safety budgets showed less correlation between change in coverage and change in budget over time. That media had little influence on budget changes could also have been because bureaucrats and politicians see the dangers of cutting public safety in a post-9/11 era when public safety is seen as an essential, governmental function. Still, public safety operations are not immune from recent budget cuts and certainly still warrant coverage in all types of media. Chris Hoene, director of research for the Washington-based National League of Cities, said, “Typically, the public safety sector is sacrosanct. You tend to only see cuts move to public safety when [an economic] downturn’s pretty deep so the fact that we're seeing layoffs and cuts in funding for public safety services is indicative of just the times that we’re in” (Brock, 2009). While public safety services are generally the last to suffer budget cuts when cities face hard times (Brock, 2010), police and fire departments were cut back in 63 percent of the cities and 39 percent of counties responding to a survey by the Washington-based National Association of Counties, National League of Cities and U.S. Conference of Mayors. “For some communities, this means fire and police stations that are closed and the potential for reduced capacity to respond to emergencies” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011). In addition, the study cited specifics regarding cuts in public safety — cuts that included the following: •
By the end of the year, it is expected that nearly 12,000 police officers and sheriff’s deputies will have been laid off.
•
Approximately 30,000 law enforcement jobs are unfilled.
•
An estimated 28,000 officers and deputies have faced week-long furloughs in 2010.
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An estimated 53 percent of counties are working with fewer staff today than one year ago.
•
2011 could produce the first national decline in law enforcement officer positions in at least the last 25 years.
American City and County magazine (August, 2009) also reported on cuts in public safety beyond cuts in police departments in some larger cities, cities generally
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