Living in small town, 100% crime-free suburbia, one can't help but wonder why we even have a local police force.
...except for *traffic control*.
I'd wager that 90% of the police *work* done in the towns near me on Boston's South Shore is merely directing traffic around Verizon trucks and repaving detours!
Massachusetts is apparently THE ONLY STATE in the nation that requires cops for traffic details.
It's not a new issue here either. I remember reading editorials in the Worcester Telegram (and Gazette) advocating the use of flagmen some twenty years ago.
It's not just that flagmen would earn half as much as cops, there's other BS as well like the billing procedure used by *officers of the law*. They have 4 hour minimums, get paid even when the construction is delayed for weather, etc. Read a smattering of the blood-boiling griping here.
Though Taylor will probably defend cops on this one...
12 comments:
I've been blocked from Rich Karlgaard's "Digital Rules" blog. All I did was ask the question, "Which one is losing value faster--the U.S. dollar or Rich Karlgaard's intellect?"
He didn't take that too well. It's his blog, and he can cry if he wants too. I suspect after showing how he is like the boy who cried "Recovery!" one too many times, no one should take is optimistic blather too seriously.
Well now there's absolutely no reason for anyone to read that blog!
He's a good man. It's too bad he permitted his *job* to wag his mind.
I've noticed that Steve Forbes' columns now allow comments. A fresh target?
C,
Are you kidding me?
Can you elaborate?
Or is *are you kidding me* supposed to constitute a cogent counter-argument?
C,
What on earth would lead you to believe I'd defend a cop on any topic?
Puddy in my hands....
Was joking all the way.
In that link I posted there was a good riposte to:
*it's not safe to have non-cops directing traffic*....
They said that mere *civilians*, aka crossing guards are implicitly deemed SAFE ENOUGH for precious school children.
C,
Cops, like other members of the State, are superhumans. They're better than us, that's why they serve us. Or something.
And the politicians are smarter than us. That's why we vote for them. Even though we're stupider than them. But we can trust their judgment and not ours. Or something.
I don't believe your cop-o-phobia is anything more than an act.
Didn't you buy this for your chick last Valentine's day?
Hey, I'm the guy from NZ that's been posting on the 'shod' thread. Just have to say I couldn't agree more with you on this one. In the town where I grew up, Randolph, they had cops directing traffic seven days a week at the movie theatre, even though there's a traffic light! And they were getting paid obscene amounts of money for a completely unnecessary job. Meanwhile the town had no money for snow-plows and had to stop providing school buses.
For something interesting, check this out to see how much MassPike cops get paid... >170K on average
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/40
and how many cops are getting paid >200k (this is from 2007, it's only worse now)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1789261/posts
When cops are making more than doctors with over 11 years of school and hundreds of thousands of debt to repay, these are pretty messed up pay scales!
Anon,
You sound like a Marxist espousing the Labor Theory of Value, and yet your point is nonetheless well-taken. The reason cops are overpaid is because their salaries are not determined by the market but the bureaucracy.
BTW, doctors, who are licensed and regulated by the state, have their salaries similarly "subsidized." Something to chew on.
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