, there will be inefficiency. This is what reform is for, and this is what citizen action is for. If harm is caused, citizens have recourse through the legal system against the offending party; should reform stall there (and it does, certainly, the courts are not the easiest recourse against injustice caused by police), then reform through elected politicians is also an available option. Upset with law enforcement? Make your grievances a big issue, and get a coalition of single-issue voters to support you. Mayoral candidates, city council candidates, and sheriffs candidates will listen.
If the reactive (by necessity) nature of police action offends you, detectives are hardly the proper response. After the fact investigation leaves out the possibility for saving peoples lives when a crime is in process, a possibility I like to still have available. It also doesn't allow for the prevention of crime that is caused by police presence. More cops doesn't equal less crime because it equals more arrests. The same amount of crime is still going on; with more police around to catch people, there will be more arrests. More arrests is intended as a deterrent, but the numbers of officers needed to reduce crime statistics, and not just increase arrest numbers, would be something along the lines of the police forces employed by, well, by a police state (take your pick for appropriate example - China has 30,000 officers on the internet, so that's the current big one). That's a huge investment in repressive manpower, and not something I'd be happy with.
As for vice crimes (prostitution and drug crimes, primarily, but lets include everything else for the sake of argument), if you decriminalize the activity, you get less crime. Decriminalization and legalization are legislative processes, and so thats where the hard work has to be done. Think cops have more important things to do than bust prostitutes? You're not alone, and there are many groups that lobby for change here. COYOTE (Call Off your Tired Old Ethics) is a good one. I'm sure marijuana legalization groups are not hard to find, and if they did it in Denver, it seems doable elsewhere.
I think that covers it. If you've specific APD grievance that you want to air, go ahead and start new posts towards those. I'm not sure this is the best place for a blanket assault on the concept of law enforcement. -
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Permalink Reply by MarkAntony on
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I have never had a positive experience with cops and in every case, I did not do anything wrong. The first time as I wrote above was at Hastings; the second time was I was driving in rain and made a left Downtown on a yellow and
was stopped for DWI. The mots recent was I was driving a car not my own at the owner's behest and
did not have the headlights on. The cop cuffed me for suspicion of DWI but had to release me after I
passed his test at his station with flying colors.
I have made complaints. The problem is the city's Police Oversight Commission cannot do anything beyond make suggestions to the chief. This means that there truly is no accountability factor.
Let's also go back and look at the lawsuits. In 2003, the city did have to pay out $120,000 to Oscar Davis; falsely
arrested by APD officer Tom Sholtis. Later that year, the city had to pay out $300,000 plus legal fees because
the brain trust called the APD caused a man carpal tunnel by usinng flex cuffs. What was his crime? Soliciting
a prostitute. How many fucking murders and armed robberies were happening at the moment these fucking
trained monkeys who strut about like Navy SEALS were arresting a john and costing the city $$ which WE have
pay? Yeah, ABQ is SELF-INSURED. We do not have an insurance carrier and therefore when we lose, guess
who pays? US! Yet, no one is ever fired, which marvels me to no end.
In business, fuck-ups are terminated. People who steal from their employers are fired and usually sued for restitution.
I want to repeat that in 1987 when the Albuquerque Police went on strike, crime went DOWN! So all the drivel about how they actually stop crime is just so much bullshit. As the GAO report said in the late 1990s, only 5 percent
of the aggregate crime reduction could actually be atributed to more cops on the street.
Some people call 911. I call 357. -
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Permalink Reply by the boy on
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Crime "went down" in 1987 because no one was making arrests or collecting crime statistics. Crime did not go down; it went unrecorded and unpunished.
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Let me ask you something BOY (proper name for a drivel spewing simpleton): Were you even here in 1987?
I was. Let me tell you, every pawn shop, gun shop and sporting goods store could not keep up with the
demand for firearms. Everyone I knew at that time including myself and my friends and relatives purchased
guns. Others took self defense classes; many formed some form of neighborhood watch or block
watch.
Before the strike came to an end, APD chief Sam Baca made a statement that was very telling to the media.
He told the Albuquerque Journal how much money the city was not making as a result of the cops
being on strike. The head man himself admitted there was a quota even though he did not say so
outright. He basically was saying each day the cops were on strike was a day they were not issuing
citations and making cash for the city.
The reason crime went down had very little to do with it being unreported. It came down to people arming
themselves and learning how to defend themselves and rely on themselves and their neighbors. Was
there still crime? You bet. But, that is the case anyway, regardless of a police presence or not.
I am going to ask point blank a question that should not be that difficult for your little pea sized brain:
WHAT VALUE PROPOSITION DO THE POLICE PROFFER? Since they are reactive by nature, this
means they do not prevent crime. With technology such as the traffic cameras (which I also despise),
this means they really are not needed to deal with traffic violations. Maybe DWI stops but that is
about it. If your stuff gets stolen, they are most likely not going to find it. If your car gets hit
in a parking lot by an uninsured driver, their view is tough shit.
My view is the APD strut around like Navy SEALS when most of them are barely literate and have never been
anywhere beyond the state of New Mexico. They are rude and abrasive to their employers who make
their livelihood possible. Without us, who the fuck are they? Mental midgets who most likely would be
cleaning fat vats and flipping burgers at McDonald's. I have watched the city's gross receipts tax go up and
up and up over the years because of the APD's fuck-ups.
The badge gives these limp dick pricks a couple of extra inches. Without the badge and gun, they most likely
are cowards who could not man up one to one with anyone. They are nothing more than parasites
and bullies; most of whom could not get a job scrubbing toilets in the world of private enterprise.
I lived through the strike of 1987. Guess what? I felt the safest I have felt in my entire life. -
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Permalink Reply by buggs on -
"free medical and dental"
City pays 80%, city employees pay 20%, including cops. But it fits the spin. Next time you see a cop car in your rear view mirror, revisit the statement "Cops do not prevent crime; they simply react to events around them." -
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Permalink Reply by DCF Admin on
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"MarkAntony" -
You have crossed the line in attacking another member of this community with the following language:
"Let me ask you something BOY (proper name for a drivel spewing simpleton): Were you even here in 1987?
I was."
"I am going to ask point blank a question that should not be that difficult for your little pea sized brain:"
This is unacceptable on our forum and we have closed your discussion as a result.
If you repeat such trolling behavior, you will be banned from this site.
Duke City Fix
Administration Team -
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