Police 'Bubble' Killed a California Town

Will Grigg at Lewrockwell.com writes:

Maywood, RIP: When Police Kill a City (6/28/2010 Lewrockwell.com)

"Brent Talmo once lost a job he really enjoyed, but he was eventually able to find a position in the same field, with better pay and greater responsibilities.

"Sure, he had been a troubled employee, prone to "bizarre behavior" and casual abuse of those described as his customers, but he was fortunate enough to find a new employer willing to overlook his mistakes.

"Now that employer, the Maywood, California Police Department, is being liquidated. In fact, the entire municipal government of Maywood, a Los Angeles suburb of roughly 40,000 people, is being dissolved on account of bankruptcy. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will provide law enforcement coverage to Maywood, and a rump city council will coordinate delivery of services provided by neighboring Bell.

"In Maywood, as elsewhere, the economic crash has choked off the tax revenue on which the municipal government subsists. The town is currently facing a $450,000 deficit. But what finally broke the city, reports the Los Angeles Times, was the decision by the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority to terminate "general liability and workers' compensation coverage because the city posed too high a risk."

"More specifically, the city was un-insurable because of "a large number of claims filed against the police." This is because the department (which also afflicted a neighboring town called Cudahy) had become the police equivalent of The Island of Misfit Toys – a sanctuary city for criminals in state-issued costumes.

"Ironically, Officer Talmo – whose career usefully illustrates how difficult it is to be rid of an abusive cop – was actually one of the less egregious examples among those given refuge by the Maywood PD." [Emphasis is mine. The article continues.]

A "police state bubble" is of course not confined to the US. The Canadian police is accused by some critics to have infiltrated the demonstrators at G20 to stage riots. London already had 10,000 surveillance cameras in 2007. Back in the US, over-eager police in Oklahoma tasered a bed-ridden 86-year-old grandma for 'threatening posture' (that blog post was also written by Will Grigg).

It is part of the bigger bubble called the "government bubble" which also contains "Treasury bubble", "federal bureaucracy bubble", "public union pension bubble", "government-sponsored subprime bubble", "war bubble". They all existed when George W. Bush was president, and they all have grown tremendously in size and scope under the current president.

Loving the "change"? You thought the change was for the better?

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