Judge tells citizens to arm themselves

Via email from Chet (this blog post).


Ashtabula County: Judge tells residents to “Arm themselves”:



In the ongoing financial crisis in Ashtabula County, the Sheriff’s Department has been cut from 112 to 49 deputies. With deputies assigned to transport prisoners, serve warrants and other duties, only one patrol car is assigned to patrol the entire county of 720 square miles.



Ashtabula County Common Pleas Judge Alfred Mackey was asked what residents should do to protect themselves and their families with the severe cutback in law enforcement.

“Arm themselves,” the judge said. “Be very careful, be vigilant, get in touch with your neighbors, because we’re going to have to look after each other.”

Ashtabula County gun dealers and firearms instructors tell WKYC their business has really picked up since the Sheriff’s Department cutbacks began some months ago.


Do the math. 49 deputies divided by 4 (3 shifts plus vacation, sick leave, weekends, etc.) and you have about 12 deputies for 720 square miles or about 1 deputy for every 60 square miles. Pull out duties like transportation of prisoners and court duty and you are probably talking nearly 100 square miles for each deputy on duty.


Interesting times ahead as the financial crisis worsens.

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7 thoughts on “Judge tells citizens to arm themselves

  1. I’m glad I don’t live there, but it looks like a fairly rural county. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t be armed? To me, this is exactly the kind of county where everyone should have guns. It just makes sense. If the cops are more than a couple of minutes away, you probably would be wise to have a gun.

  2. But you live in California which is possibly the most restrictive state in the Union, and you complain about people shooting each-other.

    Its almost like lawful people keeping, owning, and carrying guns isn’t as big a factor as other, more important things that anti-liberty people don’t spend much time on.

  3. If the cops are more than a couple of minutes away, you probably would be wise to have a gun.

    Name one area where this is not the case.

  4. Here in Orlando Fl, there are a few neighborhoods where I can ALWAYS find a cop. They are the richie richest neighborhoods and, because I’m a white dude with long hair (I admit, I look like a hippie), the poorest neighborhoods. It is comical how many times I have been followed around by a patrol car in one particular poor neighborhood. I sometimes purposely drove around the block a few times to make sure they were following me. They seem to be assuming that the only reason a white hippie would be there is to buy drugs. Truth is, I was visiting someone I knew who lived there. Thankfully, they have since then found a better place to live.

    s

  5. @Linoge
    Where I live officers can be 45 minutes to an hour away. I received a call from a friend who lives in the same town as me as a heads up to be ready to come help. There was some sort of dispute going on at the house next to his. It was already in the process of spilling into his yard towards his house when he called me. He had already called Whitcom who revealed that the nearest officer was ~45 minutes away. The closest officer was in Lacrosse (56 miles away).

    So rural Eastern Washington. I live in Colton, 17 miles south of Pullman (WSU). Colton’s size is about 380 people. If they dispatched the Pullman police it’s still ~15 minutes despite the fact of jurisdictional issues. If the Uniontown officer was on duty, maybe 7 minutes. I grew up in unincorporated King County. Literally three blocks away was the town of Auburn, police response was about 30 minutes. Had to come from the county not the town. So there’s place number two. Go ahead, depend on the government for your protection. Make sure to have your casket already picked out. If you don’t live in a major town or city, odds are you are on your own.

    Frankly, I’m not complaining, you are, because I like being self reliant. I don’t need daddy government to protect me, you seem to think that rural places are just has heavily protected as the city, which it’s not. Doesn’t need to be, we regulate ourselves. Doesn’t mean things don’t happen, we’re just prepared to take care of it ourselves, which you seem to think is unnecessary.

    B

  6. Barron, I am going to go out on a limb here and assume that comment was more directed at UBU52 than me…

  7. Sorry, I read it as the following:

    Name one instance where cops are NOT immediately available.

    I now see that what you meant was name one instance where cops ARE immediately available.

    My mistake. 🙂

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