The Greensboro City Council has found a clever way to defund the police without openly defunding the police, thus avoiding the controversy that would cause.
To defund the police – which is what it appears the majority of the City Council would like to do – would take a vote, and people who are in favor of less violence and safer streets would be upset.
But the path the City Council has chosen is to set “safest city” as a top priority and then not take action to make the city safer, such as allocating more money to the Greensboro Police Department (GPD).
The City Council has chosen to keep the salaries for Greensboro police officers below that of competing jurisdictions. It’s not a budget issue. The city has piles of cash. The council also refuses to provide patrol officers in Greensboro with take-home police cars, something that every competing law enforcement agency in the state does provide.
By keeping the salaries low and refusing to provide the benefits that other law enforcement agencies provide, the City Council can rest assured that the number of vacancies in the Police Department, now close to 20 percent, will continue to grow.
This is a brilliant move by a City Council that wants to defund the police but doesn’t want to do so openly. It is now getting to the point where the number of vacancies will start to grow at a more rapid rate due to trained officers leaving for jurisdictions where they are not required to work massive amounts of overtime, plus they get their own car. The quality of the police recruits will also drop as Greensboro will be forced to take recruits that weren’t accepted by other jurisdictions, just to try and fill classes.
So, in a few years the Greensboro Police Department will be facing massive vacancies, and when officers retire they will be replaced with new recruits that would have never been accepted by the GPD just a few years ago.
No amount of polishing can turn a piece of gravel into a diamond. The result of starting with lower quality recruits is going to lead to more problems out on the street. More problems will give the City Council more fuel to provide less funding for the police.
If you think it’s the wild West out there right now, just wait until the GPD is down another 100 officers, which is on its way.
If the City Council wanted to support the police, the solution is simple. The salaries for police officers have to be raised at least to the same level as competing agencies and at the very least every patrol officer has to be provided with a take-home car. Greensboro is flush with money. Not only did the city receive $59.4 million in American Rescue Plan funds that, because of an accounting trick, had no restrictions. The City Council also increased the revenue raised by property taxes by 30 percent last year.
The City Council cannot support the police department because they are giving all the ARPA money to their pet non-profits. The solution is simple. Everyone packs heat!
Way ahead of you AB
Hey city council, pull your collective heads out of the sand and get moving on providing funding for this city’s police department to do its job properly. Defunding the police, rather explicitly or behind a veil, is NOT ACCEPTABLE!
I agree, emergency service should be top priority, because a safe city/community attract business, citizen’s and a platform where one can prosper and contribute to the community. On the other hand, failure to promote, support and encourage emergency service will surely lead to the same fate in San Francisco, New York City, Baltimore, and New Orleans.
Once again I must remind those that voted for this Council. You asked for it and you got it.
What a way to ruin a city and county.
I did not vote for anyone that is currently on the council. I’m stuck with them just the same.
Elections have consequences. Voters have elected Democrats who are hell bent to take the City of Greensboro directly to Hell. Buckle – up and enjoy the ride! You’ve more than paid for the ticket through high property tax increases!
And this folks is what you call cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Former chief Brian James was soooo smart to jump from this fiasco. As chief of the UNC-CH police department, he must be so relieved. With tax increases, crime, billions in school spending in the future, we better hang on. It could be a bumpy ride.
And collects that second retirement without the BS of this council.
East Greensboro city council knows exactly what it is doing. They can continue to play the race card on all the ills they have created for their people. Increase taxes and waste more tax dollars on programs that benefit only the council member and their pet project. You voted them in and we all suffer the consequences. Congrats as it seems the trend will continue.
Amen John! This Council, except for Matheny, has been trying to get rid of the police for the last 4 or more years. Their lack of dedication to safety is a slap in the face to both the police officers AND the CITIZENS. How many chiefs have we been through in the last 10 years. Our crime rate is one of the highest in the State and shows no sign of changing. Let the developers rape the land and let the criminals attack and rampage on the normal citizens that just want a safe place to live and work. If things continue, those of us wanting a safe place to live will go elsewhere. I’d give up a job to move to a safer place and find another job. Let the criminals take over, just like the Wild West. Greensboro is no longer a place to move and raise a family.
I would argue that Mary K is in the corner of the GPD
Mary Kay or Zack can make a motion to fund vehicles or increase salaries anytime they wish. Make they other 7 show their vote in public.
You would be WRONG. She is at the very least complicit with the other demons goals. Oh she loves to show up at police functions and have her picture taken with officers, but name just one thing she has even tried to do for them
So… almost every single council meeting I ask for an update on GPD salaries and compensation. The most recent request was at our last business meeting – February 21, 2023 at 4hrs., 34 minutes and 50 seconds of the video. You could go to several videos before that and see much of the same thing. Just because it doesn’t get reported in the media does not mean that I don’t push hard for our officers to get the compensation they deserve.
