Anybody who has wandered down to the Government Plaza since the occupiers showed up has likely noticed there are a lot of police officers patrolling the two blocks that make up the Plaza. While those officers aren’t doing anything it sure is costing the taxpayers a great deal of money:
The cost to Hennepin County for security and management of the Occupy Minnesota protests has hit $152,295. The county board is seeking a transfer of funds to cover the cost.
$152,295 just to hire a bunch of cops to walk around? There is no reason the police presence should cost that much. For crying out loud the Plaza is right across the street from the mother fucking police station! It’s not like they even need officers walking around the Plaza as they could just ask one of the officers working in the police station to look out the window from time to time.
Some people I’ve talked to have blamed the occupiers for this burdon on the taxpayers. No, that’s bullshit! The only blame here lies on Hennepin County because there is no reason it should cost that much to hire officers to stand around and do nothing. Hell Minneapolis has deployed three of their $29,000 mobile camera rigs that probably suck enough fuel to power a couple police vehicles. Why do both police officers and those camera rigs need to be used? According to the Minneapolis Police Department those cameras are supposed to magically make crime go away so either those things don’t serve the purpose they’re supposed to or the police aren’t necessary.
Perhaps Hennepin County should hire me to do the security. I can promise adequate security for a fraction of the cost they’re paying right now. Pack up the cameras, send the cops home, and hire a couple of retired individuals to walk around with radios in hand. If the retired guys see something they can call the police who can walk all the way across the street to deal with the situation. There you go, I just saved the country a ton of money while giving some work to retired individuals looking for some income.