Fewer Officers, More Parolees: A Recipe For Disaster
Monday, February 23rd, 2009By Barry Sherman
Would it surprise you to know that Michigan has 1,287 fewer police officers today than it did in September 2001? This is ironic when you think Michigan has four border crossings into Canada and the government has put an emphasis on “Homeland Security” issues since the 9/11 attacks. But the issue of the decrease in police officers on the streets of Michigan’s communities goes far beyond Homeland Security.
This country, Michigan included, went on an incarceration boom to respond to the rising violent crime rate of the 1980s and early 90s. In 1975 the prison population of this country was 240,593. This population has increased to over 2,000,000 today. The reasons for this increase include minimum and mandatory sentences, truth-in-sentencing laws, habitual offender laws, sentencing guideline changes, tightening up early parole and charging juveniles as adults. Taking these violent and habitual offenders off the street has seriously affected our crime rate. In September of this year, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the results of the National Crime Victimization Survey for 2004. The results confirm this major reduction in crime. Violent crime against persons age 12 or older was down 57% from 1993 to 2004. Property crime during this same period was also impacted with household burglary rate falling 49%; car theft 54%; and the theft rate 49%.
