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Broken record or broken system policymakers bulldozing law enforcement principles and scraping away gobs of funds necessary to effectively ensure public safety…are now grabbing the podium mics and demanding to know why their community is not safe.
For real! A large law enforcement agency is feverishly trying to ensure the public safety of millions in the metropolis of Boston, despite being subjected to defunding by the city’s band of know-betters (in politicizing, not policing) warming political seats in comfy chambers afforded by taxpayers feeling the brunt of rampant mayhem due to reckless policies.
Boston Herald reporter Sean Philip Cotter wrote that “The big loser was the police department, from whose $395 million budget the council’s proposal would chop more than $13.3 million, with most of that coming from the long-contentious overtime budget.” Who wouldn’t imagine mandating Boston cops to work back-to-back shifts, some for as long as 24 hours, amounting to overtime being “long-contentious”? Boston police officers contend abusive labor practices…and they are absolutely correct in that assertion.
Anti-police stuff gets more pathetic by the day.
I love coffee. And I’m a bit upset that I wasted (sprayed) a gulp of joe when I read that a Boston city council member who praised defunding her jurisdiction’s already-depleted police force now wants to know why the city is so unsafe.
Writing for the Boston Herald, Joe Battenfeld outed the Boston City Council in his piece titled, “Money-grubbing Boston councilors demand police action after cutting police budget.”
Battenfeld introduced the crux: “Those money-grubbing Boston city councilors who tried to defund the police budget are now demanding action from law enforcement after the stabbing of civil rights icon Jean McGuire.” For those unaware, Ms. McGuire is a 91-year-old civil rights icon and lifelong educator who was recently stabbed by yet another footloose monster roaming freely in Boston.
“Why is it that a 91-year-old woman cannot have faith in her community to just walk her dog? It’s unbelievable,” said Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson. (I scoured this elected councilwoman’s political site and could not find the words “public safety” listed anywhere. Maybe now she’ll add this component. She does mention addressing “violence” which is contradicted by defunding a police force trained to quell such horror and aid victims who find themselves in the crosshairs of predators.)
What is “unbelievable” is three-fold: One, the fact that a senior citizen peacefully walking her dogs in a city park is targeted by a thug armed with a knife; two, the notion of neutering police budgets while fantasizing about police forces needing less to combat crazed criminals; three, having the audacity to feign perplexity when such a heinous act is visited upon anyone you claim to represent (safeguard). Maybe she meant to say unacceptable instead of “unbelievable”; either word is directly applicable to raincloud-hover over anyone pushing to cleave a single cent away from public safety practitioners.
Is anyone else fed up with the hypocrisy of politicos walking back stances, whose math (baseless philosophies and antithetical policies) never made sense to begin with? Bring back the abacus!
Acting + virtue-signaling = re-election strategy to maintain safe, well-paid fiefdoms. Is my math about right regarding this caricature equation?
“Eh, that’s politics,” the rhetoric goes. Not much for rhetoric. Especially when it boils down to a pot chock full of same-ole-same-ole platformers rendering promises while collecting earnest tax-payer contributions and hardly providing any substantive changes to the community and its inhabitants. All this while many police departments work without contracts (some going on with several years of negotiations), defaulting in cops taking second jobs to populate the dinner table at home. Defunded or not, none of this is new…
I opine that the “system” of governance is rife with self-interests and deficient in the “representation” thing we are repeatedly sold. It insults the senses…
Understandably angered by the Boston councilwoman’s cranium conundrum, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association rebuked the politico for feigning ignorance of thinned police ranks, in which she played a boisterous role. A Boston police union spokesperson piggybacked on the Boston Herald piece and paraphrased to set the record straight:
“Per Joe Battenfeld in the Herald: Months after trying to slice $13 million from the police budget, grandstanding City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson is saying police aren’t doing enough to keep our city safe, which begs the obvious question: What has Tania done?
“Talk about wanting to have it both ways. One day she wants to defund the police. And, now she’s pointing fingers and wants to know why [the] police aren’t doing more? C’mon, Tania. Just stop. People know who you are, and they’re tired of the doubletalk [and] the political posturing. But it gets better.
“After the brutal stabbing of 91-year-old McGuire, who is thankfully recovering from her injuries, Tania had the audacity to ask: ‘Why is it that a 91-year-old woman cannot have the faith in her community to just walk her dog?’ Faith in her community? Surely, you meant to say faith in you. Right, Tania?
“Our officers are literally working around the clock to keep our city safe. The community members we talk [to] love their cops and appreciate the hardworking men and women of BPD. You don’t have to like us, Tania. But don’t pretend to care about public safety as you work to weaken those who protect and serve this city every day.”
While we are on the topic of thinned ranks among the Boston police force, now is an ideal time to justly echo the crazy mandates upon law enforcement officers, driving many to resign or be terminated for declining dubious infusion (religious exemptions not necessarily exceptional).
Such a topsy-turvy world we endure lately.
One standout common denominator influencing division and chaotic existence is the left’s insistence on imposing race in just about everything, even in the face of merit and expertise and proven track records of those who happen to be pigmented differently than them.
With that, I delved deeper into this particular councilwoman and nary broke a sweat bead unearthing troves of race-based material from this liberal politician.
The TB Daily News published an article titled “Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson Upset That Qualified White People Were Hired As [School] Superintendent And Fire Chief,” denoting Ms. Fernandes Anderson’s bold propensity to denounce demographics of her community that does not necessarily look like her. Moreover, her candidacy was backed by some others whose online tweets are equally laden with racist remarks (graphically displayed, too…leaving inferences regarding her voters’ ideations).
With the unchecked nonsense from anti-police firebrands baselessly barking that the law enforcement institution is comprised of white supremacists, perhaps such accusers ought to buy mirrors. Maybe even attend a police academy, garner bona fide public safety credentials, and hit the streets with boots, not vitriol, working alongside a diverse bunch of selfless cops who have the heart to stand against hate.
(Boston Police command staff gathered at a venue in June 2022. Photo courtesy of the Boston Police Department.)
It’s easy to pick on the police. This particular city council naysayer who chairs the Ways and Means committee (and others like her) receives compensation over $120k in a safe haven owned by the people, all while having the audacity to defund police who make a pittance in comparison and go above and beyond on behalf of citizens like Ms. McGuire.
Incidentally, the Boston Herald reported that “A $600,000 chunk taken from the cops would go to ‘right-size’ council staff wages, and another $600,000 from the BPD would go to add staff to the new city Office of Black Male Advancement.”
On October 5, 2022, the Boston City Council voted unanimously to give themselves a 20% pay increase…while sharpening a Ginsu to hack away at the city police force’s budget.
Pathetic!
About the author: Stephen Owsinski is a retired law enforcement officer whose career included assignments in the Field Training Officer (FTO) unit and the Community Traffic Safety Team (CTST). He is currently a researcher and writer who maintains a finger on the pulse of the police profession. Follow Stephen on Twitter @uniformblue.
This article originally appeared at the National Police Association.
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