In the 5th quarter debate of the Lakewood shooting, I am impressed at the phenomenal amount of finger pointing that is now deservedly occurring at all sorts of political camps and governmental agencies. Obviously, some of the criticism is deserved and the question now is really over their respective political salvation (such as Mike Huckabee and certain judges) and what will society really will do about solving criminal justice issues?
In the shadow of budget cuts, politicians looking for re-election, and simply blind luck that a Lakewood like massacre won’t occur in the respective incumbent’s hometown, the political spin machine in many cities and town is already working overtime. In Lacey and Thurston County, we ask where are the political priorities? What are the primary goals and priorities in the administration of our respective governments? And really (the $1000 question) is the politician’s goal the same as yours; “are you as the tax payer getting what you want?” We found in the last election that public safety (police and fire) was an absolute priority with voters.
In the wake of the council elections, outgoing mayor Graeme Sackrison talked in a city council meeting that he ‘didn’t know what the election results meant’. We knew having gone door to door through the city that our message was well received and it wasn’t like trying to ask for tax raise. The message we also heard was that it wasn’t just about the fire department issue, but that many voters had their own reasons for how they voted. With that said, anyone who believes that Pratt, Lawson, and Ryder are single-issue candidates is politically deaf as a post.
It is our belief that fire and EMS service in the county and the city of Lacey is very important but we also want to point out that especially in the wake of Lakewood’s loss that this should be Lacey’s call to arms. We believe that the police department should be better funded, allowed to function operationally independent of the city manager’s direction (that it is currently micromanaged), and that special operation capabilities in the police department should be added and not cut.
Many people don’t know that Lacey Police have open and unfilled positions where officers have left and have not been replaced, cut their Special Response Team (SRT) or SWAT team, drive worn out police cars, and at times have modified their schedules so that minimum staffing is three officers and a supervisor for the whole city! We disagree with all of these actions and others because we believe that there is a clear need to add to LPD’s capabilities and not go backward. The streets of Lacey are becoming tougher in our opinion, scenes are getting violent more frequently, and in the wake of Thurston County and Olympia’s future budget cuts, what is Lacey’s back up plan? The city won’t let officers take cars home so its not like you can recall off duty officers with any significant speed.
A political spin that was released to the police officers prior to the election was that the fire department budget was going to impact the police department. When we see multi-million dollar bike lanes under the freeway, rebuilt tree lined streets with negligible capacity improvements, a monstrous new city hall, and more…Then we think its more of an issue of decision makers with different priories especially by individuals who potentially have no clue or background in law enforcement. We also ask, do you the voters think it’s acceptable to cut the police department potentially in lieu of other non-public safety priorities? In the wake of potentially fire district annexation, what’s the city’s budget plan if you don’t have the fire district to blame?
A political lie that was disseminated prior to the elections was that a rift existed between the fire and police department…We can tell you that’s never been the case at least among the field units. We think public safety should be the city’s top priority; we have faith in January that this will finally be true.