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Comment by 0zemp2c | Hacker News Reader

Why limit this to unsolved murders?

How many police depts ignore property crime?

How many police depts have hour long wait times for 911 response?

How many 911 systems routinely delay or drop calls?

We had a story near here recently where a DUI accident investigation couldn't proceed because it took so long for police to arrive that the suspect sobered up enough

Or the woman who was hit by a car and the police took over an hour to respond

You can find these stories for every PD now

That said, NPR should be more honest an retitle this story to be about Oakland though, because that is what they wrote about

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It's pretty clear that cops are staging a slowdown strike. They are one of the few industries where they get more money when their KPIs go south.

I think pretty much all essential/monopoly/government industries get more money when kpis go south- health, education, sanitation, etc.

Pretty much all essential services get more funding when kpis go south. And I think that’s usually because lack of resources make kpis go south. Take a great teacher with 20 kids in their class. Make the class size 40 and KPIs will go down. Does that teacher become bad?

Usually because of lack of resources, perhaps. But that's not what's happening here with cops. It's deliberate.

How can you tell the cops are deliberate and the teachers aren’t?

Cops don't have their budgets systematically cut. Quite the opposite.

Or their unions demonized, or their pensions threatened, or their training examined, or their political leanings questioned, etc etc.

Agreed, you’ve got it exactly.

Their union is not demonized, but accurately described as the largest and most dangerous obstacle to actual police reform.

Their pensions have never been in question in my lifetime, not even as a source of funds for the endless successful lawsuits against them.

Their steadfast refusal to allow insight into statistics re office involved shootings means their training cannot be properly examined, nor altered in response to data.

And the political leanings of the police as a whole remain unquestionably conservative.

Glad to see others speaking up!

They did in some cities.

Certainly they have. Also, it’s kind of a catch22 because if a police department is bad wouldn’t you systematically cut their budget?

I think just about every industry gets more money when their KPIs go south, but in anything government-related (typically a natural monopoly) it all goes to one organization. Another example on the opposite end of the spectrum is that NASA did such a good job in the late 60's and early 70's of getting humans to the moon (a feat still never matched) that their budget was cut massively. Government problems attract money, solved problems result in budget cuts, it's an almost inevitable result.

That being said, you're not wrong that there is a severe morale problem among American police officers. I'm not sure we have the knowledge to figure out the solution, at this point. I suspect we are seeing the beginnings of something similar in public education.

It’s not a slowdown strike, it’s gangland extortion. The mob is also famous for demanding “protection” money, where what they’re “protecting” you from is themselves and little else.

Just repeat after me: "We don't have the resources for that"

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