Anybody with a felony warrant or passion for law enforcement can attest to the fact that the police have a lot tools to help them administer an overwhelming dose of law, and order . Much like any government agency, every law enforcement agency has a budget with unnecessary spending in it. Therefore an audit of all departments is important for the allocation of money towards items and programs that keep communities safe.
A Washington Post article titled “Asset Seizures Fuel Police Spending” by Robert O’Harrow analyzes data from an FBI report of police spending and criticizes the spending actions of large police departments around the country. According to the article, some purchases made by various large departments were a 5 million dollar helicopter, 1 million dollar command bus, five thousand dollars on challenge coins, another five thousand on a banquet and six hundred dollars on a coffee maker. The cherry on top is a 300$ clown for community relations.
Seeing nonessential expenses like this show us that a lot police of departments are spending their budgets on items that aren’t necessary to carry out their duties. This is concerning to see since most of these departments get their funding from taxpayer money and federal grants. However the most alarming part of this report is the realization that these agencies aren’t thinking frugally with their money even as their budgets are cut and their funds run scarce.
In order to cut this wasteful spending, I would suggest an audit of every department’s budget and purchases to create a sense of oversight and accountability on police spending. In addition, if pricey purchases are required, like buying a police helicopter, there needs to be a balance between luxury and price. Any money saved by these financial assessments could be reallocated to save certain programs and police tactics that are being cut from the budget.
In order to cut this wasteful spending, I would suggest an audit of every department’s budget and purchases to create a sense of oversight and accountability on police spending. In addition, if pricey purchases are required, like buying a police helicopter, there needs to be a balance between luxury and price. Any money saved by these financial assessments could be reallocated to save certain programs and police tactics that are being cut from the budget.
The next question I hope to answer is what sort of ways do the police allocate funding outside of the budget.
You point some of the expenses of "large" departments, though you fail to mention some of these were necessary, it's not like the Hinsdale Police was buying a chopper, it was LAPD who really need it. Though otherwise, you do a good job of analyzing the source material.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of analyzing the article yourself and inputting your opinion on the matter, next time it would be cool to see if you could find out if some of the things police departments bought were actually necessary or not like a helicopter.
ReplyDelete