Security
Responsibility ... high crime ... firing police!

An example of how prevailing metrics for socio-economic management deliver wrong results

COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

An example of how prevailing metrics for socio-economic management deliver wrong results
Responsibility ... high crime ... firing police!

Dear Colleagues

Thanksgiving is over ... Christmas is coming ... and so is the end of the year. Budgets have to be balanced in most States and Cities around America ... and this means firing workers.

There is something very wrong with the way the economic system works when police are being let go when crime is high. Newark is in a budget bind ... the result of pretty pathetic leadership for decades ... both corporate and political ... but it is what it is. Mayor Cory Booker, the current mayor, is doing a great job of turning this city around, but a 40 year decline cannot be reversed easily ... but he has been doing it.

But now the budget crunch is getting in the way. The checks and balances that are reasonable have now become unreasonable ... Newark has stabilized its crime situation, but it has a long way to go before it will be a low crime city. Newark needs the police to keep police on the payroll ... the crime situation is unfinished business.

Money accounting is not what should be driving public policy. Public policy should be driven by TrueValueMatrics. Money should be allocated so that needs are being satisfied. In Newark, there is a need to reduce crime. Money should be one of the resources available to reduce crime. In Newark, there is a need to have more jobs. Money should be one of the resources available to increase the number of jobs ... maybe good jobs in the Police Department.

With ridiculous situations like the one in Newark, it is no surprise that the economy of the United States remains in trouble with very high unemployment.

But is is also ridiculous that corporate institutions ... banking and others ... are awash in financial liquidity when the needs of society are only getting met at a very very low level.

With wide use of TrueValueMetrics we would be seeing a very different set of behaviors. Money is not a good measure of quality of life and the progress towards a better society.

How is your community doing? Is the quality of life getting better or not?

Peter Burgess