The title of this post is a quotation from Benjamin Franklin. I recently stumbled onto a small illustration of what Franklin was describing.
I took my family to tour the US Capital. We were fortunate to receive a tour guided by a Capital Police Officer. As usual I asked many questions, mostly about the building and its history. I found that the building is guarded by approximately 1600 officers. I was astounded by the huge number of officers protecting one building (he later explained that their force also protects the Library of Congress and the Senate Office Building). Just to put that into perspective, New York City has about 75 officers per square mile* while DC has 1600 guarding approximately 2 city blocks.
I thought certainly a large number of these officers were hired after 9/11 (I asked but the officer was new and didn’t know). I knew The Census Bureau performs a census of governments every 5 years, so I decided to see if they record the number of police officers. I looked at 1997, 2002, and 2007. My hunch turned out to be correct. In 1997 there were about 95,000 federal civilian police officers (I think the civilian part means that FBI, CIA, and Military are not included). By 2002, that number had increased by 14.7% to 109,000. Then, just as I had guessed, the number ballooned between 2002 and 2007. It increased by 52.7% resulting in 166,400 officers.
After seeing the drastic way in which federal police officers were hired to better protect government officials and employees, I couldn’t help but wonder if the same thing has happened in the communities where we live. Are American communities safer? Using the same census data, I found that there were 623,000 state and local police officers in 1997. By 2002, that number increased by 9.6% to 683,000. The surprise, however, came between 2002 and 2007. In those post 9/11 years, the number of state and local police officers decreased by .8%.
So, what have I learned? The US Capital Building is used by our Senators and House of Representatives to make our federal laws. We trust these people to protect us, our country, and our freedoms. This case of Capital Police Officers, however, seems to be at least a small indication that these elected officials are far more worried about their own safety than the people’s. They give themselves at least 21 times more police protection than New York City (per square mile).
I hope we never give up our rights and liberties, even if the intention is for our government to better protect us (think Patriot Act). The one surety is that they will protect themselves.
* The New York Times reports there are approximately 23,000 police officers in New York City which has 305 square miles of land.
Tags: government, Liberty Links
That’s an interesting find you’ve got the Ben. I wonder if it really is more about those on the hill only wanting to protect themselves or if it those in charge of security thinking those on the hill need more protection than the average citizen?
I also wonder if anyone else has noticed the inflated numbers and exactly when or if they think a “downsizing” will be necessary?
Good point Morgan. I probably shouldn’t point fingers because I don’t know who decides these kind of things. I should have pointed out the discrepancy and left it at that.
I’m sure it’s a knee-jerk reaction on the hill. Politics are notorious for pendulum reactions that cross the normal reaction threshold. Perhaps it is the actual polititions themselves that are calling for more security.
Regardless, I agree with Ben Franklin’s quote. “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” As that seems to be the political dogma of the day. Even the media has jumped on the “we must give up some liberties in order to save our freedom” but I find it just a pile of so much garbage. The media spin is in full effect and who knows if we ever will get to the bottom of the security increase.