Our department, like many others, have been restructuring due to budget cuts- and our most recent extortion from our State Capital. For most citizens, the budget cuts are abstract. They don’t really see what changes have been made because there are still cops & firefighters on the streets and dispatchers answering the phone. It’s the most helpless that suffer… and their voices aren’t clearly understood. I mean, “Meeow” can be interpreted so many different ways. ;)
Seriously- we did just lose ALL but one of our Community Service Officers, our Crime Scene/Evidence Specialist and 2 of our newest officers. And the Chief is hinting at more. It may not seem like a lot, however those CSO’s worked their tails off and the Police Officers will have to pick up where they left off. Which includes animal complaints & abandoned vehicles- both of which take up an amazing amount of time and perseverance. Just when we had enough officers to be proactive and actually REDUCE CRIME. Honest- the last two years our officers have made such an impact. Our citizens didn’t have long to wait for an officer when they needed us- even for report calls. And officers also had time to prowl around looking for nefarious individuals. Which is so important. If your agency can get in there and annoy the criminals by stopping and interrogating them constantly, they tend to find another place (city) to go do their thing. So it’s more than 6 people- it’s a whole lifestyle.
But the great thing our city council did to make it all better (they were forced basically to close 2 pools- out of the 4 we have in town- for a city of 50,000) is now you can go to the pool for FREE on the weekend. OH THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE WHEN YOU ARE IN A BUDGET CRISIS. AND LAYING OFF PEOPLE. I have a slogan on my work email signature: “People, Not Pools”. I can’t tell you how irritated this makes me (or can you tell??). If you live in Rohnert Park- you should know this. And be a bit annoyed with our city council.