I go to police functions because I support, not for photo ops – feel free to ask current officers. I, as the only councilmember who took the Citizens Police Academy, as the only councilmember who built relationships with officers over the last 30 years from having been in business, community watches and neighborhood associations have never wavered in my support of GPD. I always argue that our officers are trained by the City and because GPD does such a good job in training – recruits can go to other municipalities and get much higher pay.
Sums it up nicely.
Nothing to see here folks. The new chief was handed a soup sandwich and asked to make a four course meal. Sadly, he’s the one that will get the blame a year from now. Council is going to have to sacrifice someone afterall.
City council = Congress of Baboons.
Worthless Damn Democrats!
I very simply ask: What exactly is the bottom-line reason for the failure of the Greensboro City Council to not fund the Greensboro City Police Dept. and not provide the added benefit for patrol officers of having an assigned vehicle which amounts to an “office” for patrol officers?
You should ask John where he gets his information.
Police take home vehicles are being added every year. If you want everyone to have a vehicle immediately- which can’t happen due to manufacturing delays – you will absolutely see your tax bill go up.
BS. The mafia like Patton garage which is a shell game for city money runs the vehicle situation. City staff themselves said in an article in the last few weeks they didn’t have the vehicles. It’s not just a supply and demand issue. If the sheriff’s department can obtain cars then the city should be able to. What’s your answer for $11,000 less staring pay between GPD and Burlington?
Thank you for stating what many Greensboro residents think!
Please cite your sources for your information.
I’d like to know where you think the “tons of cash” is hiding. Police got significant pay increases the previous year. Also, 20 Police vehicles have been added each year to the fleet for 3 years, with the plan for 20 more over the next 2 years.
Being a police officer is a difficult and dangerous job and always in the public eye. I doubt someone is going to chose to be a police officer just because they can take home their vehicle.
Watch the Feb. 7 City Council meeting. Assistant City Manager Trey Davis states that of the 20 additional police cars that were authorized on Nov. 17, 2021 not a single car was out on the street.
Also John, they don’t tell us how many have been taken away because they have reached the end of their service life. A good friend of mine works as a service technician in the Payton Avenue garage they’ve been told not to talk about it.
900k was given to cure for Violence. A program with no accountability to the citizens of Greensboro. Take home cars mentioned are for patrol officers. Yes some detectives, special teams members and higher ranking officer are provided vehicles. Agreed one would not choose to be a GPD officer for a take home vehicle. I am confident pay along with support of ranking officers and a police staff who would be supported and appreciated with backing from city council is a factor.
Nope but if they do they would like comparable starting pay and benefits.
But those that do decide to be a cop might choose not to join GPD because they don’t have them when everyone else does. It’s like when you chose a career, pay and benefits mattered and you chose the best of all options hopefully.
You can only blame the voters for installing this socalist left wing Woke council into office. They spend money like it grows on trees on their pet woke policies but do not support the police. It will take one of the council members being robbed or worse for them to jump to action. The voters are the only ones that can change things, but that is at least a couple of years away.
“The voters are the only ones that can change things, but that is at least a couple of years away.”
I am not so sure a majority of Greensboro voters have the wisdom to do that. The last election could have been wholly different, but the PACs along with their media abettors worked their magic to be richly rewarded by re-electing their old leftist benefactors. Now we have rising fees and taxes, wasted money for bottomless pit social programs, a crippled GPD and violence, which evidently are all the things the majority of GSO voters want.
It began years ago that recruits that had a criminology or a college degree were started at a higher salary. The GPD eliminated that incentive to hire a more educated employee. Paid the same as a person with a high school education. Officers have been told in the past that the city has no budget for take home vehicles.
Also the promotion process is pre determined. The chief is handed a list of associates/friends of the captains.Those are the employees that receive promotions. Longevity on the job is not considered. Those facts can be verified.
The interesting fact is that we prove officers to go to other municipalities to aid in their promotion process. Its a blind process, the most qualified candidates get promoted. Outside officers are given employee reviews, test scores and applications for promotion from the police ranks. This review process, these outside officers provide feedback on which candidates should be promoted. Greensboro does nothing like that. No one that is objective is used to evaluated candidates. Moral suffers because of this system, qualified candidates do not apply, the system is broken.
Don’t know who you are but you are right on. GPD has a fake process that does not rank candidates. The last 3 captains promoted were, wait for it, a female, a black guy, and a white guy who is buddies with the new chiefs. Go back and look at how the promotions go especially when they have 3 spots at a rank. Demographics and good old boy network. Every f-ing time.
You are right it kills morale. While LT Flowers is on channel 2 website acting mystified that people would go elsewhere for more $ the officers keep leaving. The GPD stance according to that article is that they have all of the lateral moves and special teams. No one gives a s?!$. They want money.
And now they are disbanding the special teams that focus on street level crime in order to fill the vacancies in the patrol squads.
No more street crimes squads or street level drug teams… city will be a disaster area in no time. Wait until the bad guys figure this out.
I have been saying for at least 6 months , vote out the Democrats that is all Democrats on the city council. I think the problem lies at the feet of all residents of all Greensboro voters , who voted these ignorant and Ill informed people on this council . I have repeatedly asked that vote out all Democrats at each cycle of voting.
