In a Facebook status update today, Jackson County (MO) Sheriff Candidate Dwon Littlejohn declared:
Burglary on the rise in the metro area and my opponent would rather have a drug interdiction unit on the highway looking for drugs! A burglary suspect gets away from deputies near Independence today because of slow response times by deputies not patrolling closer to residential areas. As Sheriff, deputies WILL be in neighborhoods!
By definition, law enforcement resources are finite. A choice to emphasize one area of enforcement trades off with the ability to emphasize other areas of enforcement at some margin. In Jackson County, this margin is not a favorable one as people actively committing property crimes are able to evade capture and continue their assault on peaceful society while the Sheriff’s men sit on the highway, looking for drug arrests and cash to seize under the civil asset forfeiture laws.
I commend Mr. Littlejohn’s perspicacious analysis of this situation, and commend him to your attention in the upcoming Jackson County elections. Here is his website.
Ducks and Economics 