Quote:
Originally Posted by BroadHopper
You actually feel safer with 50' yachts bearing down on your layak? Get real! How about all those folks who never driven a boat renting pontoons on a temporary certificate that the dealers answers the questions for them? You don't have a clue. And now with the MP cut back to 45 officers patrolling over 900 bodies of water. The 'cowboys' have become outlaws and you feel safer on your kayak? WOW! You must be God.
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Just to try and keep the debate on an even keel:
The NHMP has not been cut back to 45 officers. Barrett has stated that if the budget is passed as proposed that he would propose cutting back to that number. However, if the budget passes as proposed he will be under a new chain of command (if he is not eliminated completely, as some legislation is proposing) that could approach the issue in a whole different way. Until the budget is actually passed no one can proclaim what NHMP's final manning will be, or even what the NHMP's command structure could be, although there is no doubt in my mind it will be leaner than in year's past.
Additionally the NHMP does not, has not and could not "patrol" 900 bodies of water. The 900 figure comes from the number of waterbodies that they have jurisdiction over. However the vast majority of those 900 waterbodies, due to their size and access, would only see an NHMP officer if an event occurred that required their investigation.
It's easy to get wound up in these threads with all the rhetoric that flies from both sides, but it is important to try to keep perspective in what has actually occurred vice what is implied by Department Heads and other political types attempting to protect their respective budgets. The Devil is indeed in the details!
