Republicans and Democrats, in the House and the Senate as well as the governor, are on the band wagon for more State Troopers on the road.
That's too bad, because it will cost millions of dollars. And so far, we have not seen one shred of hard evidence that there will be ANY benefit to Oregonians.
Nor have we seen the OSP budget opened up as part of this debate, a budget that has ranged from $250 million to more than $400 million over the last several biennium's.
How much do those troopers earn, on average? What is the salary range for troopers driving Mustangs down Interstate 5? What does a Lane County deputy make for the same work? How many teachers could we hire for the same amount?
Kulongoski torpedoed a study that would have provided answers to some of these questions. We think he did so because facts would have made it inconvenient to do what he wanted to do. He prefers hand-wringing and anecdote.
The police union organized a rally in Salem on Tuesday (is it just me, or do rallies, be they of cops or of students, seem like mob politics?).
Edward Walsh of "The Oregonian" reports that the Oregon State Police Officers' Association organized the rally because "Oregon today has fewer than half the state troopers it did 20 years ago but double the population ... about 310 troopers now patrol the state's major highways instead of the 665 troopers who handled that task in the 1980s."
So what?
During the same time, the number of accidents per mile driven has declined, as has the number of fatalities per mile. Using the twisted logic used elsewhere by the OSP that we won’t go into today, this would appear to prove that fewer cops means fewer wrecks.
Of course that's not true, but it does balance the non-argument of the "fewer troopers today" canard. Repeat: there is no evidence that more troopers handing out speeding tickets makes Oregon safer. To that end, cell phones have done more than cops.
There is a role for the OSP. We need more state crime labs, OSP should be investigating other police departments for corruption, they should be running a tougher standards and training program (that appears to have been tucked into another budget). And yes, they need to guard the governor and capitol.
This they could probably do with last year’s budget. They just need to take a few more troopers off Interstate 5. Putting more troopers on the road is a waste of money better spent putting more teachers in the classroom.
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I agree that OSP could use less, not more dollars. I think that, between City Police and County Sheriff Deptartments, there is a role for the OSP. As you suggest, maybe in State Crime Labs. Or (not as you suggest) maybe to provide a seamless law enforcement net along I5, where the patchwork of 20-40 agencies along I5 don't do much for the Drug Runners using the Interstate. Or maybe we could outsource (and Opensource) the I5 law enforcement to cell phone busybodies who ring up the oncall OSP officer munching donuts at the nearest Dunkin (Starbucks?) whenever the I5 travelers spot any bad drivers who need to be pulled over and written up. And while we are making things more efficient around here, where does the Motor Pool budget live? As the son of a public employee with access to those vehicles, it was great fun using them when learning to drive back in my youth, but it was not a wise use of tax payer dollars. Like any other employee, either public or private, people can just use their own car, and submit for reimbursement at about 40 cents per mile.
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