If you listen to all the politicians running for office, Public Safety is one of the top concerns for all El Pasoans.
Curious, innit? I don’t know anyone who is afraid to leave the house at night. I don’t know anyone who sleeps with a fire extinguisher, or a claw hammer, under their pillow.
El Paso is still one of the safest cities in the United States, despite slipping to tenth place from out historic ranking at the top of the lists of safest cities.
So why are all our politicians clamoring for more public safety?
Obviously because they’re politicians.
The police and fireman unions are strong in El Paso. And they vote. And the politicians understand the political repercussions of not kissing the unions’, uh, rings.
And the unions stuff the ballot box, so to speak, whenever the City conducts a “poll” asking what El Pasoans want.
So the City of El Paso keeps pouring money into public safety.
On August 7 I received an email from concerned citizen John Becerra which included a report which meticulously recounts the financial repercussions of pouring nearly unlimited resources into public safety. It is titled City of El Paso’s Inflection Point and Public Safety Dilemma.
The report lobbied against some of the candidates for City Manager, but, unfortunately, it languished in my spam box unnoticed until the selection had already been made.
Mr. Becerra’s report highlights the increasing cost to El Paso’s taxpayers of the public safety sector of city government.
You can read the whole report here. And you should.
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