Cut the Mounted patrol completely, it is a huge waste of money. The horses are scary not enticing for people to pet, and those officers get nothing done besides maybe spreading some manure on the asphalt.

Good start of an article. The headline should be "PPB cuts fat in face of lowered crime in order to come face to face with citizens."

Crime is an an all time low by measurements. But the bureaus preserve historical desk jobs within departments, essentially paid retirement, which are underloaded. What the Merc can investigate are what the PPB individual department goals and metrics are, and how staffing measurably results in, well, results.

Patrol needs a complete review in effectiveness and citizen satisfaction - how is that measured? And a PowerPoint presentation is not a complete organization chart which could assess staffing.

This article is essentially a reprint of a press release. The Merc can dig in and inform.