Consider it the cornhole approach to crime fighting!
"This new solution provides officers with an additional option they can use when faced with less-lethal use situations," police said in a release on Wednesday.
I'm all for the police having additional options, but this is not an "additional" option. It's the removal of one option for another.
The department took 800 shotguns out of its circulation and put 630 beanbag shotguns into use.
We may live in an era of 2+2=5, but I'm pretty sure that 630 is still less than 800 meaning they not only took away the shotguns, they left 170 police officers without even beanbags to defend themselves!
No big deal, right? It's not like crime in Fairfax is on the rise or anything...
This data builds on an upward trend in which crimes against person and crimes against property jumped by 10.5 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively, from 2021 to 2022.
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) insists they are doing everything they can, most of which involves you doing everything you can.
"Our Crime Prevention and Community Outreach Officers are constantly working to inform the community about the latest trends and ways to help reduce crime. From handing out locks to reduce the Kia and Hyundai thefts, VIN etching events, neighborhood watch programs, Hidden in Plain Sight, home security surveys, and more, we're working with our community every day to reduce crime," FCPD said in a statement.
What they're really saying is that crime is up not because of bad public policy, but because of a bad public.
Of course, better locks, home security surveys and all the rest are good ideas, but they're probably not the first places to go looking for why crime is rising. If those were the primary problems, they would have been problems before. It's not like people have suddenly stopped attending VIN etching events. As one disgruntled commenter noted:
To quote the article, "In addition to residents, county leaders have taken note of this unsettling trend and have sounded the alarm." You are KIDDING right?! Residents and county leaders have enabled and emboldened this cluster. YOU elected it. McKay and his woke crew now have ensured that your PD is the lowest paid in the region, YOU elected a soros backed prosecutor who has lost how many violent offender and sexual offender cases in court, releasing how many others, and also has a problem with the police to where he wishes to "reform" policing.
Regardless, the FCPD is very excited about this new program.
Pretty intimidating.
🤣
"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six beanbags or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself."
The FCPD is so excited about their beanbag shotguns, they can barely put together a coherent sentence!
Prior to March, every police cruiser was equipped with a 12-gauge shotgun as a use-of-force option. In an effort to give officers, FCPD reviewed the data, discussed use-case issues, surveyed patrol districts, and determined that department more less-lethal options, shotguns could be better utilized in a less-lethal capacity.
Give officers what? And I think you're missing an article and a verb.
As crime increases by leaps and bounds unabated, the Fairfax County Police Department is spending time training their officers to hit a difficult target with a beanbag.
Not to worry, it's not like that's the only anti-crime initiative being undertaken.
There are the e-bikes, too!
Okay, so it's not exactly CHiPS.
But it will combat crime because, well, you know why.
I live next door in Arlington County, right in the middle of the Washington DC metro area and we have the same things going on here.
Like Fairfax, the residents notice it first and are told they aren't seeing what they are plainly seeing, and that even if they are seeing what they're seeing, it's no big deal, and shut up you hater maybe they're just hungry.
A friend of mine told me recently that he has noticed that my neighborhood is looking more seedy these days, and he's right. Keep in mind that this is a neighborhood where Amazon has taken up residence and million-dollar homes are the norm. We purchased our house decades ago when it was much nicer, and much less expensive.
This isn't a matter of economics, it's a matter of policy.
This is what happens when you prioritize criminals over victims, and I say that as someone who has long cast a suspicious eye on the authority and power that comes with a badge and a gun.
However, when a government can't perform its most basic function, the one for which citizens trade a portion of personal autonomy and liberty, then the pact falls apart.
What follows is ugly, and no amount of beanbag shotguns and e-bikes are going to fix that.
