Sudetenland Tales by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Sudetenland Tales

Page 20

Defund the Pole-eese

Recusant, Sudetenland, was a decaying city that turned its back on law enforcement. After the generally peaceful George Floyd lootings masked as demonstrations, during which the cops used tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to restore order, certain criminal communities claimed police brutality. They sued, and a federal judge not only granted them monetary damages, but ordered the police department to be defunded by 80%. Lenny Swiatkowski was in the hospital with Covid-19 symptoms at that time, and was thereby the only beat cop not on duty that day; hence he was the only one not dismissed. Lenny’s salary wasn’t 20% of the budget, but the department retained the Commissioner, a few of his special advisors, the Chief of Police, the Deputy Chief of Police, the Commander, and the Captain. This made for an unusual organizational chart, with Uniformed Officer Swiatkowski alone at the bottom, while the others only duty was to attempt to make it look like a full time job to supervise Lenny.

The city used to hum with sirens, paperwork, and radio chatter. Now the precinct was a mausoleum; graffiti tagged lockers, unpaid electric bills, coffee cups fossilized on desks. Uniformed Officer Lenny Swiatkowski unlocked the front door each