Posted 5/6/2013
Here is a video about a county in Oregon that’s so cash-strapped there’s not enough money for law enforcement anymore. Citizen volunteers have stepped up to fill the void — with “Citizens Against Crime” handling theft cases and patrolling their roads and neighborhoods. These are not “vigilantes” but law-abiding citizens protecting themselves from crime and chaos.
This government has been forced to cut back severely on one of its most central duties.
Watch this short video, and learn firsthand why the Oregon county bumbled into their predicament:
Spoiler alert: Josephine County is broke because the BLM and environmentalists shut down local logging (a major part of the local economy, and a source of county government revenue), and now the citizens have to perform a critical government service by themselves because their government is broke. Read more about the story by clicking here, and here. The county tried to raise taxes, but with less work the people couldn’t afford it and voted no. Whatcom County’s just decided to give up over 8,800 acres of productive DNR timberland for a park, even though it’s finances are often in crisis. Wages have been frozen for quite a while, furloughs and basic services are cut while planning, trail and park spending grows steadily.
Law enforcement is a legitimate and necessary government function. Environmental protection has been over-prioritized to criminalize normal human activities at a tremendous cost to individuals and the collective. Whatcom County could go down hard if we don’t get our priorities straight. Just like that county in Oregon.