Community Policing? Not When There Are 911 Calls to Answer

An interesting article on a looming crisis in policing. The Vexing Obstacle to Police Reform: A Cop’s Miserable Life

First the 911 connection - it is how I found the article.

The devolution of cops in big cities—and that’s where most of the crime happens—begins with patrol officers doing little but responding to 911 calls. That may sound to those who’ve never worn a police uniform like no big deal, just part of the job. Not so. The 911 system seemed like a good idea when it was created in the late 1960s for emergency calls. But Americans got addicted to instantly available cops. By 1996 there were 268,000 911 calls daily and now there are 600,000, many of which are not related to crimes in progress or an imminent emergency but to non-threatening disorderly conduct problems or taking reports on car accidents or burglaries that occurred hours or days before.

Community policing sounds good, but cops are doing nothing but responding to 911 calls. And those calls are not going to bring them into contact with solid citizens in a neighborhood, unless those citizens have just been the victim of a crime.

Then the metrics get involved.

So, most everywhere cops are responding to 911 calls. And because response time remains a key metric used for pay and promotions—woe be the police chief presiding over slow response times—cops are under pressure to stabilize any situation they find and get back “in service” to respond to the next 911 call. They’re doing triage, responding to symptoms rather than solving problems—and they know it. The patrol car will be back later this week to deal with that abusive marriage or that mentally ill person or that drunk or that drug dealer or that noise complaint, and nothing will change. In cop-speak, these are repeat customers.

Add in the current mania of prosecutors and judges to release people, and there are a lot of repeat customers.

A whole bunch of cops are nearing, or have reached, retirement age. And they are retiring. Some are just quiting.

So what happens if you call 911 because you need police, and there are no police to respond? I just had a post about a 911 call center that could not hire enough staff. (I should say another 911 center, because it isn't the 1st time I've written about that problem.) Now police. What happens when the institutions that we count on to ensure security crumble?

There is much more at the article, and it's worth your time. Though there is some Leftist insanity, there isn't a lot of it.

This isn't the first time I've written a post on the shortage of police. It won't be the last time.

I will let the author of today's article have the last word.

Ask yourself: Do you know any young person who wants to become a police officer?

Me neither.