PLEASE READ! HELP NEEDED!!!

This normally isn't my thing, but of course it involves someone in my family so I need to reach out as far and wide as possible and I know I have wonderful people out there in bloggy land and you also have some fabulous readers that might be able to help. If you can take a moment to read below and maybe send an email I will love you forever and ever.

I received this email from my SIL, a Forensic Investigator for Sacramento Police Dept. this morning:

I need your help!

The City of Sacramento is proposing to make disastrous cuts to law enforcement, including replacing fourteen Crime Scene Investigators positions (such as mine) with sworn officers. I have worked for this department for 10+years. My co-workers and I are passionate, dedicated employees. We are all highly trained individuals that have processed thousands of crime scenes, hundreds of homicides, and have been a critical component of countless convictions. We have an extensive amount of experience, education and training. In order to be adequately replaced by a sworn officer it would take a great deal of not only money but time also.

I know some of you aren’t residents of the City of Sacramento but you may work or spend time in the city. These proposed cuts will affect you too. Sacramento is the 2nd most violent major city in California, and with these cuts, there will no longer be investigations for burglaries, vehicle accidents, and many misdemeanors crimes. As I am also a visitor of Sacramento, the thought of being a future crime victim worries me, especially knowing that the Sacramento Police Department most likely will not be able to investigate the crime.

With the popular CSI television shows, and the jury expectations of CSI, the forensic field has come such a long way over the last few years. The way our crime scene diagrams are now computer generated, the quality/quantity of our crime scene photographs, the detailed and descriptive reports, the complete processing of a variety of crime scene from burglaries to homicides, and the expeditious results when it comes to fingerprint identification, are just a few examples. It would be a shame for crimes not to be thoroughly investigated or not investigated at all.

I’m desperately asking for your help. Some of you may have been victims of crime yourself or know someone who has. Please think of how the Sacramento Police Department/CSI helped you.

Please email, call, and/or write to your City Council member and plead for them to reconsider these drastic cuts (especially for the Forensics Unit). Feel free to forward this email to anyone who you think would like to support the Sacramento Police Department’s CSI (Forensic Investigators).

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/council/index.html (If you don’t know who your city council member is through this link you can find out by typing in your address).

http://admin-101.granicus.com/content/sacramento/10-eComment%20InformationSheet.pdf

The city council meeting that affects the police department’s budget will be May 17th. If you could please send your support before then, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Megan
Forensic Investigator
Sacramento Police Department