Get The Rope

Get the rope boys, we’re gonna get that dirty SOB. He’s done gone and broke the public’s trust. He’s done gone and went against the “will of the people,” you know, the voter’s, the taxpayer’s who pay his extravagant salary. Let’s get him!
What’s that? We can’t hang him? That’s bull! Okay then, let’s demand a recall! That’ll show him. In the meantime we’ll boycott his business because we all know everything he’s ever done through the City Council has been for the benefit of his business. Let’s get him!
I heard through a credible source, who for obvious reasons must remain anonymous, that he’s actually the “Anti-Christ,” and he’s here to take over the City. Let’s get him!
Of course, I’m talking about Brett Blackburn. The “leader” of the “gang of five,” you know the one’s. They’re the five, out of control council members who’ve taken the City hostage with their “unnecessary” and “illegal helicopter purchase.”
Just who do these corrupt, power hungry politicians think they are anyway. I mean the experts have spoken. You know, the authors of letters to the editor, the news papers, local television, talk radio, and their callers, myself included have all determined the new Police helicopter is a waste of time and taxpayer’s money. I mean, what the hell? We’re the one’s who know everything, right?
I want you to think back to the beginning of this whole helicopter mess. Do you remember Police Chief, Ron Miller requesting it in the first place? Do you remember him talking about the new helicopter being used equally with the other one? He said it would enable the helicopter unit to increase their coverage time to the 1800-2000 hour range. Do you remember him explaining that the use of the helicopter is a huge deterrent to crime. A couple recent studies, one in Nashville showed violent crime dropped 60+% in areas they patrolled with helicopters. One was done in Little Rock when they’d grounded their helicopter unit. Violent crime shot up 76%. The new helicopter was never intended to just sit around collecting dust as a back up.
I don’t claim to know Chief Miller, never met the man. At the same time, I’ve never heard of his integrity or judgment being in question. How did we get to the point where the public knows more about such matters than the Chief? Just wondering.
Pick a cop, any cop. He’s about to leave for work, on his way out the door he stops to kiss his wife and kids goodnight. She’s worried, much like every night. You see, her cop is working third shift. He smacks her on the butt and tells her she worries too much, I’ll see you in the morning and you’d better have breakfast ready. She just laughs and says maybe she will and maybe she won’t. Just be careful, we love you.
A couple hours into his shift he starts hearing a lot of talk on the radio about a man they’d been looking for. The man’s been threatening to shoot the first cop he sees. It seems a citizen has called to report the man they were looking for was sitting in a car outside her house. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she could see others in the car with him. Our cop was about a mile away, he was the closest and he was on his way. It took our cop about three minutes to respond. The helicopter was already accessing the scene. The man they were looking for was already out of his car, waving a gun in the air daring our cop to come and get him. Because the helicopter unit was able to spot two other men hiding behind a nearby house our cop knew where they were. He waited for back up help to arrive. Because of the helicopter unit they knew they were dealing with 3 individuals. They knew exactly where they were and were able to take all three into custody without anyone getting hurt. And our cop was able to go home after his shift ended. His wife asked him how his night was. Same old stuff. I told you, you worry too much. Hey, I thought you were going to have breakfast ready.
I’ve been listening to people asking just what good is a helicopter anyway. How about possibly saving our cop’s life that night for starters. They ask “well, just how many arrests have they made with a helicopter.” Glad you asked. In 2007 the helicopter unit flew 1417 hours which resulted in 6797 Activities (alarm calls, prowlers, burglaries, chases, etc.) 95 felony arrests which is up 48% from 2006. 156 Misdemeanor arrests. That’s up 120% over 2006.
Why we’d rather dump hundreds of thousands of dollars into a 1994 helicopter, that’s going to cost us more over the next five years than it would if we just bought the new one is beyond me. I’ve heard people trying to compare a 1994 helicopter to a 1994 truck or a car. Hell boy, my old 94 truck is going strong, smokes a bit, but hell, that’s to be expected. Good truck though. What’s going to happen if our good old boy’s heading down the road and his truck breaks down? He’ll most likely just coast to a stop on the side of the road. What happens if our 94 helicopter is flying at 500 ft. and has a breakdown? Our cops die.
Am I being overly dramatic? Probably. Okay, I made up that story about our cop too. But you know what? These scenes are being played out by our cops and their families every day of the week. These same life and death situations are all too common for them.
Ask Brett Blackburn why he’s fighting so hard for the new Police helicopter, he’ll tell you he wants to make sure the cops have the best possible equipment when needed so at the end of their shifts all our cops can all go home to their families. Yeah boys, get the rope. We got us a real scoundrel here! It’s funny though. We can spend 1.5 million to carpet a little-league ball-diamond and we’re okay with that. What do I know, I’m just an old guy.
Kevin McGinty can be reached at: kevinmcginty@sbcglobal.net