Granted, it's not entirely healthy for Sacramento's police union to be publicly warring with a majority of the City Council.
But there is a silver lining. Some council members seem emboldened to take a hard look at some sacred cows in public safety – like pushing police officers to live in the city, or like splitting ambulance service from the Fire Department.
Those issues, too hot to touch for too long, deserve real debate.
And that could happen, if you believe four council members who came calling on The Bee's editorial board last week to explain their vote to cut the police and fire budgets by a combined $21 million. While no fire layoffs are expected, 42 sworn police officers and 66 civilian employees will be gone after Thursday.
The four council members – Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Bonnie Pannell and Sandy Sheedy – are also up for re-election next year. Their vote drew the wrath of the powerful Sacramento Police Officers Association, so they shouldn't bank on getting on that endorsement next year.
To keep the city solvent, the council members said they had no choice to make real cuts, even in public safety, pointing out that about 85 cents of every $1 in discretionary revenue that comes into the general fund is spent on police and fire.
They went on to make the case that the city can no longer afford business as usual and must consider fundamental restructuring. This is where those sacred cows start mooing.
Only about 24 percent of SPOA members live in Sacramento, according to city figures. If more did, not only would they be more invested in the community they are sworn to protect, they would pay property taxes and spend more of their salaries in town, Pannell says. When she raised the issue during a budget hearing, she was heckled by some police officers.
After court challenges, state law was changed to prohibit cities and counties from imposing residency requirements on their employees. But that doesn't stop public pressure.
The city's civil service rules require many employees to live within 35 miles of midtown, but the city granted a waiver to police officers and sergeants in 2009.
The Police Department says that it's not a matter of where officers live, but their devotion to the job. Officers who live outside Sacramento, for instance, volunteer in the Police Athletic League and other city programs.
The Fire Department is also under tougher scrutiny, including the fact that the vast majority of its calls are ambulance runs.
An outside citywide audit last year found that of the nearly 71,000 fire calls in 2009, only about 3 percent were for actual fires, while more than 60 percent were for emergency medical services.
The audit said the city could save $5.7 million a year by overhauling fire and ambulance service. While the biggest chunk would be going from four firefighters per truck to three at suburban firehouses, part of the savings would be by replacing a firetruck with another ambulance, staffed by two firefighter-paramedics.
It's at least worth considering whether there ought to be even more ambulances and fewer firetrucks – or even whether some ambulance service should be contracted out – to save more money.
If it takes some friction between politicians and union leaders for those questions to be asked, so be it.
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