Public Safety as a Photo Op

What you see in this photo is vintage Scott Walker. Always looking for a shameless photo op and always reading from the same shameless and politically calculated talking points. Unfortunately for him, anyone with the slightest desire for facts, will rightly roll their eyes at his gimmicks and reject his phony rhetoric. The latest example came yesterday at a press conference about public safety.

At the press conference Walker again read from the same old talking points. "I'm a crime fighting superhero". The only problem with Walker's posturing on public safety are the hard numbers that his administration has generated while he has been county executive. Once again the Walker rhetoric does not match the reality of his record.
Consider the following:

In the 2002 Budget there were 1,125.3 funded position equivalents for the Sheriff. In the 2009 budget that number was down to 952.9 (Walker’s recommended budget would have brought it down to 946.0)

In the 2002 Budget there were 638.1 funded position equivalents at the House of Correction. In the 2009 budget that number was down to 486.0 (Walker’s recommended budget would have brought it down to 482.0).

Even Walker's political ally Sheriff David Clarke described Walker's budget as a "patchwork" and promised that he would have to release 120 inmates and reduce freeway patrols.

Then there was Walker's privatization scheme which brought this guy to supervise security at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

As Capper has repeatedly pointed out, Walker's disastrous policies at the Mental Health Complex have also generated problems for local municipalities and their police departments.

Who could forget Walker's screw up that ended in a full 8 days of furloughs for Milwaukee County public safety officers?