The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Valmy]

As with most things, it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey. You may end up with a reactionary dictatorship, but you can guillotine a bunch of derspiesses on the way. 

There are more obvious targets, like yourself, Minsky, Lemonjello, Malthus, Caliga and Mono.

Well he has got you there Marty.

[derspiess]

No shit.  I'm a man of the people.

[Razgovory]

What does that have to do with St. Louis annexing Ferguson.  Assuming both parties agree, of course.

Because I don't think St. Louis can take territory from a county.  It should be noted that I don't think that Ferguson actually borders the city.  And really, what's in it for St. Louis?  I also don't think you appreciate how long and difficult it is for for a city to annex an area.  Jefferson City has been trying to annex a small strip of land for 20 years.  And lastly the people in Ferguson live up there so they don't have to live in the city.  The whole St. Louis metro area is a fucking mess.

[Martinus]

As with most things, it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey. You may end up with a reactionary dictatorship, but you can guillotine a bunch of derspiesses on the way. 

There are more obvious targets, like yourself, Minsky, Lemonjello, Malthus, Caliga and Mono.

I would be one of those aristocrats that join the revolution.

[derspiess]

Because I don't think St. Louis can take territory from a county.  It should be noted that I don't think that Ferguson actually borders the city.  And really, what's in it for St. Louis?  I also don't think you appreciate how long and difficult it is for for a city to annex an area.  Jefferson City has been trying to annex a small strip of land for 20 years.  And lastly the people in Ferguson live up there so they don't have to live in the city.  The whole St. Louis metro area is a fucking mess.

Ah.  For some reason I thought Ferguson was totally surrounded by the city limit border of St. Louis.  Looking at a map, the official city limit is way smaller than I thought it was.

[MadImmortalMan]

I see no reason the state government couldn't merge the cities.

I mean, if it isn't viable on it's own, then economies of scale and all that.

[lustindarkness]

Would nuking it from orbit be a good option?

[The Brain]

Would nuking it from orbit be a good option?

No. There is another.

[frunk]

No. There is another.

Do you really think giving the mole people nukes is a good idea?

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Dallas is a fairly large city with a large tax base.  Ferguson is not.  Also what is the cap that the a Texas city can get from speeding tickets?

Multiple disjoint points:

Not sure what you include in "tax base", but Dallas only gets about 43% of its budget from property taxes.  Also, Dallas may have a large tax base, but they also have large expenses that Ferguson does not because of the size of the city.

In general, the cost of city services scales with physical size and population.  The ratio of population to sworn officers is about the same for Dallas (372) and Ferguson (391).  The ratio is actually worse for Dallas, though, because of the much greater weekday daytime and weekend nighttime population from the surrounding cities.

I don't know if there even is a cap.  My point is that speeding tickets are a rounding error in Dallas' budget and that a city requiring traffic citations for a significant portion of its budget us fundamentally insolvent.

Edit:

Actually, what a city like Ferguson should be forced to do is disband their city police force and rely on county police if they really can't afford an independent force.  Most cities of Ferguson's size in South Florida do not have their own departments.

[The Brain]

No. There is another.

Do you really think giving the mole people nukes is a good idea?

People? No.

[derspiess]

People? No.

I anticipate killing at least one mole this year.  Killed one in 2013 and another in 2014. 

[CountDeMoney]

No shit.  I'm a man of the people.

Lol, white people

[derspiess]

Hey now.  I rooted for Holmes HS the other night against the rich white boy school.  That should buy me some anti-raciss credits.

[Razgovory]

Dallas is a fairly large city with a large tax base.  Ferguson is not.  Also what is the cap that the a Texas city can get from speeding tickets?

Multiple disjoint points:

Not sure what you include in "tax base", but Dallas only gets about 43% of its budget from property taxes.  Also, Dallas may have a large tax base, but they also have large expenses that Ferguson does not because of the size of the city.

In general, the cost of city services scales with physical size and population.  The ratio of population to sworn officers is about the same for Dallas (372) and Ferguson (391).  The ratio is actually worse for Dallas, though, because of the much greater weekday daytime and weekend nighttime population from the surrounding cities.

I don't know if there even is a cap.  My point is that speeding tickets are a rounding error in Dallas' budget and that a city requiring traffic citations for a significant portion of its budget us fundamentally insolvent.

Edit:

Actually, what a city like Ferguson should be forced to do is disband their city police force and rely on county police if they really can't afford an independent force.  Most cities of Ferguson's size in South Florida do not have their own departments.

Cities don't always scale well. A city with an affluent population and a city with a poor population that are the same size are going to require the same number of police, fire and street employees.   Densely packed urban areas come out a head in taxation compared to a declining suburb.  They can disincorporate the town, (and possibly will), but it'll end up looking like East St. Louis.