BS Ranch Perspective:
Could it be that all the gang violence that has occurred through this summer that Mayor Morris is trying to rid the city of San Bernardino of maybe the reason for San Bernardino Getting involved in this study. It is weird that San Bernardino is the 18th most violent City this year, yet they are placed in this Study. I am wondering why? The study is to see where the Federal Government can help the Local Law Enforcement Agencies Better Serve their Communities, to make crime lower and just a better over all job for the citizens that they serve.
I do Think that The Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Summed it all up right, and the study could be ended right there with the last statement that he made which is the Police Agencies Need more Police Officers to Serve the communities, that would lower the Crime. Take Rialto City for example, they are working literally with more then 20 Officers down, more then 20 Positions unfilled, because of the Battle that was taken by the City Council and City Administration, against the Police Officers Assoc. and the People that they Serve. Ultimately they lost the Battle to Contract with the Sheriff Department for Law Enforcement. So in that battle the Council didn't fund Vital Police Support Units Such As Detectives, Dare, Traffic, Street Investigation Team (S.I.T.), or any of the other Teams that were Volunteered for such as SWAT etc etc...
Now they have another problem, they continue to duck the contract problem that they need to confront that is the 3%@50 Retirement plan. Out of the whole Southern California Inland Empire, Rialto, Upland, and San Bernardino Police Are the only three that don't have the Retirement system that more then 90% of all the Police Agencies of the United States Have. See this Retirement (3%@50) is the reason that the California Governor Arnold Went after the Retirement system of PERS (Public Employee Retirement System of California) Because they have that Retirement system it costs a lot of money, he wanted to close PERS to all agencies Including his own (The California Agencies of Corrections, Highway Patrol, Teachers, State Police, Transportation, Etc etc), but in order to do that he would also have to close the PERS off to the rest of the state that uses PERS which is about 99% Plus all the teachers and most maintenance divisions. that is a lot of agencies and a lot of cities. PERS is a part of California that is valued at 5 to 6 Billion Dollars, due to the interest they earn on the money that they invest, on behalf of the employees. even with the California Governors harsh words about the Public Employee's Retirement System, it works great for the Members and that is why, it has to stay in effect. In fact the last time that California was in trouble money wise, Governor Wilson then borrowed against the money that was in there, which is not supposed to be legal to do, and what he did was miraculous Because the money was paid back with interest and it worked out great, but the people that were members of PERS were angry at the time that he did it.
We still don't want any Governor to touch the PERS money it is not their money it is money that is paid into that account by employee's and employer's for the benefit of Retirement. Or should it happen Early Retirement due to an injury on duty or while at work such as my injury.
Either way, the Alberto Gonzales is right San Bernardino Counties Cities, and the County too needs more Deputies, and Police Officers to lower the crime in the area. We need to keep up our benefits so that we are not a training ground for the Officers to take off and go to LA Sheriff's Department or LA PD to develop what we trained them here to do!! They are much better to stay and finish their career here in the San Benrardino's Inland Empire, where they started their career. With good equal Benefits for all that is what I say!!
BS Ranch!!
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Federal crime study to include San Bernardino County
LAW: It's one of 18 areas in the U.S. with an "unexplained" surge in violence, officials say.10:00 PM PST on Wednesday, November 22, 2006
San Bernardino County is one of 18 regions across the nation chosen for a federal study targeting "unexplained" surges in violent crime.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that the nation's largest geographic county will join metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Houston and Miami in the Initiative for Safer Cities.
In unveiling the program at the International Association of Chiefs of Police last month, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said visiting federal agents would do three things to combat the increase in crime in participating regions -- "investigate, identify and implement."
After evaluating the reasons for the upswing in violence by conducting surveys at local police departments, agents will use the findings to review policy and to see if there are any federal programs that can help.
"We'll want to know what's behind the spread of gangs, the increase in gang membership," Gonzales said at the conference. "We'll look hard at how meth-distribution networks are growing. We'll consider whether a culture of violence is developing among our young people."
Justice Department officials said the 18 regions were chosen because they saw unexplained increases in violent crime in 2005, a year when the national average increased for the first time in several years.
And the rise continues locally. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department saw a 5.9 percent increase in violent crime in the first half of 2006, compared with the same period last year. In Redlands -- a historically low-crime community -- the monthly average for violent offenses is up 35 percent so far this year from 2005.
"Clearly, the communities of San Bernardino County have violent-crime concerns," said Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann. "And I have a lot of concern over where the numbers are going."
Federal officials did not say Wednesday when they would begin the visits to local police agencies. But San Bernardino police officials have already been contacted, said Jim Morris, chief of staff for Mayor Pat Morris.
Jim Morris said he hopes to show visiting agents the city's Operation Phoenix crime-fighting plan, which has blended tough law enforcement tactics and improved community services to drop violent crime in one San Bernardino neighborhood this year.
"We're going to show them how successful it's been," said Morris of the $500,000 program. "And if they like it, we'll say, 'Great. Now fund it.' "
County Supervisor Josie Gonzales, who has supported providing extra sheriff's deputies from the county to aid Operation Phoenix, also welcomes the federal visitors.
She said she hopes the program will help the county not only find more officers to patrol the streets, but address underlying early causes of crime: joblessness, and housing and transportation issues.
"You can't just say, 'We have crime. We need more police officers on the street,' " Gonzales said. "That's too easy. That's like saying one plus one makes two."
Reach Paul LaRocco at 909-806-3064 or plarocco@PE.com
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