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| Use prison savings to hire more police |
| By freep.com |
| Published: 05/12/2009 |
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Adding officers is a proven way to lower violent crime rates BY MIKE COX • Detroit is America's "Most Dangerous" city, according to Forbes magazine. The ranking is based on violent crime statistics from the FBI's most recent uniform crime report. Meanwhile, the governor and Legislature have made it clear that the debate about reducing Michigan's prison population is over. The governor plans to release prisoners serving beyond their earliest release date and issued an executive order to further that effort by expanding the composition of the Parole Board. The House has already voted to approve the closing of 3,500 prison beds by Oct. 1. These moves by the executive and legislative branches follow a report from the Council of State Government's Justice Center claiming that the Department of Corrections could save $260 million by 2015 through an ongoing reduction in prison population. If the plan to release prisoners is a done deal, then I have a simple proposition: Follow the lead of former President Bill Clinton, and use the "Corrections Dividend" to hire more police officers, instead of squandering it on pet political projects. Clinton's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program put more cops on the streets in cities and towns across America. In Michigan, the program funded more than 3,300 additional police officers and sheriffs' deputies. From 1994 until 2000, violent crime in Michigan dropped 14%. Flint's crime rate decreased by 53%; Saginaw's fell by 24%; Muskegon's rate declined 46%; and Grand Rapids saw a 14% decrease. Detroit's violent crime rate decreased by 8%..Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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