Congrats to the Greenfield City Council on imposing budget cuts which have a detrimental effect on not only most junior members of the Greenfield Police Department, but it will also most likely will affect the taxpayers when they need the police.
Let’s highlight some: delayed response to breaking and entry, assault, gun shots in a neighborhood, unresponsive person not breathing, infants not breathing etc., maybe even the State Police having to respond from who knows where because the only officer is tied up in another emergency.
The near loss of the K-9 dog, which was saved by donations, thanks to everyone who donated, and the loss of the comfort dog and its very experienced officer. Lucky for Erving and a loss for Greenfield.
Some of my neighbors elderly ask who is going to respond if they need the police. My answer was to call 911 and maybe a city officer would respond but it could be the State Police and who knows how long it will take. Some said they wanted to send a message, and the way I see it they did and it was that we don’t care about the safety and welfare of the citizens of Greenfield or the most junior members of the Police Department.
We still will need to fund the chief’s position and the others named. So the last hired first to go, remember that next time you vote for a budget cut in a salary line. Everyone should have kept in mind that due process of the law wasn’t completed until every party (plaintiffs or defendants) right to appeal was filed or not. I will be shocked when everything is said and done that the city of Greenfield doesn’t end up with more lawsuits for comments made by some elected officials (city councilors) during an open meeting.
I will be around to remind voters in November 2023 who voted yes for the budget cuts to the police, so good luck to anyone who has intentions on any local government seats. By the way, if you were looking to cut a budget to save the taxpayer money, a $500,000 cut would save the average taxpayer $7.19 a month, thanks to an extra gallon of gas a month. Or was it done to just plain “defund the police” now that some had a scapegoat?
In closing I would ask that the council president please vote yes or no on issues so we know where she stands on issues, not just refusing to vote most of the time.
Edward Jarvis lives in Greenfield.