Police cuts unacceptable

We were totally appalled to hear on the news that police Chief Kirkpatrick is cutting 37 police officers in order to balance the budget.

We know this is a “lean” time for everyone, including the city of Spokane; however, it does not make any sense that, as our city grows, our police and fire departments decline.

Are our citizens that unimportant that we can risk slower response time – or no response at all – from the two departments that are critical to our well-being?

Surely there has to be a better alternative. I say Mayor Mary Verner and her team need to go back to the drawing board. They cannot afford to put our citizens at risk. If they can’t figure anything else out, then they need to find someone who can. This is like saying to all of the criminals in Spokane: “Here you go. We don’t have the resources to catch you, so have at it.”

Karen Merritt

Spokane

At this time of year that we remember firefighters and members of police departments, let’s also remember that our congresswoman voted to lay off tens of thousands of them. Remember in November.

Gregg Woods

Spokane