HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-17-20 Public Comment - T. Lozano - Police and funding reallocationFrom:Tim Lozano
To:Agenda
Subject:Police and funding reallocation
Date:Wednesday, June 17, 2020 7:22:46 PM
I read an article today concerning reallocation of funding for the Bozeman police
department and fully believe that would be a huge mistake. I spent 12 years in the
Army, served in 2 wars, and now I'm wrapping up a 20 year career in law
enforcement. I've seen what happens when administrations cut funding to the military
and law enforcement organizations. Without getting into military issues, what I will tell
you is cutting spending wont effect officers' pay and benefits, unless you want your
officers to seek jobs elsewhere. Cutting funds will cut training dollars and newequipment / technology. The things officers need to do their jobs. It will also kill the
morale of the one group of people you want to answer the call when you need help
and dial 911. As for racial issues and retraining of officers to deal with race issues, I
can tell you that the federal government force feeds this stuff to us and it eithercreates a greater divide or has no effect because the issue just doesn't exist. If an
officer is a racist, you're not going to be able to retrain that out of him/her. Your best
bet is to let that person go. But again, from my experience, the existence of those
race issues in law enforcement are few and far between. Your best bet would be toone, support your law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day
for you and two, if you suspect there is an issue within the department, have an
honest conversation with your people either one on one or in small groups and
discuss the issues and your expectations. Last thing, I've seen with my own eyeswhat happens when administrations decide they're only going to hire a certain race,
sex, or sexual orientation so they can better meet quotas or diversity (yes, those
things exist and happen). Don't fall into that trap either. Hire the best person for the
job, period. That's all I'll say about that. We have enough lawlessness going on as itis without defunding police departments. If you want to see real chaos, limit your
police forces.
Timothy Lozano