Wrong again Wavemaker. The police budget increased by over seven million dollars during my term. Bottom line is crime decreased - that is the only stat that matters!  Nice try though.  Adding officers was obviously our goal but when you make employees too expensive (Begich contracts), you can't have as many employees as you would like or as soon as you may like.  We clearly made it a priority once we could afford it - four academies in 2.5 years speaks to that.  Oh, did I mention that crime was down on my watch?