“My concern, Chief,” said Mayor Arthur Driskle, “is that the recent violence related to The Breakers will spill over outside their normal areas of impact and have a noticeable negative effect on the quality of life in those parts of Oceanside.”
“Obviously a concern, Mr. Mayor,” replied Chief Barry Beam. “But we can’t just narrow our efforts to keeping the violence contained and let it continue. We have a duty to protect and serve ALL residents of Oceanside; even the ones we won’t miss if they leave or die.”
The Mayor was quiet as he thought about that for a moment. “So you’re telling me that you think we need to take steps to protect the gang members too?” The Mayor was a little old school. His outlook was, “Let ‘em fight among themselves. Arrest whoever wins.”
“As much as I hate to say it,” replied Chief Beam, “we have to.”
“So what’s your solution?” asked the Mayor.
“I propose that we set up a task force… maybe ten or twelve officers. We can spare those out of normal patrol squads with maybe a couple SWAT guys thrown in. We put them on twelve hours shifts, on call during their off hours, and we set up surveillance on the remaining known Breakers location. We follow The Breakers we can, prioritizing them based on the intel we have from the Investigations unit. We arrest anyone who commits a crime, Breaker or otherwise.”
“How long and how much?” asked the Mayor. He liked the idea but he was all too aware that it would mean overtime hours and the budget was already stretched thin.
“I don’t think we need any extra money,” replied Chief Beam. “The men assigned will be replacing their normal work hours with task force hours plus just a few more and the few more should be easily covered in what’s already budgeted for overtime.” He thought for a few moments before adding on, “And we’re nearing the end of the budget year. We’ve got some padding in other lines we can move if we have to.”
The Mayor thought about the proposal for a few minutes before nodding and giving his approval. “Make it happen, Chief. Ten men. You’ve got your task force. Keep me informed.”
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