Mayor's Annual Report on the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana - 1900
Mayor's Annual Report on the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana - 1903
I recently came across an old report from the Fort Wayne Police Department. Below is some of the information contained in it. Any guesses what year this report was from?
TOTAL NUMBER OF MEN IN POLICE DEPARTMENT: 42
From Indiana …… 25
Illinois …… 1
Michigan …… 1
France …… 1
Ireland …… 2
Germany …… 4
Ohio …… 5
Massachusetts …… 0
Wisconsin …… 1
Maryland …… 1
Scotland …… 1
SALARIES OF OFFICERS PER ANNUM
Superintendent …… $1,320.00
Captain …… 1,200.00
Lieutenant …… 1,020.00
Sergeants …… 860.00
Detectives …… 900.00
Patrolman …… 780.00
Station Master …… 780.00
Patrol drivers …… 720.00
Station Clerks …… 600.00
* Humane Officer ……480.00
** Electrician …… 480.00
* Balance of salary paid by Humane Society.
** Balance of salary paid by Fire Force.
STOLEN PROPERTY
Total amount of lost or stolen goods reported …… $6,953.00
Amount recovered …… 4,823.00
Deficiency …… 2,130.00
TRAMPS LODGED IN STATION DURING YEAR
January …… 122
February …… 128
March …… 85
April …… 75
May …… 15
June …… 10
July …… 7
August …… 34
September …… 25
October …… 97
November …… 103
December …… 157
Total …… 858
LOST CHILDREN FOUND AND RETURNED TO PARENTS BY OFFICERS
January …… 1
February …… 0
March …… 6
April …… 9
May …… 9
June …… 14
July …… 3
August …… 5
September …… 9
October …… 7
November …… 7
December …… 3
Total …… 73
RECORD OF PATROL WAGON SERVICE
Number of miles traveled by patrol wagon …… 1965
Number of wagon runs made …… 1208
Number of prisoners brought to station …… 930
Number of prisoners taken to jail …… 590
Number of telephone calls for wagon …… 523
Number of box calls for wagon …… 277
Number of sick and injured taken home or to hospital …… 198
Number of wagon runs made to fire …… 56
RECORD OF POLICE CALL
Total number of box calls answered by clerks ............... 67,460
Total number of telephone calls answered by clerks ...... 34,216
Grand total calls answered by clerks ..................... 101,676
CRIMINALS ARRESTED & DISPOSITION OF CASES.
Convictions …… 71
Acquittals …… 5
On-suspended sentence …… 8
Dismissed …… 9
Reform school …… 2
To Juvenile Court …… 16
Insane Asylum …… 1
Case pending …… 2
Total …… 114
OPEN DOORS: Doors of stores and other business places found open and unsecured after business hours and secured by Officers on District.
January …… 14
February …… 8
March …… 9
April …… 16
May …… 10
June …… 12
July …… 3
August …… 6
September …… 4
October …… 15
November …… 11
December …… 17
Total …… 125
RECORD OF ABANDONED BICYCLES BROUGHT TO STATION BY OFFICERS AND LATER RETURNED TO THE OWNER
January ...... 0
February ...... 2
March ...... 1
April ...... 9
May ...... 11
June ...... 7
July ...... 5
August ...... 4
September ...... 5
October ...... 4
November ...... 6
December ...... 0
Total ...... 54
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
I Love The Internet!
The Internet - Just like going to the library, only cheaper!
For the past few months, I’ve been doing some internet research on the Fort Wayne Police Department. Basically, I began by searching the names of officers I know, or know of. As I check each name individually, whatever stories I find usually lead me to many other officers. I believe I now have the names of just about every current officer, as well as many former ones. Not being from Fort Wayne, I suppose that it should come as no surprise to find that I am discovering a lot of information that is new to me. I suppose some of this is old news to Fort Wayne/Allen County natives though.
For example, I did not know that the 911 consolidation idea has been going on for so long. In 1986, Fort Wayne Police Chief David Rieman proposed merging the city and county call centers. And earlier that same year, Allen County Sheriff Dan Figel actually called for a commission to study merging the city and county police departments entirely. Well, I guess these things take time, so it will probably be another twenty years or so before we get this accomplished.
I also found another interesting story that made me think back to when my home was fire-bombed by drug dealers in 2006. After FWPD Deputy Chief Nancy (Becher) Chamberlin laughed at me about this, refusing to allow me to deliver information about the attack to her department, and telling me I should quit causing trouble, I felt that my home and my property were in imminent danger. My situation became even more desperate after the Allen County Sheriff’s Department made it clear to me that they preferred to respect the jurisdictional boundaries of FWPD, which meant they did not intend to enforce the law in this part of their county.
After my complaint against her was summarily dismissed by the department’s office of non-professional standards (Internal Affairs,) I really felt my back was against the wall. So, in addition to sending my appeal of the dismissal to the Board of Public Safety, I also sent it to several other agencies as well. One of these was the Indiana State Police. I still have the letter that was sent as a reply. The person writing the letter complimented me for doing “all the right things” a person should do in my circumstances. He then went on to say that he knows Chief York and that he has confidence that FWPD can and will properly address the problems I was facing.
That letter was written by Paul Whitesell, superintendent of the Indiana State Police. I had always assumed that his knowledge of Chief York was only scant. It seems logical that the head of the state police would at least have some familiarity with the heads of the largest city police departments within his state. But after reading the article, it appears that there may be a much closer connection than I had assumed. Although the article does not say exactly what years Mr. Whitesell worked for FWPD, or in what capacity, a casual examination of both his and Chief York’s dossiers leads me to conclude that they probably did actually know each other pretty well.
