From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Opinion: SCPD Wants Tazer Money?
Thoughts on SCPD asking city council for ~$230k for new Tazers
SCPD wants $235,000 for Tazers - how can they justify this expenditure? If you've lived in Santa Cruz long, you’ve seen multiple squad cars gathered around one person seated on the sidewalk by their belongings. This kind of stuff happens regularly. This past Friday, the city manager sent close to 30 officers to evict the newest camp behind Ross. Residents here know that the cops’ main purpose is to manage visible public poverty.
Successive police chiefs have admitted this approach doesn’t solve anything. Chief Vogel testified on the city’s now-modified camping ban that 90% of illegal camping tickets went unpaid. Chief Mills’ recent piece on illegal camps flatly stated “ordinances will not solve homelessness[...]The drivers of homelessness are lack of affordable housing[...]effective mental health services, and drug addiction.”
Well, Tazers won’t help with those issues either. Our problems come from low wages, high rents, drug addiction, and mental illness. Instead of buying new weapons, the city council should invest in social services the chief himself is calling for.
Successive police chiefs have admitted this approach doesn’t solve anything. Chief Vogel testified on the city’s now-modified camping ban that 90% of illegal camping tickets went unpaid. Chief Mills’ recent piece on illegal camps flatly stated “ordinances will not solve homelessness[...]The drivers of homelessness are lack of affordable housing[...]effective mental health services, and drug addiction.”
Well, Tazers won’t help with those issues either. Our problems come from low wages, high rents, drug addiction, and mental illness. Instead of buying new weapons, the city council should invest in social services the chief himself is calling for.
Add Your Comments
Latest Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
SCPD is just another Capitalist Fascist PD
Sat, Nov 23, 2019 11:34AM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network