1Argument Paper

Argument Paper

Joseph M. McKirahan

Submitted to

Dr. Diane Harr

Concordia University St. Paul

Practical Writing for Criminal Justice CJU-404

2Argument Paper

“911, what’s your emergency?”At a time when the world seems

to be standing still, and a life changing event unfolding, a police officer

will respond no matter what the emergency. At this pivotal point in a

life, I believe there are very few expectations by the person on the

other end of the phone. When law enforcement agencies make budget

cuts to manpower and training, it puts citizens and officers at risk! Two

of the most important expectation’s of the emergency response

system, is the time it takes emergency responders to arrive on scene,

and the ability for the emergency professionals to appropriately handle

the given situation. In this paper I will identify how decreasing law

enforcement personnel, and cutting training budgets to cope with an

ever shrinking budget puts the lives of officers and the safety of

citizens at risk.

At a time of financial uncertainty, with politicians jockeying for

public approval, the public sector has taken numerous financial hits.

City and county budgets have been slashed from stem to stern. One of

the largest line items on any budget is personnel, and no one wants to

be known as the chief or sheriff who laid off employees. A very easy,

short term, solution to this problem is not filling current vacancies and

retirements. I agree that city and county budgets need to be balanced

without a heavy burden placed on the tax payer. However, cutting

approved positions and not filling retirements places both the citizen

and law enforcement at risk. In a recent article by Roby Chavez of Fox

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9 news, Chavez identifies a massive budget shortfall in Prince George’s

County, Maryland. The Police Union President is reported as saying, “I

don't understand why you would cut public safety in such a harsh

way," said Jones. "You put peoples' lives in danger. People die when we

are not able to do our job." 122 police officers will be loosing their jobs

as of June 2009. (Chavez, 2009)

There are several different mathematical formulas used by local

law enforcement agencies to evaluate the number of officers needed

on the road at any given time. Many factors come in to play, call

volume, time of day, type of community and any special needs a

community might face, like a college or a large high school. When

agencies are forced to change this equation in order to fit the current

police structure into the budget, it places a strain on the entire system.

Many times, because of budgetary cutbacks on personnel, officers are

given larger districts or areas to cover. As a result, fewer officers are

put into an area. This creates a risk to the public because it will “thin

out the herd” as far as officers on the street. It has been proven in the

case of emergency medical situations, even seconds matter to a

critically ill patient. Police officers are, very often, the first ones to

arrive on scene.

With longer response times of five to even ten minutes in some

cases, this puts the citizen at great risk. I personally have been the

first to arrive at an emergency medical call, where I needed to use my

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Automatic External Defibrillator (AED). In two separate locations I was

able to use the AED to bring back a heart rate to the patient. All the

medical personnel whom I spoke with said that even minutes later, and

it would have been too late and the patient would have probably lost

their life.

Many times calls for service are fueled by some type of violent

situation. In those instances police officers require multiple back up

units. An intoxicated, violent subject may require up to 4 officers to

control the situation. With fewer officers on the streets because of

budget cuts this creates a situation where “back up” could be 10

minutes away, if available at all. A recent article identified this

concern. Dustin Grove of WSBT News reported that county police

officers in St. Joseph County are concerned that budget cuts will put

both citizens and officers lives at risk. Sheriff Frank Canarecci said, “

cutting $1.2 million would mean fewer officers on the street and

response times are going to be down, and your backup time is going to

be considerably down.” Officers in St. Joseph County believe cuts will

put lives at risk. (Grove, 2008)

One would tend to believe that if law enforcement agencies

across the country are being forced to cut manpower, then they are

beefing up their officer training, right? The exact opposite is occurring.

Almost 70% of police agencies have cut back or eliminated training

programs in 2010. (Johnson, 2010) Training has been a fundamental

5Argument Paper

responsibility of law enforcement agencies ever since the U.S.