So now I’m laughing, imaging what Mr. Whitesell was thinking when he read my letter. There’s a possibility that he knew exactly where my corner was, and that he knew I was not exaggerating about the problems here. He probably called Rusty up and shared a few laughs with him over the whole incident. Oh well, although the substance of his response was really not that much different than the others, at least he had the decency to write me a formal letter and to not laugh in my face about it.
And finally, the third article really amused me. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t picture Officer Russell York, out of uniform, and buying drugs on the streets. I always gave him just a small amount of consideration based upon the fact that someone as high up as him, and in an organization as complex as FWPD, probably can’t really know what is going on down on the ground. But the fact that he used to be an undercover narcotics officer changes all that. I’m sure things have changed a bit in the past couple of decades, but he probably knows enough from his past experiences to understand what I was dealing with here. And the lousy shit didn’t even have the decency to return my phone call or reply to my letter? - What a lousy bastard!
Well, that’s all for today. I’ll share more FWPD stories with you some other day, but for now, I have a lot of searching left to do.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thank You Chief York!
Several days ago, a neighbor of mine told me her car had been stolen. She stated that she had filed a police report and was hoping they would not find the car so her insurance would pay her out. In the last two days, I have seen her drive past my house three times in her “stolen” car.
Now, there are several reasons why I find it to be likely that she lied to me about the car being stolen and about filing a report on it. On the other hand, there are several things that make me wonder if she actually did report it stolen. I think it is highly improbable that the car was stolen and recovered in just a few days, so this would mean that she filed a false report with the intent of collecting on a fraudulent insurance claim.
If my city had a functional police department, I would call them to report this information. It would only take a few minutes for them to identify her and find out if she had in fact filed a stolen vehicle report. If not, there really would be nothing lost for checking.
But my police department is extremely dysfunctional. If I did call, I would first probably have to endure the “Who the fuck are you and why the fuck are you bothering us?” routine before I actually got a chance to tell them what was on my mind. Then, they would send a uniformed officer to my house to ask me the same questions that the civilian operator had just asked me. I would offer to show this officer my security tapes documenting the dates and times that my neighbor drove past in her stolen car. He would decline this offer, but take my number so he can contact me later. I would tell him that my tapes have a short record-over period, and that I will not save anything unless I am instructed to do so by his department.
About a week later, another officer would call me back to tell me he heard that I wanted to report a stolen car. After explaining that what I was actually trying to report was the possibility that someone else had filed a false report of a stolen car, he would then tell me he will call me back later about this because he needs time to analyze this new information. I would remind him that my tapes of the incidents are very close to being recorded over. He will give no response to this.
Next (about a month later this time) another officer will knock on my door. He will explain that he is here to investigate my stolen car incident. After we straighten this out again, he will then chastise me for giving his department a contact number that is no longer in service (which is his excuse for having taken so long to get a hold of me.) When I ask what number he has, I will realize that somehow the idiots have pulled an old number of mine out of their system, and managed to replace it for the current number which I had recently just given to three different people within their department. He will get very upset at me when I inform him that my video tapes have long since recorded over the incident I reported on.
Finally, about a month later, a detective will call me. He will first ask if my car has been recovered yet. After I explain that my car was never stolen, he will then ask if I have received compensation from my insurance company for the stolen car. After I again explain that my car was never stolen, he will tell me that this type of crime is usually a low priority for the prosecutor’s office, and he really doesn’t want to put forth the effort to investigate something that will not be prosecuted. He will recommend that if I am able to get compensation from my insurance company for the stolen car that it would be best to just let it drop.
At this point, I will fake like I am putting him on hold to take another call. I will then come back and tell him that my insurance company has just called to tell me that they are cutting me a check for my stolen car. I will thank him for his time, apologize for not having saved the video that his department never asked me to save, and apologize for his department having switched my phone numbers (because, for some reason, he is really pissed at me over this) then hang up. I will then wonder why in the hell I even called in the first place.
And the next day I will read in the paper that Chief York is concerned about the increase in vehicle thefts. He will mention one particular case which sounds very similar to my neighbor’s “stolen” car. The Chief will be quoted in this article as saying that the reason his department can’t get this problem under control is because citizens refuse to cooperate with his department. He will then state that some people act this way because they don’t care, while others do so because they are scared. And just after admitting that there are groups of criminals who are strong enough to intimidate people and keep them from talking with the police, he will reiterate that Fort Wayne does not have a gang problem.
But I don’t have to go through this type of ordeal now, because I’ve already been through it several times in the past. I already know that whoever answers the phone will probably not have a clue about much of anything. And I know that either I will be quickly dismissed or several officers will ask me the same questions, yet still manage to lose or confuse the answers I give them. And ultimately, I know that however they may word it, their final message to me will be “Please don’t bother us. We’re cops, which means we really don’t want to hear anything at all from you fucking moron civilians anyway. Please just leave us alone and let us do our job - whatever the hell that might be.”
Anyway, I suppose the basic point of this post is to thank Chief York. After all, being an upstanding citizen who pays attention to his surroundings and reports suspicious behavior to the police takes a bit of time. And in neighborhoods like mine, it can be downright exhausting. But Chief York’s mismanagement of the police department lets me know that any such efforts on my part will probably be wasted. With this department, there really is no compelling reason to try and cooperate.
So thank you, Rusty. Thank you for telling me that it is okay for me to ignore felony crimes taking place around me. Thank you for telling me it is all right to not put forth the effort of being a good citizen. I get a lot more yard work done by not having to waste my time calling your department to report crimes that you really don’t want to investigate. Thank you Rusty!
