Montgomery County's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 35 criticized County elected officials on social media Thursday for "defunding MoCo police" amid a crime wave. The posts on Facebook and Twitter called out County Executive Marc Elrich and the County Council for eliminating 27 police officer positions in the budget. They also cited violent crimes in the county that made area headlines in the last few days.
"3 carjackings in 2 days (2 @ gunpoint, 1 w/ serious injuries) when is @MontCoExec and @MoCoCouncilMD going to get their priorities straight and stop defunding MoCo police?" the posts asked. Officers have reported that morale on the force and officer recruiting efforts are both trending downward.
"Just because of the, so much of the anti-police sentiment, not being treated well," County Officer Petr Speight told CBS' Ted Koppel in a report aired Sunday. "Those kind of things are just discouraging people from wanting to stick around. Things have just changed, the way people view us, and the way they view our role in society and our jobs."
While anti-police sentiment has markedly increased after the death of George Floyd, declining police morale has actually been trending in Montgomery County for more than a decade, based on what officers have told me over that time period. The County Council tried to slash disability benefits for officers in 2009, approving a modified version of that plan in 2011. Councilmembers, and the Washington Post editorial board, falsely characterized officers seeking disability benefits as schemers and scam artists without evidence to back up those claims. Both have publicly criticized County police on a regular basis for a variety of grievances since that opening move.
Yeah 80% of blacks are against defund the police but Will jawando,Hans Riemer and Marc Elrich are doing everything to demoralize, defund and abolish the police. They need to be voted out! Fredrick Douglas, Martin Lutherking and Malcolm X warned us about these people. They don't want to hear blacks or minority voice but they just want to tell us what is best for us. They are the new and smiling Jim Crows! Vote these cancers out.
ReplyDeleteI get the argument they are trying to make, but are a few more officers on the squad really going to prevent these types of crimes, or the ones where people check for unlocked cars? Cops mostly show up after the crime or incident has happened.
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