By Aaron Kesel
Another U.S. town's entire police force has quit in two years and guess what? Things didn't evolve into lawless chaos for the second time.
Four members of the Blandford, Massachusetts Police Department resigned last Friday after failure by the town's officials to address their concerns about unsafe working conditions, USA Today reported.
The officers warned multiple times about the unsafe working conditions, according to former Interim Police Chief Roberta Sarnacki.
"It became more and more apparent how dangerous this situation was," said Sarnacki. "The enormity of it all just kicked in on Friday."
The officers reported the following concerns - old squad cars didn't work, old bulletproof vests didn't fit, poor radio communications, inadequate staffing, and low wages, according to a statement.
"The town is asking officers to patrol in cars that have no a/c, no snow tires, and no four-wheel drive, on days that have been 90 plus degrees, and previously in blizzard conditions," the statement read.
"They are asking us to do this with no radio coverage, no real backup if needed, and all for $14 or $15 an hour. Would you put your lives on the line in these conditions? I don’t think so."
However, Sarnacki said she'd taken the cruisers to get fixed and one was still in the shop, while she planned to apply for grants for new bulletproof vests for the officers. But it became clear the problem was a bigger issue than she thought.
"There was a lot of problems there; initially I had hoped that I could fix some of them," she said. "It became apparent that I was just putting Band-Aids on them."
Sarnacki argued that Blandford was not allocating enough money to the public safety department.
"This town seems to just not be doing due diligence," she said. "It seems that the board was more interested in pursuing a merger with another nearby police department."
State police and the sheriff's office have brought in additional officers to help cover the area, Sarnacki stated.
Blandford's residents can still dial the emergency response number 911 for emergencies and contact Massachusetts State Police for other police services.
Last year, Activist Post reported that the entire police force of Sand Point, Alaska quit, leaving the town without any authoritative presence.
Sand Point, in comparison to Blandford, Massachusetts, has a smaller population of about 1,000, which was covered by just three police officers compared to four in Blandford.
In both towns, the departure of the police force didn't cause chaos. No more arrests and charges for fishing without a license, speeding down a public road or any of the other outrageous things that police across the nation try to enforce in the name of the state against the private individual citizen.
This is the second example that proves a statist wrong who believes that without authority there would be lawlessness and chaos in a town/city.
There was no Purge–like behavior, people weren’t killing each other without the police as is depicted in movies as propaganda for justifying the need for authoritarian structure.
Aaron Kesel writes for Activist Post. Support us at Patreon. Follow us on Minds, Steemit, SoMee, BitChute, Facebook and Twitter. Ready for solutions? Subscribe to our premium newsletter Counter Markets.
Image credit: Matthew Cooke