Wednesday, January 16, 2008

we don't have enough officers to go around


Robin's Commentary-

How many times have we heard that from the city of Eugene and Springfield?

Too many times!

"We need to raise taxes because we do not have enough money for more officers."

Well what I saw today is one of my pet peeves about that argument... and I'm referring to River Road and Beltline approximately 2 p.m. where I saw at least 4 motorcycle officers patrolling that intersection.

Two of them had already had people pulled over on the eastbound ramps of the Beltline.
Another was sitting on the sidewalk at the intersection of River Road and Belt Line, and the fourth was just making the loop back to River Road from the freeway.

Yes I know the argument... They are part of the traffic team and except during an emergency they are not supposed to do the job of a patrol officer.

Who cares!

They are still uniformed police officers who I feel whose time could be better spent performing other police duties versus ganging up on motorists.

The district attorney himself has said on the radio how bad Eugene is as far as crime.

Well as I've said many times before, it's all about perception. If you want more taxes out of me, then it had at least better LOOK like you're using the money wisely.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd be curious to know how they decide which area gets 4 officers at a time. Franklin and Onyx needs one at least once in awhile. People blow through the red light on a regular basis.

nonk9 said...

this is hysterical. willy and erik start of with a sexist, incoherent rant and take impotent swipes at mayor piercy and councilors bettman and taylor.

then they whine that they need more money. how ironic that the register guard had an article about increasing patrols to give tickets to red light runners.

yup - i would love to give more money to guys like willy and erik so they can hassle drivers!
http://harbaughboyz.blogspot.com/2008/01/willy-eriks-rant-whine.html