Detective Roberts said, "You don't need a huge police force. A hundred police officers is sufficient."
"What do you mean? We've got a million people on this island," the Governor said.
"You don't need police to write speeding tickets! People don't see that as enforcing the law or protecting them from harm. They see it as collecting revenue. Everyone knows that cops have quotas. You want to enforce speed limits in school zones? Put up cameras.
"Furthermore, it is a waste of resources to have police driving around aimlessly as a deterrent to crime. You need police to have a local presence and to take care of crime. We need a group of people authorized to make arrests, and to get the bad guys off the streets. If the bad guys are locked away, then they won't be in a position to perform more crimes."
The Governor interrupted, "There's more to it than that."
"Look, when I was a patrolman, we'd get a disturbing the peace call because a bunch of kids were having party and making too much noise. Big ****ing deal. We'd show up with three patrol cars. It would take six police officers to tell the kids to be quiet. More often than not, we'd end up locking up a bunch of them for drinking beer. Now, I've got to ask you – did you ever drink a beer when you were a teenager?"
"Yes."
"Right. It happens. Why involve the police in stupid things like that?"
"It's illegal for individuals under twenty-one to drink."
Detective Roberts said, "That's your problem, right there! You aren't having police protecting the public from crime, you are having police do the jobs that parents are supposed to do. If parents aren't keeping their kids from drinking and the kids suffer, well ... too bad. There's a whole bunch of people already involved, and you don't need the government to add more people to the mix. Drop the minimum drinking age, entirely. If the kids are driving lock them up for DUI, which is a crime because it endangers the public.
"Get the hell out of the business of enforcing morality laws. Make prostitution legal, and have it fall under the jurisdiction of the department of health. It's a health issue, not a legal issue. You'll free up a dozen policemen, each shift.
"The real problems are murder, rape, robbery, destruction of property, and injurious assault. The rest of the garbage is just that: garbage. Don't bog the police down with make-work. Have us protect the public. The rest can take care of itself, for now."
"I'm not sure that I agree with you. We have an obligation to protect the people from themselves," the Governor said.
"Our primary obligation is to protect good people from bad people. A kid breaks a window and a cop is called. That's a waste since most of the time the perpetrator is not really a bad person, but a stupid kid who did something dumb. The parents should have been called."
"That's destruction of property," the Governor said.
"That's right, and before the collapse the kid would get charged with destruction of property. He'd go in in front of judge, who was liable to fine the kid's parents a hundred bucks and shake his finger at the kid, while delivering a stern lecture that went in one ear and out the other. That hundred dollar fine didn't even pay for the cost of having a policeman respond to the call, much less the cost of going to court. Furthermore, the person with the broken window got nothing, and his insurance has to pay for the damages. That whole cycle wasn't working and represents a drain on resources. It can all be handled at a personal level, or in civil courts, rather than the criminal courts. It doesn't require the involvement of a policeman."
"I'm sorry. I have to disagree with you on that."
"It's a petty crime! Are we going to waste resources on misdemeanors, or are we going to focus our resources on felonies?"
"We've got to deal with both."
"We can't! We were wasting our time writing traffic tickets, writing reports that go nowhere, and managing crowds. We were pursuing some idiot for ten dollars worth of damages, while a woman was getting raped, down the street. We have to focus on the dangerous criminals!"
Colonel Stewart said, "He's right. If we arrest only real criminals, then the court system will not have so many cases. We can get speedier trials. Our prisons won't have so many people in them. Hell, you'll even be able to reform the prison system so it isn't a breeding ground for even worse criminals."
"There are a small number of people who are responsible for the majority of real crimes. Let the police deal with them, and not serve as nannies to the population as a whole," Detective Roberts said.
It irritated him just to think about how much time was wasted while he was a patrolman.
He added, "You also don't need cops showing up on ambulance calls. I mean, if you want statements from folks, then have the ambulance folks take the statements. Unless they determine a crime has taken place, there's no need to involve the police. I don't know how many times I went on a call where some fat ******* had called an ambulance just to get ride to the hospital because he didn't have a car and was too cheap to call a taxi."