Dwindling of U.S. Police Hinders Obama’s Plan to Build Relations.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-03/dwindling-of-u-s-police-hinders-obama-s-plan-to-build-relations.html

President Barack Obama’s push to mend relations between police and struggling communities faces a challenge: Cities like Jennings, Missouri, have fewer officers around to create goodwill.

The community of 15,000 near Ferguson, where racial animosity toward police resulted in rioting last week, has cut its force 10 percent since 2009. Officers have less time to patrol on foot and meet residents. Instead, they patrol the four square miles in cruisers with the windows rolled down.

“We would like to have more police, but the budgets are a challenge,” said Lieutenant Jeff Fuesting, who runs the Jennings Police Department. “We’d love to have police officers on foot patrols. We just don’t have the luxury.”

The thin blue line of America’s police has grown thinner since the recession. Cities slashed budgets as federal grants faded and tax collections tumbled. That left 390,000 police officers by 2013, 14 percent fewer than four years earlier, according to FBI figures.

“The number of police do matter,” said George Kelling, a fellow at New York’s Manhattan Institute who has been a law-enforcement consultant. “They go from serious problem to serious problem and they don’t have the opportunity to be meeting with the decent citizens in the community. That begins to change the attitudes of police officers.”

Skeleton Force

Brown’s shooting three miles (4.8 kilometers) away strained relations between police and residents, said Rodney Epps, a member of the City Council.

“We used to look up to police officers,” said Epps, who is black. “Now you see the protesting around this country.”

Fuesting, commander of the force, said the city has the bare minimum to keep the peace. In addition to having more officers patrol from their cars, he also relies on volunteer neighborhood watches.

The number of serious crimes in the city has declined by almost 30 percent since 2011, he said. Yet Jeremy Smith, a 19-year-old who lives blocks away from the department, said relations remain fraught. He has mixed emotions whenever cruisers drive by.

“It’s good to have police around,” he said. “I just hope they wouldn’t think about harassing me.”