1919 was time of great turmoil in the world. The Great War was ending, the Irish Revolution was beginning, the Communists were in charge in Russia, and anarchy seemed loose in the world.
Williams Butler Yeats released a poem titled “The Second Coming” that summed up the mood of the world. I quote only the first part as it’s most relevant to the topic of today’s post.
Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.
NEW ORLEANS — Attacks on medics, pandemic burnout and competition from the private sector contributed to 40% turnover at New Orleans Emergency Medical Services last year, officials told the City Council Friday.
With more than one-fifth of the jobs vacant, the agency is well below an industry standard for responding to the most urgent 911 calls.
EMS leaders said they’re doing their best to juggle an onslaught of calls, and they expressed optimism about a recent pay increase. Still, they said they’re swimming upstream against industry-wide staffing issues.
“More work is needed, and we anticipate persistent staffing challenges over the next few years,” EMS chief Bill Salmeron said at a council budget hearing.
The full story is at the link, it’s an interesting lead. My former agency has a smaller, but significant problem with retention of both BLS and ALS providers. They are always advertising an in house EMT program as well as posting openings. Part of that is a foolish, but long standing, residency requirement in a city with some of the highest rents and home prices in the country.
Then there is this,
California sheriff’s office stops all daytime patrols due to ‘catastrophic staffing shortage’
A California county sheriff’s office announced that it will stop its daytime police patrol due to a “catastrophic staffing shortage throughout the agency.”
Tehama County, which is located north of Sacramento and has a population of 65,000, will suspend daytime patrol services starting November 20.
Ending the patrols could prove dangerous considering that Red Bluff, the county’s most populated city, has a violent crime rate higher than 97% of other U.S. cities, according to Neighborhood Scout.
Think about that. A law enforcement agency is stopping uniformed patrol during daylight hours because they can’t staff the agency. Further in the article the Sheriff states that he is having difficulty recruiting and retaining officers.
Imagine that. In an atmosphere of “defund the police” over the past 2 1/2 years people don’t want to be police officers.
Speaking of which,
24 Boston police officers to become city firefighters this year in large uptick
Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association President Larry Calderone said the department is “losing officers to the fire department at an alarming rate because, at the end of the day, it’s a great job.”
“Great wages. Great working conditions. No forced overtime. A great quality of life and, arguably, greater respect,” Calderone said in a statement to the Boston Herald. “The officers leaving will tell you they’re sick and tired of being taken for granted and disrespected by the never-ending criticism associated with the ‘defund the police’ movement.”
This summer, the BPPA complained about at least five officers being forced to work 24 hours straight to manage events.
I can’t think of anything to add to that.
Just when I thought that I had nothing to add, this also from Boston.
‘At a Breaking Point’: Boston EMS Seeing Record Low Staffing Levels
Big and small cities, towns, counties are having trouble hiring public safety personnel. It used to be routine in my state to have 15,000 people sign up for the police and fire civil service exams. Getting one of those jobs was highly competitive and they were highly sought after. Once hired, unless they were fired, firefighters and police officers rarely left before they were eligible to retire.
Not any longer.
Defund the police comes to Burlington, Vermont
Note that the link goes to what is essentially a blog post about an article in the New York Times. Since the article is behind a paywall, I won’t link to is. As a result any quotes are from the blog post, not the original article. That said, on with the quotes.
Consider if you will the city of Burlington, Vermont population 44,781. Burlington is a beautiful place where Bernie Sanders got his start in politics and where even the ice cream is progressive (Ben and Jerry’s). Until very recently, crime was barely an issue in Burlington. Most years there was not a single incident involving gunfire and the mostly white, very progressive populace invested in a park at the center of the city which they dedicated to people they lost during the pandemic. But lately something has changed. All around the city, people’s bicycles started to disappear. Not just a few but hundreds of them missing from porches and backyards.
Bike theft is not exactly the crime of the century. On the other hand, bicycles are NOT cheap these days. Even entry level “Department Store Bikes” are in the $300.00+ range.
This quote is from the comments at the original New York Times article. It was pulled out and quoted in the blog post above. Read it carefully, because it gives a window on a potential future.
An important factor to understand is how police departments are staffed. Originally at roughly 95 in 2018, that was made up of 50 patrol officers and then 45 supervisors, detectives, domestic violence officers, etc. All most all of the police leaving have come from patrol officers. Now at about 60 total, only 15 are patrol officers, so it’s actually a 70% drop from 50 to 15.
This is fairly typical across the country – when you hear of departments being down such and such, the impact is actually far far greater than immediately apparent.Lots more reactions like these but this reader just says what the Times only insinuates.
Read this article carefully and the take away is the citizens are effectively resorting to vigilantism to solve the bike theft problem. Sure, they are not physically harming anyone now, but it is clear if the police will not or cannot protect lives and property — in this case property — people will take matters into their own hands. If you think this is better than effective law enforcement, think again.
A question that liberals frequently ask about property crimes is, “Are you willing to kill someone over mere property?”
The alternative question, which seems to be asked more and more is, “Are you willing to die in order to steal someone else’s property?”
Then there is this,
I’ve been warning for a while that the breakdown of law and order won’t go as they hope. Ultimately, the police are there to protect criminals from the populace, not the other way around. Get rid of the police, and armed vigilantism is what you’ll get. And what you’ll deserve.
Vigilantism started in San Francisco in 1851. Citizens fed up with the inability of the small number of law enforcement officers to control crime due to the explosive growth of the city.
WHEREAS it has become apparent to the citizens of San Francisco, that there is no security for life and property, either under the regulations of society as it at present exists, or under the law as now administered; Therefore the citizens, whose names are hereunto attached, do unit themselves into an association for the maintenance of the peace and good order of society, and the preservation of the lives and property of the citizens of San Francisco, and do bind ourselves, each unto the other, to do and perform every lawful act for the maintenance of law and order, and to sustain the laws when faithfully and properly administered; but we are determined that no thief, burglar, incendiary or assassin, shall escape punishment, either by the quibbles of the law, the insecurity of prisons. the carelessness or corruption of the police, or a laxity of those who pretend to administer justice.
In the end, the Vigilance Committee may well have caused more harm than good, but when people see a breakdown in civil society they will react in what they consider the only possible ways.
Add to that the questionable integrity of the 2020 and 2022 elections in states and cities controlled by the Democrat Party and the mood among a good number of Americans is pessimistic to say the least.
Add in that in some large jurisdictions criminals are released without bail almost as soon as they are arrested and elected prosecutors are refusing to prosecute large swarths of “quality of life” crimes and it will be very possible that citizens will take the law into their own hands.
After all, who is going to stop them? The non existent police forces?
We’re entering a dangerous time in our country and things can easily get out of control.