All true, but if they're working in PVD and living in MA they'll probably want to be looking more around seekonk or further down 195 vs Johnston or Cranston. Maybe Attleboro but I wouldn't even want that commute during high traffic times. Either way RI restaurants and hospitals would be the go-to. I feel like schools and home prices/taxes are the real issues here.

No, I know nothing about opex vs capex, but neither do most of the tax paying public calling for smaller department budgets, they just look at the overall spending then see the military looking equipment on the road and say "why aren't we spending those tax moneys on helping people instead of hurting them".

I mean, opex and capex both come from OUR taxes right? The police department isn't selling stamps to pay line level salaries like the postal service. How our money is split and the system of budgeting in place is irrelevant to the person paying the bill but SOMEONE is responsible for deciding what money goes where.

I've always felt "defund the police" is, or at least should be aimed at THAT person. No one thinks a dude in blue and a badge is making the budget for the department. We all understand THAT guy is wearing a suit and tie sipping coffee in an office somewhere, but for some reason the lower rank and file seem to think that WE think it's up to them. As a union worker I'd never call for another union worker to lose their job over budget cuts, equipment spending should always come first. (Well really management salaries should come first cause they're always the most bloated but realistically I know no one making the budget is ever going to cut their own salary, looking at you top level politicians)

Or fewer new swat vehicles. Maybe don't buy that tank or helicopter that your department doesn't REALLY need. Maybe only increase the budget by a LITTLE BIT this year. There are a lot of things you can skip out on and NOT decrease the number of boots on the pavement, but for some reason everyones mind goes straight to layoffs as if they've never had to finagle a budget before, meanwhile the top brass is sitting in their office laughing their asses off at all of us. Maybe the police unions need to step up to the plate and teach their members who the real threat to their employment is (hint: it's not the public whom they are sworn to serve and protect) and remind them that they're at the bottom of the pyramid in this situation along with the rest of us