Now, there are several reasons why I find it to be likely that she lied to me about the car being stolen and about filing a report on it. On the other hand, there are several things that make me wonder if she actually did report it stolen. I think it is highly improbable that the car was stolen and recovered in just a few days, so this would mean that she filed a false report with the intent of collecting on a fraudulent insurance claim.
If my city had a functional police department, I would call them to report this information. It would only take a few minutes for them to identify her and find out if she had in fact filed a stolen vehicle report. If not, there really would be nothing lost for checking.
But my police department is extremely dysfunctional. If I did call, I would first probably have to endure the “Who the fuck are you and why the fuck are you bothering us?” routine before I actually got a chance to tell them what was on my mind. Then, they would send a uniformed officer to my house to ask me the same questions that the civilian operator had just asked me. I would offer to show this officer my security tapes documenting the dates and times that my neighbor drove past in her stolen car. He would decline this offer, but take my number so he can contact me later. I would tell him that my tapes have a short record-over period, and that I will not save anything unless I am instructed to do so by his department.
About a week later, another officer would call me back to tell me he heard that I wanted to report a stolen car. After explaining that what I was actually trying to report was the possibility that someone else had filed a false report of a stolen car, he would then tell me he will call me back later about this because he needs time to analyze this new information. I would remind him that my tapes of the incidents are very close to being recorded over. He will give no response to this.
Next (about a month later this time) another officer will knock on my door. He will explain that he is here to investigate my stolen car incident. After we straighten this out again, he will then chastise me for giving his department a contact number that is no longer in service (which is his excuse for having taken so long to get a hold of me.) When I ask what number he has, I will realize that somehow the idiots have pulled an old number of mine out of their system, and managed to replace it for the current number which I had recently just given to three different people within their department. He will get very upset at me when I inform him that my video tapes have long since recorded over the incident I reported on.
Finally, about a month later, a detective will call me. He will first ask if my car has been recovered yet. After I explain that my car was never stolen, he will then ask if I have received compensation from my insurance company for the stolen car. After I again explain that my car was never stolen, he will tell me that this type of crime is usually a low priority for the prosecutor’s office, and he really doesn’t want to put forth the effort to investigate something that will not be prosecuted. He will recommend that if I am able to get compensation from my insurance company for the stolen car that it would be best to just let it drop.
At this point, I will fake like I am putting him on hold to take another call. I will then come back and tell him that my insurance company has just called to tell me that they are cutting me a check for my stolen car. I will thank him for his time, apologize for not having saved the video that his department never asked me to save, and apologize for his department having switched my phone numbers (because, for some reason, he is really pissed at me over this) then hang up. I will then wonder why in the hell I even called in the first place.
And the next day I will read in the paper that Chief York is concerned about the increase in vehicle thefts. He will mention one particular case which sounds very similar to my neighbor’s “stolen” car. The Chief will be quoted in this article as saying that the reason his department can’t get this problem under control is because citizens refuse to cooperate with his department. He will then state that some people act this way because they don’t care, while others do so because they are scared. And just after admitting that there are groups of criminals who are strong enough to intimidate people and keep them from talking with the police, he will reiterate that Fort Wayne does not have a gang problem.
But I don’t have to go through this type of ordeal now, because I’ve already been through it several times in the past. I already know that whoever answers the phone will probably not have a clue about much of anything. And I know that either I will be quickly dismissed or several officers will ask me the same questions, yet still manage to lose or confuse the answers I give them. And ultimately, I know that however they may word it, their final message to me will be “Please don’t bother us. We’re cops, which means we really don’t want to hear anything at all from you fucking moron civilians anyway. Please just leave us alone and let us do our job - whatever the hell that might be.”
Anyway, I suppose the basic point of this post is to thank Chief York. After all, being an upstanding citizen who pays attention to his surroundings and reports suspicious behavior to the police takes a bit of time. And in neighborhoods like mine, it can be downright exhausting. But Chief York’s mismanagement of the police department lets me know that any such efforts on my part will probably be wasted. With this department, there really is no compelling reason to try and cooperate.
So thank you, Rusty. Thank you for telling me that it is okay for me to ignore felony crimes taking place around me. Thank you for telling me it is all right to not put forth the effort of being a good citizen. I get a lot more yard work done by not having to waste my time calling your department to report crimes that you really don’t want to investigate. Thank you Rusty!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Matter of Perception
Last night, I attended my neighborhood association meeting. We were presented with a series of questions and asked for our opinions on them. The first question was “What do you like about the La Rez Neighborhood?” My first response was the sense of community here. While I have said many times that this is the worst neighborhood I have ever lived in (because of the uncontrolled crime), it is also the best because of the genuine neighborliness of many people here. Several others at the meeting echoed my sentiments on this. One man said that the neighborhood was very quiet, and I had to control my laughter.
The next question was “What do people outside of this neighborhood think of La Rez, and where do they get those perceptions?” All of the answers given here were negative and included dangerous, poor, and the people who live there don’t care about it. The reasons given for these perceptions included rumors, the news media, and reality. All of these answers came from people other than myself. There seemed to be a schism of sorts between those who think this neighborhood is really a dangerous place and those who simply think it is being unfairly maligned. I fall squarely in the first camp, while the man who earlier commented that it was quiet seemed to fall in the second.
When the moderator pushed us to give some positive perceptions, not a single person in the group had anything to say. That is to say, we all felt that outsiders all thought this was a bad neighborhood. The “quiet” man went on to talk about how the newspaper had published a story about someone who said they will not travel through this part of the city without carrying their gun with them. He pointed to this as an example of how the media unfairly biases people’s opinions.
