On the heals of learning a number of officers are wearing and will be issued ballistic vest that are outdated, it is rumored Bolton will ask the commissioners at the next meeting for funds to purchase a “scissor lift” at the cost of more than $110,000.00 dollars. The lift will be similar to the one pictured.
What can he possibly be thinking? Why would he need such a thing? To address the small gatherings at the meet and greets? Is this why he canceled the latest meet and greets, hoping the “scissor lift” will be here soon?
You should hear the giggles in the hallways!
Lets us not forget, the 6th Magic Bus is on order at a cost of $300,000.00. We hear the delay is contributed to the exhaust system. Bolton wants this one to emit "Lucky Charms" and multi color bubbles as it travels the yellow bring roads.
How long to we have to take this? How long before there is an outcry of the wasted tax dollars?
19 comments:
Learn more about your subject matter, the lift is being purchased using monies from a federal grant written by the Homeland Division. All their asking the board for is permission to add it to the fleet. If you find items you need look for a grant out there that matches your needs and start writing. It has several uses unlike the buses. Yet another uneducated post!
We ask you Anonymous, even if Bolton buys this with grant money, where do you think grant money comes from? Does it not come from taxpayers, not only those in DeKalb County, but the State of Georgia and throughout the United States?
Are you part of Bolton's inept command staff or uneducated, or both?
Ok, so now your point or opinion is that the lift is a waste of money. How much research have you done to come to this conclusion? I saw it used at the Hispanic rally on Buford Hwy and felt it was a good observation vehicle, by the way it looked hardly like what you have pictured. I did a little looking into this after your post and also found New York, Atlanta, Marta, and Gwinnett County are also using these "SkyWatch's".
Obviously the grant had to go thru a vetting process and be approved by the Federal Government, so I guess they may have a different conclusion than you. For those that don't know grants have to meet a certain criteria and I bet bullet proof vests did not meet it for this grant.
BTW I am not command staff or uneducated, but will speak up when I see an error printed in these postings.
If we keep these postings factual they will carry more weight with our supporters.
The only question I have is WHY? What on earth do we need this for our police department. When will it be used and for what purpose.
I guess someone can see a vision for equipment like this.
But why would he go forward with this and not address the Taser issue or the ballistic vest issue. Why would this contraption be more important? Why would he order his people to work on something like this and not on something that can save the lives of officers or citizens?
The information is available comparing the death ratio when an officer wears a vest. Life saving and the reduction of bodily injury is out there relating to the use of Tasers.
Has one of these security booths directly saved an officers life, or that of an innocent citizen?
There are priorities. The lives and safety of our police is the number one priority. Having enough police cars so the officers can go to work is a higher priority than some ill-conceived coo coo nest.
Given what DKPD's priorities should be, I agree this request is an outrage. I hope the commissioners can collectively slap Bolton back into reality when this request is discussed. I understand the application of the scissor lift for "crowd monitoring," but this is an example of bad judgment that DeKalb taxpayers can not afford when officers are leaving the County in droves and the few that remain are not equipped properly. Burrell or Stan, please gently but immediately fire this Bolton!
Keeping within the theme of the new Magic Bus having Luck Charms and multi-color bubbles coming from the exhaust pipes, Bolton should name the Security Booth "Lucy". The command staff will start wearing diamonds instead of stars, and you see where this is going. "Radio, is 90 up"? Negative, but "Lucy is in the sky with Diamonds"
As usual, the truth may lie in the middle ... if this is indeed the result of grant writing efforts, that is a horse of a different color (with or without Lucky Charms emitted from the horse's rear). If this scissor lift costs all American taxpayers, then it is a bit less intense than a DKPD budget problem. But, the poster's rhetorical point remains true about priorities. Oh well! If nothing else, this will be a great item for washing the top of the magic buses.
The so called "Sky Watch" is definitely cool and I can see where it would be usefull. But the question is "Is now the best time to be buying stuff like that?". Not in my opinion when you have officers standing around at the beginning of every shift waiting for a police car to drive, some of the cars that officers do drive have well over 100K miles on them and are death traps, we still don't have Tasers (possibly one of the best advances in police technology in our life time), expired ballistic vests, I could go on for hours. What I'm trying to get across is that we need to assure that our Officers are safe and that they have the tools that they need to do their job every day (spotlights on the patrol cars maybe??? When's the last time that you've seen another police department's patrol units without spotlights). I'm just sick of these MOBILE BILLBOARDS!!! Sorry, I ment to say Mobile Precincts. Her comes the second phase of Dekalb County Police Billboards. I'm not against the Sky Watch and I'm glad that the Department is using grant money for stuff like that. Lets fix the internal issues first and then we can buy some cool toys that no one else can use or touch except for ICP.