Congress passed the Safe Streets Act of 1968. (Connolly, 2008) Many

of the skills law enforcement officer’s posses are tangible and need to

be developed and practiced on a regular basis. I understand firsthand

the effect of cutbacks in the training department. My current agency

has cut back on training to the point of only providing the state

required firearms and use-of-force yearly qualification. As a

department we are not developing or adding to any skill base. Because

of the negative economy, the training budget is stripped and plucked

away like feathers on a chicken until only a skeleton remains.

Law enforcement agencies are becoming completely reactive in

every aspect of policing. Cutting back on training can have disastrous

results. Tactics and Training expert, Dave Grossi, wrote in an article for

PoliceOne.com, “The last thing you want to do is cut back on the

frequency of your training. Traditional learning curves show that the

skills needed to master semi-automatic pistols under high-stress

conditions need more and frequent fine-tuning.” As a use-of –force

and firearms instructor, I preach continuous training and skill

development. Law enforcement officers are expected to take their

training and experience and apply what they have learned to high-

stress situations which could put the officer, and or, the public at risk if

injury or death. (Grossi, 2010)

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Law enforcement officers in today’s climate of civil and political

unrest, social and economic turmoil, require the best training available.

Unfortunately the exact opposite is occurring. The philosophy of

training law enforcement is not new. In a book written by John L.

Sullivan, published in 1966, he writes:

“While a physician may change his diagnosis or prescription, a

lawyer
may amend his pleadings, and a judge may take days or weeks
to
render a decision, when a police officer makes a decision, it
frequently
must be instantaneous. Therefore, in order to cope with the
many
complex emergency duties and responsibilities that confront a
peace
officer in his/her role, the officer cannot depend entirely upon
native
ability. Instead he or she must be expertly trained to function as
an
integral part of today’s modern mechanized police force.”
(Sullivan, 1966)

I am very aware that budgets need to be balanced, and I am all

for fiscal responsibility. As a Republican, I understand the need for

smaller government and less spending. There are a number of reasons

why cutting the personnel and training budgets are so popular in

today’s economy. Personnel is one of the largest budget expenditures

in any agency, and because of retirements and future budgeted

positions not being filled, there is not media driven publicity regarding

cutting police officers. Making cuts to training has an immediate

positive impact on the budget. The long-term impact, however, could

7Argument Paper

not be felt for years. Many governments play the odds, “what are the

odds that a citizen or a officer will lose their life because of our cut

backs?” Because many budget makers are not on the front lines, they

are willing play those odds.

During an election year one of the biggest pushes and campaign

issues is taxes, and because budgets are due at or around the same

time as elections, there is a big push for no tax increases. No politician

wants to be recognized for raising taxes. I believe that this is a knee

jerk reaction to a budget crisis. If citizens knew the streets had less

police officers because they did not have to pay an extra $5 to $10 per

year, I don’t think they would be OK with that.

Law enforcement officers are crippled by decreased

manpower and dwindling resources. The fundamental training, which is

needed for an officer to survive many situations, is being slashed. The

public, who depends on that officer to respond in a rapid and highly

trained capacity, is put at an increased risk when budget cuts affect

response time. That is why law enforcement and citizens are put at risk

when manpower and training budgets are cut. I depend on my brothers

and sisters to back me up, and make sure we all return home safe.
8Argument Paper

Works Cited:

Chavez, R. (2009, March 10th ). news. Retrieved March 10th , 2009,

from
myfoxdc.com: www.myfoxdc.com
Connolly, J. (2008, November 11). Rethinking Police Training .
Retrieved November
11, 2008, from The Police Chief, The Professional Voice of Law
Enforcement.: www.policechiefmagazine.com
Grossi, D. (2010). Firearms Training: Doing more with less. PoliceOne
Training , 1.
Grove, D. (2008, Aug 22). County Police Officers worry budget cuts will
put lives at
risk. Retrieved Aug 22, 2008, from wsbt news: www.wsbt.com
Johnson, K. (2010, oct 06). Report by Kevin Johnson of USA Today. .
Retrieved Oct 06,
2010, from Police One News. : www.policeone.com
Sullivan, J. L. (1966). Introduction to Police Science. New York: McGraw-
Hill .