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Councilman: More officers aren't the solution to violence

Jacksonville City Councilman Matt Schellenberg says the city should not consider hiring more police and community service officers until the pension system is fixed.

The comment comes a day after Sheriff John Rutherford made his case for Mayor Brown to approve $8 million in the upcoming budget to hire 40 police officers and 40 community service officers.

“It’s the long-term cost of hiring people in the police and fire that is untenable,” Schellenberg says.

He says hiring more before the new system is put in place will only add to the current debt and make the problem worse.

“And it’s not going to solve the problem of what is happening in our society about the value of life,” Schellenberg says.

He sees a breakdown of the family happening in Jacksonville.  Unfortunately many of the violent kids, Schellenberg says, are coming from single-family households.

“And this is disastrous for our society.”

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