Power & Market

Police Priorities: Prosecuting Locals for Rude Bumper Stickers

Police Priorities: Prosecuting Locals for Rude Bumper Stickers
Power & Market Ryan McMaken

A county sheriff in Texas has run afoul of the social media mob when he publicly announced on Facebook that he was seeking to press charges against a local resident known for using the F-word on a sign on his vehicle. 

Social media readers responded with the expected protests over freedom of speech when Sheriff Troy Nehls posted a photo of the offending truck and announced the local district attorney "has informed us she would accept Disorderly Conduct charges regarding it." 

Numerous other sites have focused on the First-Amendment implications of the situation. But let's focus here instead on the use of taxpayer-funded resources by a county employee:

In essence, the Sheriff is seeking to make an arrest over what amounts to a rude bumper sticker. 

By announcing that he has met with or called the local prosecutor, and may have charges filed, the sheriff is threatening the owner of the truck with state violence that may include arrest, fines, and perhaps even a short period of imprisonment. 

Given all the effort the Sheriff has gone to, a reasonable person might conclude that there is essentially no crime at all in Fort Bend County. 

However, in spite of the fact that the Sheriff acts like he has nothing better to do, it turns out that Fort Bend County has its share of crime. 

Indeed, according to the FBI's crime statistics, the Fort Bend County in 2016 reported a total of 758 violent crimes. This included 18 homicides, 83 rapes, 141 robberies, 516 aggravated assaults. Property crimes included 269 auto thefts. 

The population of the county is approximately 580,000, which means the homicide rate is around 3.0 per 100,000. That's not an especially high homicide rate by American standards, but it's not an especially low one, either, especially for a high-income suburban area like Fort Bend County. 

In other words, the county has its share of crime, but the Sheriff is more concerned with waging petty battles over bumper stickers with local residents, rather than focus on prosecuting violent criminals, or on recovering stolen property. 

In the past, here at mises.org, we've noted how with any organization — including law enforcement agencies — time spent on one activity necessarily reduces the resources spent on other activities. The often-used police claim that police "must enforce all the laws" has always been nonsense since there are limited resources available. 

Thus, there is a real opportunity cost to tracking down people with naughty words on bumper stickers, while there are also 500-odd aggravated assaults per year. 

This should surprise no-one of course, since the Sheriff's department is not subject to any market discipline and is guided more by how well it can lobby the county government for a bigger budget, and how well the Sheriff is at getting votes from the local population. This fracas over a bumper sticker, of course, is likely little more than a political ploy, given that the Sheriff apparently has ambitions for higher office. 

It may be that this publicity pays off well for the Sheriff. Local victims of crime, however, may fare less well. 

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