The year end edition of the Blue Bag Rag included self-congratulatory back slapping by the mayor and some New Year's resolution from Top Cop 2.0. Only a politician can tout spending money as an "accomplishment" when most of us have tightened our belts and success, for us, looks like fiscal prudence. But hey, this is government.
One "accomplishment" the mayor and TC2 both spoke to was the "Real-Time Crime Center" serving as a "sports bar" where cops get to watch crime as it is happening. Wonder if they get popcorn. The mayor declared this a "game changer" without any reference to exactly what that game might be, who keeps score and who is the ref. Yet the claim is this expenditure "improves emergency response and aids in crime prevention and investigation." Wow. "Improves" in no way suggests a metric for emergency response consequently providing no assurance that this "improvement" is adequate. Relativism is the tool of political obfuscation. "Aids in crime prevention?" How so? We'll never know. Investigation? Sure, video evidence is admissible.
TC2 chimes in with commitments to further integrate RTCC with "community safety programs" (we'll ignore the "regional partners" we're subsidizing with this effort). To what community safety does he refer? Certainly not community patrolling for enforcement of traffic laws. But maybe they'll get a kick out of watching red light runners on the big screen. TC2 hopes to ensure this system's "benefits" extend across all neighborhoods and businesses. The "benefit" seems to be "surveillance" so we, the taxpayers, should expect a bill for more cameras. Coming to a street corner near you.
Maybe if they spent less money and time with their high tech (and soon to be outdated) toys and more on time-tested conventional police work, where community engagement means police patrolling our streets to keep us, and our children, safe, we might be better off. We will probably never know because it will probably never happen.
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