Umm if apprehending criminals in't in the greater interest then what is Gideon? That is in fact one of the seminal reason for the existance of a government at all. Should they disband the PD and give that money back too?

Why can't the police simply do their job in a town of 500 people? How difficult can that be? Sounds like a complete waste of money.

@ police in town of 500

Town of 500? I live in city that has many times that population, and police are doing a great job here.

I suspect it's more of trying to set a precedent for bigger towns then cities.

Not very good news...

Why can't the police simply do their job in a town of 500 people?

Yeah we had one. Can't imagine why he had problems keeping track of things. Again what is the "bad precedent" here? Criminals being caught? Heaven forfend!

Unless things have changed dramatically, there is essentially no police presence in the town.

The Texas town I live in now (pop 29000 or so) has a large, well trained, and well funded police force. There is virtually zero crime here because of that. Meanwhile in our neighboring town crime is rampant. I heard an interesting comparison of the two when I was inprocessing Ft. Hood.

 

Soldier 1 : Man that Cove place sucks ass! The cops are fucking everywhere!

Soldier 2: yeah I ain't movin there for shit. The rent is cheaper in K anyways and at least you can get away with doing some shit.

 

Greywar : (internally) Definately moving to Cove.

 

Folks who abide by the law don't have much to fear from cops. Folks who like to "get away with shit" do.

Umm if apprehending criminals in't in the greater interest then what is Gideon?

OK, for one thing, the camera is not likely to be conveniently positioned everytime a crime is committed. My comment was based on the fact that I cringe at the idea of being under possible 24/7 surveillance...apparently not a few folks in this country read 1984, and though "damn, that's a pretty good society...we'd like to try that".

I have nothing wrong with tools to apprehend criminals. I DO have a HUGE problem with the fact that our rights are being continually eroded under the pretense of "safety". I also have a problem with the fact that tax dollars continually go to support every stupid pork project a state can think of, and as a result our taxes and/or our deficits climb higher. This kind of fiscal irresponsibility would NEVER be acceptable on a personal level, nor in a for profit corporation, and it should NOT be acceptable for our government.

In the meantime, I think I'm going to start going out on the porch at random intervals and scratching my crotch...just to give 'em some cheap entertainment.

(I also forgot to mention that, as far as police go, we have only one part time marshall, and he is NEVER in town...the idea of law enforcement on anything less than felonies is utterly laughable here, and felonies are virtually never committed here).

Folks who abide by the law don't have much to fear from cops. Folks who like to "get away with shit" do.

So, grey, are you going to volunteer for your local police to wire your house with surveillance cameras because you "have nothing to fear"? A certain degree of privacy could reasonably be construed as a right in this country.

I also question this statement because I know many parents who have abided by the law and have their children removed from them because they anger the wrong CPS caseworker (even when they are PROVEN innocent, it has takent many years for them to regain custody of their children). I have several case files on abuses in these areas. Like it or not, grey, SOME (read: a small but rather annoying minority) law enforcement officials have abused their power against people they dislike, and we need to be vigilant against that potential abuse of power.