I heard about Jacocks retirement notification last night and after my initial shock, the first thing I thought of was budget cuts.
Sho’ nuff, according to Wavy10 this morning, Jacocks appeared unhappy at the idea of losing officers due to budget cuts. While the truth is a mystery Scooby, why else would he pull the plug on his career after almost 40 years with just over one month’s notice??? I’m guessing he’s pissed (although he appeared nice and calm during that interview). Shoooooot.
Since I don’t sit in on city budget meetings I’d LOVE to know what he proposed to save revenue instead of cutting back the force. Looking back at his career, specifically his last 10 years as chief, you would think that his opinion would hold considerable weight.
Look at his list of accomplishments that I shamefully stole from Wavy10:
- Actively engaged the community in policy development and review, as well as in more traditional things, such as Citizen’s Advisory Committees and crime-prevention efforts.
- Assigned a departmental liaison to the City’s Human Rights Commission.
- Implemented COMPSTAT.
- Maintained a remarkably low violent-crime rate and an exceptionally high crime clearance rate.
- Stressed the importance of continuing education and instituted college education requirements for promotion to supervisory ranks.
- Earned numerous awards for traffic safety education and enforcement initiatives.
- Deployed AED’s in most patrol cars, resulting in many cardiac arrest patient saves.
- Significantly expanded the use of less-lethal weapons, such as Sage weapons and Tasers.
- Acquired new medevac-equipped helicopter that has already transported many patients.
The man is obviously no dummy and time will tell if someone should have listened.
One of the ideas I had was to make crooks pay to have the cops come after them! Yes, I’m serious. During one of our classes we were informed that warrants are actually mailed out to recipients and often times, they walk right into the police department – no muss no fuss. Other times someone has to track them down at our ultimate expense.
For example, during my ride-a-long we spent hours trying to serve an EPO after numerous phone calls and 2 home visits to no avail. Why don’t we certify mail warrants warning the recipients of a $50 delivery fee if they don’t show up in a timely manner? I realize that an EPO works a little differently but if we can’t make arrangements for delivery during a 10 hour shift then the guy should pay up! Cha ching!
Think about it – if our governor can cut erectile disfunction meds from state health plans saving $7 million a year then how hard would this be to pass?
Does any one else have any other suggestions? I’m listening even if the city won’t!
