I agree with the Sun-Times’ opinion article — “Trained civilians, not sworn police officers, could better respond to hundreds of 911 calls” — saying police do a lot of things that other people could do better. And cheaper.
However, police in Chicago are working a lot of overtime, and that’s not because we have a shortage of traffic guards at school crossings. When I worked in business, a lot of overtime meant that it was time to hire more people, not reduce the workforce.
The number of police that we have is not determined by the number of 911 calls. It’s determined by how many police we need in a crisis. Like the holiday weekends. The summer surge in shootings. The rioting and pillaging that we are seeing more often.
You just can’t put an ad in the paper and have more police officers on hand for these crisis and then let them go when the need diminishes.
We could use the police like we do firefighters. We keep firefighters together in special housing units, and they only come out when we have a real emergency. The police we use for other things.
If we don’t use the police, we have to hire a whole lot of other people. And we’ll end up spending more money on public safety than we do now.
Just what the taxpayers want to hear.
Larry Craig, Wilmette
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Michigan Avenue special tax district
I disagree with Mayor Lori Lightfoot asking businesses downtown to pay for extra security and other things due to “protesters.” These companies on North Michigan Avenue already pay a huge amount in property taxes and should be able to count on the city to provide law and order.
Mike Mannard, Schaumburg
White House and current events
Over 300,000 COVID deaths. An estimated 54 million people facing food insecurity. And not a word of solace from the White House.
A “What, me worry?” attitude might be appropriate for Alfred E. Neuman, the character in Mad magazine. That attitude is anything but appropriate for Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States.
Gerald Weisberg, Lake View