The third question was “What will it take to make people from outside of this neighborhood want to live here?” Again, the issue of crime vs. just the perception of crime came up, and it was beginning to appear that the “quiet” man and I were living in two completely different neighborhoods. After the formal business was concluded, I introduced myself to the quiet man and we talked for a few minutes. I told him some of the reasons for my comments, including having my home fire-bombed by drug dealers. He just smiled and said “I’m from Baltimore.”
Okay, I know when I’ve been beat, and my stories probably pale in comparison to his own. So I suppose that if we are to use Baltimore, Detroit or Gary as the standard, then Fort Wayne really doesn’t have a problem with crime. Of course, the question about how outsiders perceive this neighborhood was, I believe, referring to people who live in other parts of this city and surrounding areas. And compared to most other neighborhoods in this city, mine has a very serious problem with crime.
When drug dealers openly sell and smoke their crack cocaine on the streets here, we have a problem. And when a drug dispute causes a man to have gasoline thrown in his face, to be lit on fire, and then have a screwdriver plunged into his head, we have a problem. And when a man walking through this neighborhood declines to buy drugs from the gang on the corner, is then told “Then get your punk ass off their block”, and is then shot and nearly killed for his transgression, we have a problem. And when these drug dealers tell the police to their faces “We ain’t afraid of you, when were out on the corner we’re ready to die, we’re soldiers.”, we have a problem. And when a law-abiding citizen has Molotov cocktails thrown at his house for asking the drug dealers to stay off his property, and then the police department laughs about this and tells the citizen he should just calm down and quit making noise, we have an extremely serious problem.
But of course, that’s just my own perception of the matter. It’s not like people are firing shots into the police parking lot (anymore). And the number of people being shot while standing right across the street from the police department is extremely low in the past couple of months. I actually know of several houses on my block which have never had a problem with drug dealers trespassing there (usually because those houses are owned/rented by dug dealers who choose to sell away from their house.)
A prominent member of the local news media was in attendance as a trustee of the church where the neighborhood association meeting was held last night. The church was located only a block away from my house. He did not take part in the discussions, other than giving a brief introduction, but I couldn’t help but wonder what his perceptions of this neighborhood were. He doesn’t live here, and most of his time here is probably spent among large groups of other church-goers or safely tucked inside his fortress rather than standing alone on the street. He didn’t offer his opinion on this, but something tells me that as a member of the established media he would be inclined to tow the City’s official line of propaganda by saying the reality is far better than the perception. Of course, the fact that his own church and parking lot lies protected behind a six foot steel barricade leaves me inclined to think that he really knows the truth about this neighborhood.
This meeting brought up another difference of opinion between certain groups of people - those who participate in the system and those who don’t. The neighborhood association represents the most basic level of governance. All of the constituents are within walking distance of each other, and even the official leaders are far more likely to be accessible than any one else in government. And, we are told by the associations themselves, “The best way for the City to hear you is for you to channel your message through the associations.” So, what possible reason could a citizen have for not belonging to such an association?
That very question is one that is asked frequently by the leaders of these groups as well as those higher up in the chain. I am not an insider, and those who are usually are too clever to reveal their true thoughts on the matter, but I get the impression that those who don’t participate in their associations are largely written off by the city. Their impression seems to be that those who don’t participate really don’t care and therefore do not matter. And I am sure that with some that is the case.
Of course, there is another perspective. It comes from the person who does attend and is asked such ridiculous questions as “If you had an endless pot of money, what would you do for this neighborhood?” And when people don’t give the “correct” answers to the questions, they are then prompted by those running the meeting to give better answers, just after those very people stated that they do not want to prompt the group in any specific direction. And this perception comes from the person who at the end of the meeting asks “When will all these ideas we gave you be implemented?”, and is given a reply of a pause, followed by a muted laugh, followed by the vague suggestion of “You’ll have to come to the future meetings to find that out.”
This perspective sees these meetings as largely a waste of time - not in theory, but in practice. The idea of neighbors associating to decide what they need from their government, followed by that government then listening and implementing these ideas, or at least giving a reasonable response as to why they can’t be implemented, is a good one. The City sees the large number of people who do not attend as evidence that the people just don’t care. And the people who do attend often come to the realization that the City usually does not hold up it’s end of the bargain by truly listening and honestly engaging them. About the only time a citizen’s input really is listened to is when it supports the predetermined plans of the City.
I think it’s really nice that the City has installed antique lights and brick paved sidewalk ramps in my neighborhood, and I think the neighborhood associations are very effective at getting these kinds of things (the minor details) implemented. But when it comes to things that really matter, like dealing with criminally controlled streets and an incompetent police department, they really don’t have much usefulness. I think those who run these associations realize that issues this big are decided at a level far above their heads, and any input from a few individual citizen’s will probably have very little impact upon them. But hey, that’s just my perception.
The next question was “What do people outside of this neighborhood think of La Rez, and where do they get those perceptions?” All of the answers given here were negative and included dangerous, poor, and the people who live there don’t care about it. The reasons given for these perceptions included rumors, the news media, and reality. All of these answers came from people other than myself. There seemed to be a schism of sorts between those who think this neighborhood is really a dangerous place and those who simply think it is being unfairly maligned. I fall squarely in the first camp, while the man who earlier commented that it was quiet seemed to fall in the second.
When the moderator pushed us to give some positive perceptions, not a single person in the group had anything to say. That is to say, we all felt that outsiders all thought this was a bad neighborhood. The “quiet” man went on to talk about how the newspaper had published a story about someone who said they will not travel through this part of the city without carrying their gun with them. He pointed to this as an example of how the media unfairly biases people’s opinions.
