To the Sacramento Bee 2/19/23, re: "A Matter of Safety" p. A1
The Bee asks whether the City should purchase a Rook (armored vehicle) for the Police, but omits the larger context.
Seventy percent of local government's spending is for police, courts, and jails. The population grew 42% between 1982 and 2017 in the U.S, while police spending grew 187%.
In California, police solve only 15% of crimes, yet in Canada--which cages one seventh as many per-capita--crime is about the same. Of course Canadians don't have to start cooking meth to pay their spouse's hospital bills (the plot of Breaking Bad). Healthcare for all is Unamerican!
The city of Denver gave its homeless housing vouchers and arrests declined 40%. Meanwhile, Sacramento County just voted to approve a $450 million jail addition--in effect a militarized homeless shelter.
Could we have a program like Denver's? Could we possibly have peace officers rather than an army of occupation? Maybe not. After all, we've been rooked.
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