[frinkprof]

The first point that needs to be made is that Nenshi's question as to "why do X amount of cops cost Y amount of money?" was made in the context of it being an example of a question that wasn't asked when the police budget was pre-approved by the last council in June.

Now, to respond to parts of the posts themselves.

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

There are plenty of other departments to look at once in office.

I agree. However, I must ask why three current candidates for the mayor's position, including one which you have said you support didn't do so when they were in office and pre-approving the budget of the department in question.

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

It makes sense to find low hanging fruit to look fiscally prudent, but a quick comparison against our neighbour to the north would say our costs aren't completely out of line.

Again, I agree in my view from afar. It is council's job to affirm such information from the administration before approving budgets. They did not. That was Nenshi's point. He has said as much.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

The department's budget was questioned and I thought the response was appropriate. At the same time though the Chief of Police shouldn't feel obliged to get into any extended back and forth with candidates.

Obliged or not, he did. He issued a press release responding directly to a single candidate for the mayor's seat. He then said he didn't want to enter into a debate when challenged on how he thought the figures were inaccurate. Too late. I don't mind Hanson in general (as I'll also say below), but he said one thing and then did the opposite on this one.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

I think it was a bad choice by Nenshi to go after the CPS.

He did not go after the CPS in the context of his comments. He went after the process that brought the last council to pre-approve the police budget without asking questions such as the example he gave. Without debate, without questioning, without scrutiny and without a piece of paper in front of them.

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Since Hanson took over he's added more beat cops and by most reports it's had the desired impact.

We can talk about long-term visions for the city and other things but one of the main things people care about is that their families are safe.

It's my belief that Hanson is one of the most, if not THE most respected public figure in this city.

I agree. In my estimation, Hanson has done a decent job excluding his public foray into the election. I say that without as full a picture as I'd like to be seeing though. I'd like to know that my elected officials would want to take a peek at the books and scrutinize them before approving budgets. Especially in the face of a budget shortfall where cuts have to be made somewhere. Wouldn't you?

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Does that mean his department is above questioning? Not at all. But it's the wrong battle for Nenshi to be picking.

Nenshi's battle is with the members of the last council, not the CPS, not their members, not their chief. He has said as much.