The third question was “What will it take to make people from outside of this neighborhood want to live here?” Again, the issue of crime vs. just the perception of crime came up, and it was beginning to appear that the “quiet” man and I were living in two completely different neighborhoods. After the formal business was concluded, I introduced myself to the quiet man and we talked for a few minutes. I told him some of the reasons for my comments, including having my home fire-bombed by drug dealers. He just smiled and said “I’m from Baltimore.”
Okay, I know when I’ve been beat, and my stories probably pale in comparison to his own. So I suppose that if we are to use Baltimore, Detroit or Gary as the standard, then Fort Wayne really doesn’t have a problem with crime. Of course, the question about how outsiders perceive this neighborhood was, I believe, referring to people who live in other parts of this city and surrounding areas. And compared to most other neighborhoods in this city, mine has a very serious problem with crime.
When drug dealers openly sell and smoke their crack cocaine on the streets here, we have a problem. And when a drug dispute causes a man to have gasoline thrown in his face, to be lit on fire, and then have a screwdriver plunged into his head, we have a problem. And when a man walking through this neighborhood declines to buy drugs from the gang on the corner, is then told “Then get your punk ass off their block”, and is then shot and nearly killed for his transgression, we have a problem. And when these drug dealers tell the police to their faces “We ain’t afraid of you, when were out on the corner we’re ready to die, we’re soldiers.”, we have a problem. And when a law-abiding citizen has Molotov cocktails thrown at his house for asking the drug dealers to stay off his property, and then the police department laughs about this and tells the citizen he should just calm down and quit making noise, we have an extremely serious problem.
But of course, that’s just my own perception of the matter. It’s not like people are firing shots into the police parking lot (anymore). And the number of people being shot while standing right across the street from the police department is extremely low in the past couple of months. I actually know of several houses on my block which have never had a problem with drug dealers trespassing there (usually because those houses are owned/rented by dug dealers who choose to sell away from their house.)
A prominent member of the local news media was in attendance as a trustee of the church where the neighborhood association meeting was held last night. The church was located only a block away from my house. He did not take part in the discussions, other than giving a brief introduction, but I couldn’t help but wonder what his perceptions of this neighborhood were. He doesn’t live here, and most of his time here is probably spent among large groups of other church-goers or safely tucked inside his fortress rather than standing alone on the street. He didn’t offer his opinion on this, but something tells me that as a member of the established media he would be inclined to tow the City’s official line of propaganda by saying the reality is far better than the perception. Of course, the fact that his own church and parking lot lies protected behind a six foot steel barricade leaves me inclined to think that he really knows the truth about this neighborhood.
This meeting brought up another difference of opinion between certain groups of people - those who participate in the system and those who don’t. The neighborhood association represents the most basic level of governance. All of the constituents are within walking distance of each other, and even the official leaders are far more likely to be accessible than any one else in government. And, we are told by the associations themselves, “The best way for the City to hear you is for you to channel your message through the associations.” So, what possible reason could a citizen have for not belonging to such an association?
That very question is one that is asked frequently by the leaders of these groups as well as those higher up in the chain. I am not an insider, and those who are usually are too clever to reveal their true thoughts on the matter, but I get the impression that those who don’t participate in their associations are largely written off by the city. Their impression seems to be that those who don’t participate really don’t care and therefore do not matter. And I am sure that with some that is the case.
Of course, there is another perspective. It comes from the person who does attend and is asked such ridiculous questions as “If you had an endless pot of money, what would you do for this neighborhood?” And when people don’t give the “correct” answers to the questions, they are then prompted by those running the meeting to give better answers, just after those very people stated that they do not want to prompt the group in any specific direction. And this perception comes from the person who at the end of the meeting asks “When will all these ideas we gave you be implemented?”, and is given a reply of a pause, followed by a muted laugh, followed by the vague suggestion of “You’ll have to come to the future meetings to find that out.”
This perspective sees these meetings as largely a waste of time - not in theory, but in practice. The idea of neighbors associating to decide what they need from their government, followed by that government then listening and implementing these ideas, or at least giving a reasonable response as to why they can’t be implemented, is a good one. The City sees the large number of people who do not attend as evidence that the people just don’t care. And the people who do attend often come to the realization that the City usually does not hold up it’s end of the bargain by truly listening and honestly engaging them. About the only time a citizen’s input really is listened to is when it supports the predetermined plans of the City.
I think it’s really nice that the City has installed antique lights and brick paved sidewalk ramps in my neighborhood, and I think the neighborhood associations are very effective at getting these kinds of things (the minor details) implemented. But when it comes to things that really matter, like dealing with criminally controlled streets and an incompetent police department, they really don’t have much usefulness. I think those who run these associations realize that issues this big are decided at a level far above their heads, and any input from a few individual citizen’s will probably have very little impact upon them. But hey, that’s just my perception.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Totally Unbelievable News
This is one of those stories that you’d swear was made up as a joke, but apparently it’s real.
The city of Wellford, South Carolina has a police department. The officers of this department sometimes chase after criminals. During these chases, the officers have sustained some minor injuries. These injuries have resulted in the city having to pay the astounding cost of over $20,000 annually for worker’s compensation claims resulting from such injuries. Obviously, something had to be done to address this problem.
The solution?
The mayor of Wellford, Sallie Peake, has instituted a new policy which prohibits the police from chasing suspects.
I just watched the video of the interview with Mayor Peake. I don't think SNL could have put together a better comedy skit than this one.
