Capital Times Editorial: Assembly GOP vs. Public Safety
The Capital TImes - Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Which chamber of the Legislature is standing up for public safety in the current budget fight?
Surely not the Assembly, says the Wisconsin Professional Police Association.
That group's political action committee is going after Assembly Republicans, who control the chamber, for advancing a budget that threatens to impair the quality of public safety in Wisconsin counties, cities, villages and towns.
"According to the Office of Justice Assistance, violent crimes and assaults on law enforcement officers are growing at troubling rates," says Jim Palmer, who serves as assistant executive director of the WPPA, which represents nearly 11,000 active and retired public safety officers. "Rather than investing in public safety services, the Assembly chose to make significant cuts to the funding necessary for our law enforcement community to effectively meet its service demands. These cuts will result in fewer officers and more crime." The WPPA is especially upset with the Assembly's move to cut $58 million in state aid to local units of government and its almost 50 percent reduction in funding for a supplemental grant program for law enforcement officers.
"The WPPA has a proud record of supporting candidates and lawmakers from both parties, and this isn't a Republican or a Democrat issue," continued Palmer. "This is a matter of protecting the level of public safety services that Wisconsinites deserve and have every right to expect. That said, the Republican majority in the Assembly is mistaken if it thinks it can make these types of cuts and no one is going to hold their members accountable." The WPPA's right, and Assembly Republicans should listen to the state's largest law enforcement group.
If the GOP legislators fail to do so and maintain their hard-line stance against adequately funding and supporting local police forces, then voters will need to act. Legislators, be they Republicans or Democrats, who fail to make a basic commitment to help Wisconsin's municipalities preserve public order do not deserve another term.
