Repo Man Visits an Illinois Police Dept.

(CBS)  To say that Cairo, the seat of Alexander County, Ill., has seen better days is a cruel understatement. The county of 8,000 people is half-a-million dollars in the red, and the recession has made a bad situation worse.

Cairo's police department has just had most of its cruisers repossessed, reports CBS News National Correspondent Dean Reynolds. The recession has reduced tax revenues all over the country, forcing government agencies to cut their budgets. A survey of police departments found 66 percent of them were facing cuts this year.

"God willing, we're going to protect these people and we're gonna continue with what we got. We're used to struggling. We're used to struggling," said Sheriff David Barkett with a laugh.

The situation got so bad this month that the bank repossessed five of his seven cruisers. Four of them sit in the bank parking lot now, shorn of their emergency lights, antennas and seals. In addition to losing his cruisers, the sheriff lost three-fourths of his staff, most of them deputies,
to budget cuts. At its peak, the staff had 29 full and part timers. Now there are five.

"I'd say it's very extreme when it effects the protection of lives and property," said Barkett.

Barkett patrols in an SUV the governor loaned him. He works extra-long hours with help from volunteers and Ill. state troopers.

"Altogether it's about a 92 to 93 mile round-trip. It's a big area for just four or five people to cover," said Barkett.

Things look a little brighter today thanks to a couple of Florida counties who heard about Barkett's problems. They had older cruisers they didn't need and are shipping them to their car-needy colleague.

"I couldn't imagine that so that's why I felt it was so important to reach out and offer him what we could," said Sheriff Ken Mascara, of St. Lucie County, Fla.

Getting the cruisers is a step in the right direction for Barkett. Now all the sheriff needs is to get his deputies back to drive them.

[USA_GUY]

Stu what advice you have for the State of California, I heard they were broke too. The economy is not a laffing matter. Protest for politicians to take pay cuts that would put more money into the coffers.

[jwesel1]

Your command of English must be a "laffing" matter for your neighbors.

[USA_GUY]

Everyone needs to take a pay cut. Starting at the top.(Politiicians can show us the way) That would get the economy going again and put the USA in a better situation to make the few products that we have to offer more attractive to foreign buyers. We need to be selling more. Lower wages will bring the jobs back , maybe, the commies do work cheap.

[ghosthawk68]

Note to self: go on crime spree in Cairo, Illinois.

[fedupredneck]

RE: by gramto8 September 29, 2009 6:48 AM EDT

I have to agree with ya on this one- especially #2. I have a police officer who lives 2 doors down. It's entertainment when he parks his cruiser in the driveway- my,my how people tend to slow down when driving by. I live on a "good" street in a S@#$#ty neighborhood and have had no problems. Never heard of a break-in on my street in 6yrs. We actually have two cops on my street-ones a Detective. Coincidence? Cop presence=less crime.

[mossback1954]

fedupredneck:

Heck, I lived in a gated community in Florida that had 40 homes and Law Enforcement officers lived in 25 of them. You would 'think' you would be safe. No way. We had our truck stolen out of our driveway (three Sheriff Deputies were our next door neighbors) and we had homes robbed. They would use their patrol cars to take thier kids to soccer games and go shopping.

[bubbadubba]

29 employees in the Sheriff's department for 8,000 people?
What is that place, the crime capital of the world?
I lived in a rural/residential area "town" that had 14,000 people and no police officers and we got along just fine (if we ever needed police we would call the Sheriff's office in the county seat that was 60 miles away but they were only called for wrecks to write reports).
Another example of local government spending out of control.
I don't feel sorry for them.

[gce65]

Maybe the cops will give out fewer traffic tickets this way.........unless they can pedal really fast! Ha!

[gramto8]

by gce65 September 29, 2009 12:50 AM EDT
Maybe the cops will give out fewer traffic tickets this way.........unless they can pedal really fast! Ha!
____________________________________________

I don't know about your area, but in FL most deputies are not put on traffic stops. There just aren't enough of them to cover whole counties, especially some of the ones that are larger in area. Granted, none of the FL counties are even close to the size of most counties out west (TX, AZ, etc.) but there is still a lot of territory to cover.

Here in the county where I now live in GA, deputies will do traffic stops. At least, they did under the old sheriff. The new one has them actually doing the jobs they are intended to do, rather than spent their time harassing drivers. Our old "good ol' boy" sheriff would allow them to harass anyone they took a dislike to.

[mikedudical]

Signs of the times! How bad is it that the guys that oversee the repos are getting repo'd? Now it's just a question of who's going to buy the cruisers for pennies on the dollar. Search www.repofinder.com in a few days and see if you can find them. Yikes.

[democracy1]

Hope the bank doesn't whine when no cops show up while the bank is being robbed!

[wtcmedic-911]

That date night in nyc by the president would have helped this county a whole lot!!

[democracy1]

Did you complain the same way when Bush was in office taking more vacation time than any other POTUS? Think that travel didn't cost the taxpayers the same? Good grief, you people need LIVES!

[mossback1954]

by BucknDooney September 29, 2009 8:36 AM EDT
No, I didn't. Bush went home where it didn't cost us a dime more than just the few SS men. He didn't get on Airforce-One and fly to Paris for a romantic evening with sour face in Paris, London, or the Pyramids in Egypt, or Yellowstone Park.

Don't forget, Bush DIDNOT take the whole family with him when he flew on Air Force One for meetings with leaders of other Countries either. Ergo, taxpayers didnot have to pay for all the extra security to protect Laura and the girls while they were out sightseeing or shopping.

And yes, he went to Texas and had 'working' vacations and met with foreign dignitaries there and conducted busniess. He also DIDNOT spend 75% of his time on National TV or doing talk shows.

[democracy1]

The bank that repo'd the cruisers might want to reconsider. Who's going to show up when they get robbed?

[jwesel1]

They can hire their own security for $10/hour, compared to $60/hour the cops earn. They are actually saving money

[stuart-johns]

This is too funny. The repo man comes to a police station near you.

Well. One way they can save a boatload of money is stop issuing deputies cars for their sole use. They even let them take them home.

Now unless those deputies are paying for the insurance (and I doubt that they are) and unless those deputies are paying for the gas (I doubt they are) the department is shelling out some big bucks on this fringe benefit.

[fedup12]

Listen Cops dont get paid that much. They are worse than teachers and have to put their lives on the line. How many died on 9/11? Or any other year.

I dont begrudge cops any money they might make. Letting them take their cars home so they can get right to Duty is a small price to pay. I wish we could pay them a living wage!

Stuart YOU sir are OUT OF LINE.

[stuart-johns]

by fedup12 September 28, 2009 10:14 PM EDT


Like I care about your opinion. Pfffffttt