The city of Wellford, South Carolina has a police department. The officers of this department sometimes chase after criminals. During these chases, the officers have sustained some minor injuries. These injuries have resulted in the city having to pay the astounding cost of over $20,000 annually for worker’s compensation claims resulting from such injuries. Obviously, something had to be done to address this problem.
The solution?
The mayor of Wellford, Sallie Peake, has instituted a new policy which prohibits the police from chasing suspects.
I just watched the video of the interview with Mayor Peake. I don't think SNL could have put together a better comedy skit than this one.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Back In The Saddle Again
I have mentioned previously that the criminal activities in my neighborhood have declined substantially this year. Here we are nearly three quarters into 2009 and, as of today, the police activity for my neighborhood is down 28% from the same period last year. I also believe that Rico has left the neighborhood, which helps to explain the sudden drop in shots fired.
I had commented before about the four biggest problem individuals here last year. Ike is dead, Jesse is in prison, R.P. turned on a friend for the police and now finally seams to have come to grips with the fact that he can no longer do business here without someone killing him, and Fred was inexplicably absent since last August when I saw a man who looked a bit like him running from the scene of a shooting that nearly killed a man.
Well, they pinned that shooting on another man. The victim positively identified him in court and even threw in a lot of details that really made him sound like a credible witness. So, based on that alone, I would tend to believe that the police got the right shooter. Of course, there is the fact that I overheard this witness speaking with two others at the trial. He was speaking with the woman who’s porch he laid on as he bled, and with the man who was the first on the scene and called the police. I heard him tell both these people “I didn’t even recognize you today. I don’t remember anything from that night.”
So, was the right guy charged and found guilty of the crime, or did the police and prosecutor feed the witness with enough information to make their case? I’ll leave that question for another post that I plan to do soon on the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office. For now, though, I just want to comment about Fred, the guy who looked a bit like the person I saw running from the scene of the shooting that night.
After being absent (or just lying low) from the neighborhood for the past year, Fred was back out on the sidewalk yesterday. I walked around to the front of my house and saw him with three other guys. It looked like one of them handed the other something (probably just marbles) and they were all in their work uniforms, and they all hushed up and tuned their backs towards me (I guess I can’t see them if they can’t see me - right?) when I appeared. But I didn’t really pay them much attention. They were standing two doors down from my house, and they weren’t being obnoxious, so I didn’t get too concerned about it.
Later in the afternoon, I saw this same gang of four guys walking around the neighborhood for a while. I’m sure they were just heading to the park to play ball, not selling drugs. Then, this morning I checked the police activity log in my neighborhood and saw this:
09F135497.…..20:53:49.…..48 SUSPICIOUS……25XX CAROLINE ST
That is the location where the main action has moved to during the past year. It has always been a very active area, and where I believe much of the problem emanates from, but because of the high traffic on my corner they have always chosen to work in front of my house. I would bet money that the suspicious activity report from last night involved Fred and his friends.
I saw something else interesting yesterday. I was working in the back yard when a uniformed officer drove past in an unmarked car. She was heading north, so I watched to see if anything was going on that way. She drove on past my house, but I wonder if she took notice of the two guys on the northwest corner at that time. Jake (another businessman who has been absent for a long time) was standing there with a man on a bicycle. Almost immediately after the cop passed by, the man on the bike handed some “marbles” to Jake, who then went over and handed the marbles to a person who had been parked along the side of the road.
So, it looks like business is back in operation now, and marble sales are good! It’s a bit late in the season, so I expect they're anxious to make up for lost profits. I just hope they keep it quiet and keep it away from my home this time.
I had commented before about the four biggest problem individuals here last year. Ike is dead, Jesse is in prison, R.P. turned on a friend for the police and now finally seams to have come to grips with the fact that he can no longer do business here without someone killing him, and Fred was inexplicably absent since last August when I saw a man who looked a bit like him running from the scene of a shooting that nearly killed a man.
Well, they pinned that shooting on another man. The victim positively identified him in court and even threw in a lot of details that really made him sound like a credible witness. So, based on that alone, I would tend to believe that the police got the right shooter. Of course, there is the fact that I overheard this witness speaking with two others at the trial. He was speaking with the woman who’s porch he laid on as he bled, and with the man who was the first on the scene and called the police. I heard him tell both these people “I didn’t even recognize you today. I don’t remember anything from that night.”
So, was the right guy charged and found guilty of the crime, or did the police and prosecutor feed the witness with enough information to make their case? I’ll leave that question for another post that I plan to do soon on the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office. For now, though, I just want to comment about Fred, the guy who looked a bit like the person I saw running from the scene of the shooting that night.
After being absent (or just lying low) from the neighborhood for the past year, Fred was back out on the sidewalk yesterday. I walked around to the front of my house and saw him with three other guys. It looked like one of them handed the other something (probably just marbles) and they were all in their work uniforms, and they all hushed up and tuned their backs towards me (I guess I can’t see them if they can’t see me - right?) when I appeared. But I didn’t really pay them much attention. They were standing two doors down from my house, and they weren’t being obnoxious, so I didn’t get too concerned about it.
Later in the afternoon, I saw this same gang of four guys walking around the neighborhood for a while. I’m sure they were just heading to the park to play ball, not selling drugs. Then, this morning I checked the police activity log in my neighborhood and saw this:
09F135497.…..20:53:49.…..48 SUSPICIOUS……25XX CAROLINE ST
That is the location where the main action has moved to during the past year. It has always been a very active area, and where I believe much of the problem emanates from, but because of the high traffic on my corner they have always chosen to work in front of my house. I would bet money that the suspicious activity report from last night involved Fred and his friends.
