Commenting on "The Right Fight," by Daniel Richman. Policing could be treated like public education, another redistributive enterprise run by local governments, but one for which federal and state legislatures have ponied up a lot of money over the years. A federal policing program backed up by large federal dollars could go a long way toward alleviating the budget pressures city police forces face. But it has not happened. Politicians spend money where there are votes to be had, and fighting crime has been a vote-winning issue for a long time, just like good schools. That the federal government has continued to be a small budgetary player in local law enforcement seems a mystery. Actually, it is a little less mysterious than it seems. Politicians also like to spend money where they can attach strings. When legislators can spend but not govern, budget lines tend to be small. The Congress doesn't spend much money on local police because it can't do much regulating.
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