The law enforcement veteran and InVest USA founder discusses the idiotic actions by the Purcellville city council – and hopes they learned their lesson from all this.
There’s something interesting here.
It seems that whenever city councils and Democratic leaders make these decisions to “defund the police” or remove funding for the sake of providing something better for their people, they fail to do the one thing that should be influencing their decision.
And that’s talking to the people themselves.
All too often I’ve seen these leaders who believe their leadership speaks volumes, and yet you talk to the citizens that they’re sworn to protect and all they can do is wonder why they haven’t even reached out to them yet. It’s like someone who’s all too eager to jump on a bandwagon without realizing what the argument is about to begin with.
That brings us to a recent lesson that, I hope, has been thoroughly learned by the city council of Purcellville, Virginia.
In a recent story provided by Fox News, the council previously made a decision to dismantle its police department in an effort to reduce water bills for the town’s 9,000 residents. The move, they believed, would save it more than $3 million to do so.
You heard that right. This city council believed it was a better move to reduce the cost of water to these residents rather than safety. Ridiculous, right?
Hang on, it gets worse.
The real motivation behind the call for this dismantling actually has to do with a corrupt official.
Prior to all this, Vice Mayor Ben Nett has become the subject of a criminal investigation surrounding potential violations of Virginia conflict of interest laws, according to Fox 5.
He was fired from the Purcellville Police Department earlier this month, and just a week later, a letter from the Loudoun County Commonwealth indicated that he voted to disband it as an attempt to recuse himself.
That’s awful. And to think, this council was all set to move forward on such an initiative.
But they forgot one key factor in all of this. The people. The citizens themselves.
No one asked the citizens if they were for closing the police department in favor of lighter water bills. No one asked if they believed Nett should continue to be investigated. They continued on their merry little way.
Until they had no choice.
During a council session earlier this week, several citizens crowded into the hall to voice their opinions over the matter. This comes after a number of them had already filed recall positions to remove several council members surrounding this decision.
They weren’t having it.
These angry citizens sounded off on the council making these decisions without them, demanding that their police department remain intact. Damn the cost.
Now that’s what I like to see. People standing up for the officers that they know, love and truly appreciate.
They noted how the council tried to move on the motion without having any sort of public comment on it. One resident even said, “The four of you snuck agenda items in at the end of the meeting and too away my lawful right to comment on them.”
Exactly. The people have every right to be heard, and have every right to comment on a matter before a council has any motion to move forward on. They have a right to sound off and tell these members exactly what they want.
With that, the council was left with no choice. It voted Tuesday to keep Purcellville’s police force intact, providing funding well into 2026. With that, the crowd cheered, knowing that its police department would be kept intact.
Also, it’s worth noting that Nett was nowhere in sight for this council meeting. Because of course he wasn’t. I hope that the investigation against him continues, as it really sounds like he was trying to pull a fast one following his termination from the Police Department.
Anyway, let this serve as a lesson. Citizens have every right to be heard and considered when it comes to doing what’s best for them – and the right leader will always take the time to listen and appreciate them.
Now is not the time to shrug off good people. We need them now more than ever.
Here’s to you, Purcellville citizens. Way to take care of your own!
