Tt post may 30, 2017

The opinion from the MSN article:

The prevalence of violent crime in Toledo may be partially attributable to an inadequately staffed police force.

I don't know about now in 2017, but in 2015, Toledo had more police officers per X-number of residents than in 1970.

Relatively speaking, is Toledo's crime rate increasing as the population decreases?

Excerpts from a March 2016 comment

Toledo, Ohio:

	1970	2015	change	% change
population	383,818	281,031	-102,787	-26.78 %
police officers	730	631	-99	-13.56 %
residents per officer	526	445	+81	+15.40 %
firefighters	558	490	-68	-12.19 %
residents per firefighter	687	574	+113	+16.45 %
square miles	84	84	0	0.00 %

If we used the 1970 ratios, then Toledo would see the number of police officers drop from 631 to 534, and the number of firefighters drop from 490 to 409.

How much money would Toledo save if it reduced the number of police officers by 97 and the number of firefighters by 81?

Toledo in 1970 must have been like a Mad Max world with fewer officers per residents, compared to today.

Good timing ...

May 30, 2017 - Toledo Blade - Kapszukiewicz pledges to hire 40 police officers each year if elected

Mr. Kapszukiewicz, the Lucas County treasurer, said Toledo could afford the extra police officers with money the Hicks-Hudson administration has not yet announced it has available.

Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson told The Blade the city has several million dollars extra from lower-than-expected health care costs and workers’ compensation costs. Toledo’s ticket revenue from its handheld speed cameras is also above budget.

Updated 2017 numbers:

"We have 602 officers on our police staff," Mr. Kapszukiewicz said. "That is too low. That is dangerously low.... We are already lower than cities our size."

That's still too high, compared to Toledo's population decline.

May 25, 2017 - Toledo Blade - Census showing Toledo steadily losing residents - "Most suburbs enjoying modest population gains"

According to new census data, the city is inching closer to the dreaded quarter-million mark in population, a figure it hasn’t seen since the 1920s.

Toledo’s population was estimated at 278,508 as of last summer — a loss of 1,168 residents from the previous year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.