As Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith struggled this summer to fill vacancies in his small department, he warned the town’s City Council that unless pay and benefits improved, finding new officers would never happen.
When nothing changed, Smith quit. So did his few remaining officers, leading the Minnesota town of 1,300 residents to shutter its police force in late August.
America is in the midst of a police officer shortage that many in law enforcement blame on the twofold morale hit of 2020 — the coronavirus pandemic and criticism of police that boiled over with the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. From Minnesota to Maine, Ohio to Texas, small towns unable to fill jobs are eliminating their police departments and turning over police work to their county sheriff, a neighboring town or state police.
Wishing a very pleasant day to everyone who decided not to become a police officer.
At one point when I was 18 I almost started down that path. Thank god I didn’t.
🍻
I shudder to think of the alternate timeline where I gave up on my dream and became a Mountie.
Do you have a gun? Can you fight?
No? Then you need cops.
Evidently they don’t
Most people in the U.S. either have or can easily get a gun. A substantial majority of people can, in fact, fight. You’re a fucking idiot.
No need for the personal insults. Be civil.
If he doesn’t have a gun and can’t fight, then he needs cops to protect him from people who do have guns and can fight.
Same goes for anyone who is anti-cop, anti-gun, and can’t fight. Is that everyone? No. I never said it was.
Excuse you, Mr. You’re-An-Invalid-Not-Capable-Of-Defending-Yourself? Your whole point is deeply insulting and offensive. Be civil and stop making it. See how that works? Anything can and is uncivil to someone somewhere at sometime. So don’t cry to me about your poor sensitive little feelings when you give not one single fuck for mine.
No, the answer to not having a gun and not being able to fight is to get a gun and gain the ability to fight. If you cannot do that, ally yourself with friends and family who 1) do and 2) are willing to defend you, even with their lives.
That’s the only real answer because we’ve seen clearly that cops 1) legally are not obligated to protect anybody, 2) won’t, 3) are tyrannical and more interested in entrenching power over other people than doing anything positive.
Cops are not the answer to the human condition. Only friends and family are, really. Only you youself are, ultimately.
That’s clearly what you’re implying, or did you mean something else by your obnoxious threatening statement?
What are you talking about? It’s a fact of reality that people who can’t defend themselves need others to do it for them. There’s nothing ‘offensive’ about it. I don’t think less of anyone who can’t fight or doesn’t own a gun. Do you?
You’re actually just spewing nonsense at this point. Sorry, I’m going to block you.
Reading you two’s interactions and then seeing the user names made me laugh. Usernamescheckout.
Those others are their friends and family, not abusive authoritarians causing the very violence they convinced you they’re here to stop.