Last night at the Flushing Township Board meeting, five out of seven trustees voted to disband the Police Department in order to save money for the township. "The placed police officers on paid administrative leave while they negotiate a contract for service with the Genesee Country Sheriff's Department. If the contract is approved, it would provide four full-time deputies and 40% of a detective's time for $748,011 in the first year and $760,511. Salaries would amount to more than $544,00 of the costs each year" (Acosta). Only the chief and lieutenant would remain until negotiations are worked out. Flushing would be joining Fenton, Atlas, and Vienna Townships. Here is what I think of the situation.
If all works out, the Genesee County Sheriff's Department would only be providing four deputies for Flushing Township (Acosta). With a little over 10,200 residents, four deputies are not enough to answer all the emergency calls made in Flushing Township. Flushing Township spans 30.9 square miles. That is 7.7 square miles per deputy. No one can tell me that response times will be shorter. I believe they will be longer. For example if someone hits a deer and there are no deputies around then the person is stuck waiting for who knows how long.
After reading all the comments made on my status on facebook earlier I have decided to write a blog about this. Apparently there are people who care more about contracting police service through the Genesee County Sheriff's Department than they do about the courageous men and women who lost their jobs because of the selfish and greedy politicians we have on the Flushing Township Board of Trustees. They have run this township into the ground. If you want to argue with me, tell me one good thing the Board of Trustees has done for the Township. Tell me one promise they have kept. Be bold and tell me that they haven't made any mistakes. You can blame the past Boards for this mess but it is the present Board who raised taxes. It is the present Board who dismantled the Police Department. The present Board has done nothing to help the people. Instead they have made themselves look good. All they do is sugarcoat and fluff up the information instead of giving it to the people straight up. I can say this because I have been to board meetings and they just sugarcoated everything trying to make it look good. If you have not lived in Flushing Township your whole entire life-you are not allowed to judge or voice your opinion about the past Township Boards of Trustees because you have no idea how they ran the Township. I have lived in Flushing Township my entire lie and it was never this bad.
My heart goes out to the officers who were laid off and to their families. It is never fun being out of work. They are the ones who risked their lives everyday. They are the ones who were the first responders to emergencies. They are the ones who risked their lives when they had to pull someone for drinking, illegal drug use and dealing, speeding, and seatbelt infractions. In a split secodn their life could have been taken by a wreckless driver or by a person who had weapon on them. As citizens we need to care about these police officers instead of ways in which the township can save money. My prayer is that these man and women who faithfully served with Flushing Township Police Department find work where their community will actually appreciate their hard work and the sacrifices they made each and everyday. I also pray that they find work where they will be treated as professionals and not as second rate.
I know God has a plan for my community but it is hard to think of the blessings we as a township will miss out on because we were arrogant and full of ourselves.
I leave you with these questions. How can you have trust and respect for a township board who just wants to make themselves look good? How can you have trust and respect for a township board who does not even care about the people they are representing or how their decisions will affect them? How can you can sleep with a clear conscience knowing that men and women who served so faithfully as police officers in Flushing Township are out of work?
www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2012/02/flushing_township_disbanding_p.html
www.city-data.com/township/Flushing-Genesee-MI.html
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