Expect more of the same: Can't afford police...take up arms for self-protection

Face it.  The country is broke, thanks to big government economics.

ALTO, Texas—People here are bracing for a spike in crime after the city put its police force on furlough.

Budget woes in Alto, Texas have forced drastic measures, including laying off the five-member police force. A newspaper's antique printing press is being moved to a museum for safe keeping. WSJ's Ana Campoy reports.

"Everybody's talking about 'bolt your doors, buy a gun,' " said Monty Collins, Alto's mayor, who was against the measure.

City Council members sent the police home when they decided they couldn't afford them. On June 15, the police chief and his four officers secured the evidence room, changed the passwords on their computers and locked the department's doors for six months—longer if local finances don't improve by then.

For now, the Cherokee County sheriff's office, based 12 miles north in Rusk, is policing Alto, a city of about 1,200. Sheriff James Campbell said the extra load would strain his 25 deputies and reservists, who oversee a 1,000-square-mile territory. The sheriff is already responsible for the nearby city of Wells, which has a population of about 800 and earlier this year shed its only police officer. Crime went up initially, he said, but has stabilized.

"I'm going to try, but I can't guarantee you there will always be an officer in the town," Sheriff Campbell said of Alto.

Welcome to the Alto metroplex

My dad has served on the City Council in a town of about 10,000 (about 180 miles from Alto, TX) for the past 7 years.  At their size, they aren't facing this type of problem.    However, with layoffs, cut salaries, businesses closing, rural areas will face the scenario described in Alto, TX.  


The choice of the people, to me, is and always has been clear:  take care of yourself.  


Night watches with volunteers in the community, and an irregular militia is also something to consider.  


If the maxim: "When seconds count, the police will arrive in minutes..." (and how much more so in a large rural area like around Alto) is true, as I believe, and the police get to the scene of a crime to pick up the pieces, it is a moral imperative for each person to be armed, and train their minds and bodies regularly to react to sudden scenarios.  


There is no higher moral imperative than the protection of your own life, and the life of one's family.


From my perspective, it doesn't matter if you live in a very isolated rural area, a small town, or the middle of New York City.  You should be armed, and you should train yourself for different potential scenarios in your AO.


So what are ya gonna do?  Take care of yourself, or call the feds and squeal "help me, help me!"?