Travesty

Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007 | What was once a prediction earlier this year is now a dismal reality. The murder rate in San Diego city has sky rocketed and it is out of control. Why? Well that is the million dollar question. Mayor Jerry Sanders and Chief Bill Lansdowne has said that crime is cyclical. It is hard to disagree with such a broad statement.

Our shell of a police department is doing their utmost to keep crime under control. Gang related crimes are way up and they seem to becoming more brazen in their deadly behavior. So far the police department has managed to avoid any serious injuries or deaths to Officers related to crimes, but inevitably their luck will end unless we get more officers. Mayor Sanders is lucky as well. He has avoided publicly talking about this problem and has not really come up with any solutions to solve this dilemma. The police academy classes are filling up.

We are recruiting feverishly, including out of State but with the amount of academy classes we have annually, we will not reach 2200 cops for the next seven years. Cops are retiring and we still are losing officers to other agencies, (though transfers have slowed). To protect a city as large as this and have about 1.4 cops per thousand population protecting it is a travesty for the officers and the citizens of San Diego and shameful for our elected officials!