Today’s News & Record above-the-fold headline reads: “Greensboro police fail to meet response goals.” But can you really “fail” to do something if success isn’t an option? GPD is being asked to serve an ever-growing population and an ever-expanding land area without a proportionate increase in officers.

There seems to be a general consensus that the six-minute response goal is unreachable with current staffing. But the failure is not on the part of the officers. The Greensboro City Council has failed to fund a fully-stuffed police department. And not just the current Council. This problem has been going on for years. Law enforcement is a basic function of government. It says a lot about our priorities as a city that we can find money for arts and flowers and birthday celebrations, but not for basic public safety.

Too often, patrol is 10-100 — no officers available — to answer calls or to assist other officers. That jeopardizes not only the safety of residents, but the safety of the officers, as well. There’s an interesting article on the GPOA site about officer safety and the pressure to reduce response times. And Joe Guarino questions the emphasis on response times, and also relates the “curious circumstances” (understatement) of the timing of a consultant’s report on the PD in relation to the budget process.

The News & Record article quotes Chief B:

“Some days I wake up and say, ‘Oh, my God.’”

Keep on praying, Tim. I’m joining you. I think it’s going to take a miracle to get the City Council to hire enough cops.

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