It is the responsibility of all the people in Greensboro for not voting these people out. You all want a third world type government ,You are just like all the major Democratic cities in the US . The next thing is to have a swinging door for the petty criminals in Greensboro. What is next will be Smash and grab by young blacks in the city.
I guess with 93% minority on the council will dictate that you keep cutting police force.
John, publish a request to meet and protest at city hall on a date in the future (maybe in the plaza of the MMOB) and let’s see how many people show up. Get the news media involved and lets make this a “statement” about our level of frustration with this current council.
This is a time to remember for the next election. Too many people in Greensboro are apathetic on casting their votes for the current council, so that should be the next hurdle to overcome.
This means the City Council is going to start allowing cats and dogs to live together…chaos!!!!
Glad I live in PG and have County LEO
5 more leaving for Burlington by the end of the month and multiple dozens looking after this reorganization. 2 left today to do something completely different.
Work less, have better support, get paid 10k+ more, and 90% chance of having a take home car in another jurisdiction without having to move. There are multiple students from this class actively looking to leave before even graduation. An immediate (starting today) 15% across the board raise might slow it down and maybe get some folks for the next class. 13 scheduled to graduate next week and next class is slated to start low 20s and probably graduate 15. Dozens are retiring over the next 12 months. Other agencies are packing training classes except GPD. City HR Director’s email of they can’t all leave is going to be tested. This is a train wreck, on fire, with no help coming. God help you all.
Yeah, in five years or so, council’s “20 cars a year” plan will be complete….except that approving cars isn’t the same as getting cars. Got to add another few years for that. Good luck getting that dodo off the ground. Plus I hear the new chief’s goal is to get GPD starting pay up to fifty grand. That’s not going to be groundbreaking when other agencies are already at 55k and will soon be busting 60k to start. My prediction, based on what officers tell me, is that GPD will get something approved by council, but like others have said here, it will just be a token effort that keeps GPD uncompetitive in a very tight job market.
The defunding will continue until morale improves.
Great article !! The Police department is in dire condition, but no fault of their own. The Council will not do anything to help them and probably won’t until someone “important” gets hurt or some Gangs shoot up the Tanger Center or Courthouse, etc. Greensboro is definitely like the wild west, that’s why I have my CC permit, if I have to pack like a cowboy to protect myself, then I will.
Anybody listening Council? Zack? Marikay? Public Safety Mayor Vaughan?
But is partly their fault. Chief Biffle herself got in front of council and publicly stated that GPD’s situation wasn’t that bad. Plus it’s not like her or any other chief has stood up and openly asked for help. I can only imagine that everything is done behind closed doors with the GPD person bent over the desk asking for another swat on the bottom. I guess it gives a new meaning to SWAT team!
City Council is not going to change. Not today, not tomorrow, and not the next election. Demographics says it all. Council members have their own little self interests. The Black members care about promoting race issues and side hustles, like nonprofits. The three Jews are interested in helping fellow Jews make more money and retain power. Matheny Is trying to figure out what he is doing there. The mayor is so far out of her depth, she cannot see bottom. I cannot imagine any business owner desiring to move a business to Greensboro or to start a business in Greensboro.
For reference, the 22-23 budget includes 6% pay increase for police and shows the addition of 20 police cars/year- which is for 5 years.
https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/53221/637930647042770000
Obviously you work for the city or are in the command staff at the PD. Because no one else could defend the position GPD has found themselves in. Hahah. Keep putting trainees through academy at great cost in salary and instruction so they can leave the day they graduate. Smart strategies.
Winston, Raleigh, Burlington etc. got 15% or more in the same year and have had take home cars for decades. See the difference?
There have been ZERO take home cars assigned to patrol officers.
Gonna be traffic jambs caused by all the moving vans!
What we have here is a “duh” moment. This has been going on for quite some time. Soon, if not now, crime will be rampant; stores will be sacked, people will be assaulted everywhere.
It will be necessary to be able to defend yourself. If you are not willing to, you’ll need to get out of Dodge.
We are little Portland now, GSO de-spires to even less.
The few faithful who bothered to vote are getting exactly what they voted for, whether they knew it or not. When the Great Society welfare programs were enacted, LBJ said that the Democrat Party would have the minority (he didn’t actually say “minority”, insert your own word) vote for 200 years. Before that minorities and women preferred the Republican party. If you want to save the Republic, get off your arse and vote.
City Council meddles in police business. The City Council did not want an investigation of the criminal destruction of the Confederate memorial in July 2020 in Greenhill Cemetery. The Council was glad to see it gone. Destroying a memorial in a cemetery is nothing to be proud of. I can imagine the Council members giving high-fives to one another after the crime. Imagine celebrating vandalism and destruction because of hate; an imagined notion that the Confederate memorial was somehow racist. Fascists cannot tolerate opposing views. The Confederate memorial was not a “view.” The Confederate memorial was just that, a memorial resting over graves. Shame upon the police department and on Greensboro City Council.