I saw something else interesting yesterday. I was working in the back yard when a uniformed officer drove past in an unmarked car. She was heading north, so I watched to see if anything was going on that way. She drove on past my house, but I wonder if she took notice of the two guys on the northwest corner at that time. Jake (another businessman who has been absent for a long time) was standing there with a man on a bicycle. Almost immediately after the cop passed by, the man on the bike handed some “marbles” to Jake, who then went over and handed the marbles to a person who had been parked along the side of the road.
So, it looks like business is back in operation now, and marble sales are good! It’s a bit late in the season, so I expect they're anxious to make up for lost profits. I just hope they keep it quiet and keep it away from my home this time.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Joke of the Day Hotline: 427-1222
I suppose the place to begin here would be to try to explain why I seldom call the police any more. Even when I here gunshots, it seems more prudent to simply walk outside and observe the situation before determining whether I should make a call or not. I won’t try to list all of the circumstances which have brought me to this point, just a few events that will help to explain my point of view on the matter. Although some of the perceived problems I detail here are out of the control of the patrol officers, they have such a strong impact on officer/citizen relations that I think it would be important for us to hear each other’s point of view on them.
First of all, you have to understand that I live in a neighborhood where the sound of gunshots is a routine occurrence. Last year, there were 35 reported incidents of shots fired, shooting, or party armed within two blocks of my house. Far more than this occurred which never got called in. I used to think it was idiotic to hear gunshots around your house and to not call the police, but now I understand.
Often, this attempt to help out by giving information to the police is met with either disregard or open hostility. For example, I was once verbally accosted by an officer for not being able to tell him definitively whether it was four or five shots that I heard, even though I explained to him that it was the sound of the gunshots which had awakened me. There was also the time that I witnessed a man running from the scene of an arson. I gave a description of him, what I thought his last name was, and which direction he headed to the first officer on the scene. The officer simply stared at me for a moment as if I was speaking a foreign language, then walked away without saying a word. I remained on scene until the fire was controlled and all the officers had left. Not a single one approached me to get a statement.
There is also the fact that when a certain individual calls frequently, particularly when no one else is calling and when the area is calm by the time the police arrive, then the police seem to begin viewing that person with suspicion, as if they are making superfluous calls.
The situation is often further confused by trying to communicate with the operators who answer the telephones. I realize that these people have a difficult job, as the callers are sometimes in a frenzied state and not speaking coherently. But I also think they respond to this poorly at times. Hearing gunshots or seeing someone being shot near ones house is a disturbing situation for most people. I think the operators should realize that these civilians are not trained or always experienced at keeping cool while under duress. I think that if the caller is only able to give a partial plate number, a fuzzy description of the perp, or otherwise less than perfect information, the operator would be wise to accept this for what it is rather than harangue the caller for not giving a completely accurate account of what transpired.
I once called something in and described the car (along with the plate prefix) as well as the address where the car was parked at. Even after I explained that the car was too far away to read the plate, the operator repeatedly pressed me for the full plate number. Only when I said “Look, I’ll just grab a notepad, run down there and jot down the plate number for you. If you hear gunshots, don’t worry, that’s just the drug dealers shooting at me” did the operator finally accept that I could not give a full plate number.
One of the strangest things that ever occurred here was the day that I overheard a group of drug dealers talking on the phone and ordering a gun to be delivered to them. I knew the guys in this group, particularly the one making the call, well enough to consider this to be a legitimate threat. I called the vice & narcotics department directly to explain what was going on. The civilian who answered the phone said that there were no officers available to speak at that time.
After I described the situation, she asked if I wanted her to send a patrol car through the area. I told her that this would probably just make everybody leave and put off the gun purchase for another day. I told her I was calling vice directly in hopes that they might be able to notify an unmarked unit in the area who could check on the situation. Thinking that (as a civilian) she may not have understood the type of neighborhood I was calling from, I briefly stated that gang-related narcotics activity and shootings were a common occurrence here and I really thought that this call should go to someone above the level of the patrol officers. After she stated that she would pass my information on to the ATF, I hung up and went back outside to observe.
The person attempting to deliver the gun made three attempts, but appeared to have gotten spooked each time by my appearance. After the third time of driving away from the group, one of the drug dealers called and told her where to meet him at. As the group walked in that direction, I called vice again and this time was able to speak with a detective. I explained the situation (including giving the name of the guy buying the gun) and stated that since the buy was about to go down, a marked car would be better than nothing at all. He thanked me for my call and I went back outside. I did not see any police activity in the area any time during the day and no one contacted me later for clarification as to what I had witnessed.
Ironically, that same drug dealer was arrested a short time later for selling drugs to an undercover officer. As he realized he was being set up, but before the uniforms were on him, he punched the plainclothes officer in the face and ran. I suppose it’s just lucky that he didn’t happen to have a gun on him at the time or things might have turned out far worse. And for making the call that tried to stop this drug dealer from arming himself, I get labeled by some members of the department as a trouble-maker.
Many of them seem to be of the opinion that I am trying to play like I am a cop, with my calls to vice and other departments. Yet the calls to the front desk just don’t get the job done. Even though people in vice have sometimes told me to call the front desk rather than them, the people at the front desk actually direct me to vice at times.
I was communicating for a while with the second-in command for my district (FW uses the quadrant system). Things were going pretty good for a while until one day I described a situation which he said I should call vice to talk about. I explained that I already had and that they had brushed me off. I told him that I was hoping he could use his position to find the right person in that department for me to get in touch with. He said he’d get back with me, but that was the last I heard from him.
