Not to disagree with my dear friend Abdul, but I think the City-County Council Democrats have hit on a great issue with which to assail Mayor Greg Ballard, who proclaimed himself the King Of Public Safety when he was running his simultaneously reckless and clueless campaign last year.

Ballard promised more cops. His biggest campaign pledge was to take over the police department from Sheriff Frank Anderson. He pledged to make our streets safer.

The only one of those things he’s accomplished was a bureaucratic, administrative move that hasn’t left us any safer.

The call boxes along the Monon were broken for months. It took several people getting attacked before the City did something. People are still being killed in our streets, but Ballard is now claiming he’s unable to fulfill his pledge to fund more officers.

He can play the blame game, but the bottom line is that he’s Mayor, and he can’t keep his promises. (Any of them, for the record, but let’s just talk about public safety for the time being.)

Council Democrats get a big thumbs up for holding Ballard accountable and staying on message.

Thumbs down to the dopey Republican who literally read the explanation of his vote on the budget line by line off a letter-sized piece of paper. For heaven’s sake, man, get yourself a notecard or, better yet, rehearse the party talking points in advance. Jeez.

Check this out.

Off all the IMPD Officers who’ve been getting in trouble lately, it looks like half of them are from the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, even though former Sheriff’s law enforcement officers only make up about 20 percent of the entire force.

Imagine that.

After all his hullabaloo on the campaign trail about public safety, Mayor Greg Ballard is now saying the city doesn’t have enough money to put 100 more police officers on the streets. Instead, his first-ever plan to do anything includes 40 civilian public assistance officers, whose job will basically be to push paper.

I can just see the criminals quaking in their boots. Taxpayers have every right to be furious with Ballard.

Not surprisingly, he’s is still trying to blame the previous administration for his own shortfalls in innovation and fiscal planning. IUPUI poli sci prof Brian Vargus has this to say about that:

“Ballard may be able to say with some legitimacy that we have a shortfall and the past administration is at fault,” Vargus said. “But the public’s attitude is: ‘It’s your job to fix it.’”

Fix it? You mean you want Ballard to actually do something? Yeah, good luck with that.

In their latest attempt to slime the prior administration instead of accepting the responsibility that comes with power, it appears that Mayor Lunky and his handlers have shoved washed-up windbag Bob Turner back into the spotlight:

The push to put officers on the streets forced Indianapolis police to lower their standards, and may have contributed to the recent rash of officer arrests, said former public safety director Robert Turner Thursday.

Turner — who served for six and a half years under former Mayor Bart Peterson — spoke with 6News’ Jack Rinehart by phone Thursday.

In an effort to fulfill Peterson’s campaign pledge to hire an additional 200 police officers by the summer of 2003, he said standards were lowered at the police training academy.

So, all the officers who’ve allegedly broken laws graduated on Peterson’s watch, right?

Five of the 10 IMPD officers criminally charged within the last four months graduated from recruit classes hired during the Peterson administration, Rinehart reported.

D’oh!

By the by, wasn’t Turner Peterson’s public safety director? Why didn’t he bother speaking up back when this supposedly was happening? Or has he always been a powerless nincompoop?

We all know Ballard’s a bit of a dim bulb, but you’d think his handlers would know better than to unleash Turner on the media. He’s a loose cannon who just loves to recklessly flap his jaw. The poor guy’s been bitter since Peterson canned him for being incompetent. I guess this is how those who dwell in the Land Of Irrelevance pass their time.

P.S. Didn’t Turner try to get a job in Ballard’s administration? How’s it feel to be the poster child for political liability, Bobby?

More cops keep getting in trouble.  Two more IMPD officers are being investigated for alleged wrongdoing. 34-year old Christopher Poindexter is in trouble for reportedly filing a false police report to cover up an accident involving his fiancee sideswiping another vehicle while in his department issued car.

Another officer, James Ingalss is in hot water for allegedly having sex with a hooker while on duty.

And those incidents follow the suspension and subsequent criminal investigation of IMPD officer Anthony Smith who is believed to have forced a woman to perform a sex act on him in order to avoid an arrest.

Throw those three in with officers Jason Edwards, James Davis and Robert Long who are accused of stealing from drug dealers. IMPD Patrolman Jeremy was busted for helping a prostitute. George Leon Benjamin was charged with DUI for two crashes involving a police car.

Believe it or not there is some good news in all this. Bad officers are being weeded out and no one is trying to cover up their bad behavior. There about 2,000 members of IMPD, and if you throw in the rule of thumb that 10 percent of all people are bad actors, you can see how IMPD is no exception.

I’m more concerned when these incidents are covered up from the public. There’s no question that IMPD needs to get its own house in order and Chief Mike Spears tells me new orders and policies are being drafted to address these issues.

But I have to be honest, as much as I get annoyed when I read stories about bad cops, I’d be much more worried if I never heard about them.