We're spending how much on this?

If your neighborhood is anything like mine, you've noticed that there has been a huge leap in crime lately. In the past two weeks, I've seen 5 car break-ins in my little SE neighborhood alone. There is a an epidemic of crystal meth-related crimes in Portland; Portland Monthly reports in it's July issue that Meth is a factor in 85% of all property crimes committed in Oregon. It's a rapidly growing problem and our city and state governments don't have nearly enough funding to even begin to tackle it. The DA office has half the attorneys it had a few years ago and we even have a brand new jail that can't be operated because of lack of funding. Yet young children are living in dangerous, but normal-appearing households, entirely neglected by their parents and thoroughly exposed to dangerous, even toxic, chemicals.

But the city of Portland has recently hired 20 employees to put in 3400 man-hours a month patroling our city. Why? To scour neighborhoods looking for breakins? To rescue abused and damaged children from crystal meth houses? No. They are hired for the sole purpose of driving from park to park, hiding in bushes and waiting to ambush people who are simply walking in a park without physical control of their dog. These are our City's priorities?