Im just waiting on the formation of "The Dekalb Police Dive and Rescue Team". I cant wait I heard its in the budget but we all might have to wait a month or so. All those large lakes in Dekalb County have no fear the Dekalb D&R are here!! I think Margarita Williams will be heading this one up as well. Take that Johns Creek and Dunwoody PD!!!!
insane bickering
It is not going to ever stop. As long as inept clowns run the department. Get out. Although I do have to admit that this site reaffirms my decision to leave DeKalb, and provides comic relief on a weekly basis.
Expired vest, no tasers, buses, and a sky lift...hahahahah talk about "New Start/ New Begining". Sounds to me like the Cheif is a crackhead on a shopping spree, just buying whatever toy that he wanted when he was a kid but his parents didn't get him, with complete lack of regard for the needs of the line officers. Did the county ever get new pistols? Watch out ya'll may be carrying Lorcin's before T-Bo is done with that place.
I like how "anonymous" said "insane bickering". Is there something that "anonymous" sees or knows that all the rest of us don't. What is bickering or petty about stating the facts when the lack of equipment for patrol officers could very well get one killed. I'm being very serious here. Have you driven a police car lately that has 115K or more miles on it. Not just drive it like the public but drive it like the police need to with lights and siren on. It's like riding a championship bull in a rodeo. You can be going in a staight line and the thing just wanders all over the road. This is an issue that might get an officer killed. Another issue that keeps being brought up (and it should be) is Tasers. This is another issue that might get an officer killed. All you police officers out there, can you even count how many times that you would have used a Taser in your career if you just had one to use. Instead of getting in a knock down drag out with a perp you could just put that red dot on their chest and let them choose if they wanted to ride it or not. Pepper spray is outdated. It's old technology. It works great on someone who is calm but try it on a drunk or someone geeked up and you might as well have just sprayed water in their face and pepper spray in yours and here comes the fight of your life. Lack of manpower might also get an officer killed and so on and so forth. Call me crazy but I don't think that this is bickering at all when these issues affect our life. It's obvious that a couple of these "anonymous" posters ride a pine desk all day instead of a world championship bull that the rest of us do. Put that guy in a unit with 115K miles and tell him that an officer is down and to get there as quickly as he can. He'll have that thing wrapped around a tree before he even leaves the parking lot because the suspension is so shot. I'll guarantee you one thing, Te-Bo and his entourage of overpaid cronies (except for a few of them) will never know the extent of the lack of equipment, or maybe they don't even care, because they are so far removed from the road. DKPD puts on a good show for the public and if we were visited by MTV Cribs then we'd be on their Top 10 episode. We definitely have bling but is that the image that we need to show the public. LOOK HOW MUCH MONEY WE HAVE PUBLIC!
Grants...
They spend so much time securing Federal Grant money to secure "trivial SHOW toys"!
Why don't they divert those efforts to securing Federal Grant money to buy items that will benefit the department as a whole and the county as a result?
I'm sure there is grant that can be used to by 400 to 500 Tasers. I'm sure there is another for buying new, larger caliber pistols. Heck....Tactical rifles.
They appear to be great at finding grants for obscure equipment. How about the everyday mundane stuff that saves lives?
As I look at the picture of the elevated "security booth", I can't help but picture one decked out with DKPD and a screaming eagle.
Then I think a little further....some perp's gonna find that a real inviting target to take pot shots at.
I for one will not be an elevated, stationary target.
This is just another example of federal taxpayer money. Since this was grant money you probably can't blame it on the current administration. It usually takes awhile to get grants approved. More money has been wasted in the name of homeland security than we can imagine. Maybe they could use this thing to watch all the officers as they leave this once fine department for greener pastures?
I think "notcar1" brought up a good point. How are we going to trick out this "security booth"?
We definitely need a screaming eagle on the side but here's some other ideas that I have:
Marble floors
Flat screen tv
Washer/dryer
A bathroom that no one can use
Sleep Number bed
Another flat screen tv
and a shower
What we don't need in the security booth is:
A police radio
A computer to do reports on
or anything else police related
Just my thoughts....
How about selling those "buses" and getting us some patrol units, computers and radios that work. Up to date bullet proof vests would be a necessary investment too. We don't need a skywatch. We NEED equipment.
Pretty soon we'll all be patroling the streets in our own vehicles,walking or taking marta wearing cardboard around our bodies, twist ties for handcuffs, toy guns, a can and string as a radio, a whistle, a pen and a notepad. but atleast well have our buses and skywatch.
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