• AtomicHotSauce@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Retired firefighter/paramedic here. It’s simple: Fire departments don’t normally generate revenue. It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.

    Why police departments need heavy armor and assault accoutrements is beyond me, though. I mean, all that shit didn’t help whatsoever in most mass-shootings.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      It’s a money-sink and local governments don’t like that. The first things financially cut when I worked for a city of 170,000 were always services that didn’t make money. That’s just how it works.

      The whole point of government is to collect taxes to pay for stuff that isn’t revenue generating to spread out the costs!

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I saw Rebel Ridge on Netflix, could very well be that police departments generate revenue through Civil Forfeiture.

      (It’s a fictional thriller, not a documentary, but very much based on modern realities)