Years before this, I had spoken directly with the deputy chief who runs this area. I actually offered (in writing) to let her department use my house to place cameras and officers if it would help to straighten things out here. She made no reply to this. Years later, I discovered that she had not even circulated among her subordinate officers the fact that a there was a police-friendly civilian living in the heart of the worst neighborhood in the city.
I’ll be honest and say that I think the people who run the department realize that they do not have the resources to do everything that is required of them. In my opinion, the only legitimate way of dealing with such a situation is to muster the courage to speak honestly about it. The people who run the department should be telling the politicians that they are simply inadequately funded to be able to do everything that is asked of them. Instead, they lie. They say “Yes sir, we’ll get the job done” knowing full well that they can’t.
And one of the ways they cover their tracks seems to be by creating a confusing and frustrating labyrinth of hurdles for a citizen to maneuver through. We are told that we are not allowed to liaison directly with the patrol officers in anything other than a most rudimentary fashion. We are told that for the big problems we must talk with the higher-ups, who will then integrate our information into their master plan and pass it down the line to the patrol officers who drive past our houses every day.
Yet when a citizen attempts to communicate with these higher ups, they are run in circles until they get so frustrated they just give up and stop trying to even communicate at all with the department. Then, as a final wound, the department constantly and publicly proclaims that the reason crime is so bad here is because the citizens won’t cooperate and communicate with the police. And this is what they lean on for their ultimate excuse.
They don’t have to challenge the duplicitous and lying politicians, by telling them that their funding is woefully inadequate for the mandates which they have issued. And this is a very good thing as it is those very same politicians whom the highest members of the department depend upon for an advancement in their careers. Instead, they can simply point to people like me - people who obviously just don’t give a damn because we won’t run through the endless maze of trying to communicate with a department that really doesn’t want to listen.
First of all, you have to understand that I live in a neighborhood where the sound of gunshots is a routine occurrence. Last year, there were 35 reported incidents of shots fired, shooting, or party armed within two blocks of my house. Far more than this occurred which never got called in. I used to think it was idiotic to hear gunshots around your house and to not call the police, but now I understand.
Often, this attempt to help out by giving information to the police is met with either disregard or open hostility. For example, I was once verbally accosted by an officer for not being able to tell him definitively whether it was four or five shots that I heard, even though I explained to him that it was the sound of the gunshots which had awakened me. There was also the time that I witnessed a man running from the scene of an arson. I gave a description of him, what I thought his last name was, and which direction he headed to the first officer on the scene. The officer simply stared at me for a moment as if I was speaking a foreign language, then walked away without saying a word. I remained on scene until the fire was controlled and all the officers had left. Not a single one approached me to get a statement.
There is also the fact that when a certain individual calls frequently, particularly when no one else is calling and when the area is calm by the time the police arrive, then the police seem to begin viewing that person with suspicion, as if they are making superfluous calls.
The situation is often further confused by trying to communicate with the operators who answer the telephones. I realize that these people have a difficult job, as the callers are sometimes in a frenzied state and not speaking coherently. But I also think they respond to this poorly at times. Hearing gunshots or seeing someone being shot near ones house is a disturbing situation for most people. I think the operators should realize that these civilians are not trained or always experienced at keeping cool while under duress. I think that if the caller is only able to give a partial plate number, a fuzzy description of the perp, or otherwise less than perfect information, the operator would be wise to accept this for what it is rather than harangue the caller for not giving a completely accurate account of what transpired.
I once called something in and described the car (along with the plate prefix) as well as the address where the car was parked at. Even after I explained that the car was too far away to read the plate, the operator repeatedly pressed me for the full plate number. Only when I said “Look, I’ll just grab a notepad, run down there and jot down the plate number for you. If you hear gunshots, don’t worry, that’s just the drug dealers shooting at me” did the operator finally accept that I could not give a full plate number.
One of the strangest things that ever occurred here was the day that I overheard a group of drug dealers talking on the phone and ordering a gun to be delivered to them. I knew the guys in this group, particularly the one making the call, well enough to consider this to be a legitimate threat. I called the vice & narcotics department directly to explain what was going on. The civilian who answered the phone said that there were no officers available to speak at that time.
After I described the situation, she asked if I wanted her to send a patrol car through the area. I told her that this would probably just make everybody leave and put off the gun purchase for another day. I told her I was calling vice directly in hopes that they might be able to notify an unmarked unit in the area who could check on the situation. Thinking that (as a civilian) she may not have understood the type of neighborhood I was calling from, I briefly stated that gang-related narcotics activity and shootings were a common occurrence here and I really thought that this call should go to someone above the level of the patrol officers. After she stated that she would pass my information on to the ATF, I hung up and went back outside to observe.
The person attempting to deliver the gun made three attempts, but appeared to have gotten spooked each time by my appearance. After the third time of driving away from the group, one of the drug dealers called and told her where to meet him at. As the group walked in that direction, I called vice again and this time was able to speak with a detective. I explained the situation (including giving the name of the guy buying the gun) and stated that since the buy was about to go down, a marked car would be better than nothing at all. He thanked me for my call and I went back outside. I did not see any police activity in the area any time during the day and no one contacted me later for clarification as to what I had witnessed.
Ironically, that same drug dealer was arrested a short time later for selling drugs to an undercover officer. As he realized he was being set up, but before the uniforms were on him, he punched the plainclothes officer in the face and ran. I suppose it’s just lucky that he didn’t happen to have a gun on him at the time or things might have turned out far worse. And for making the call that tried to stop this drug dealer from arming himself, I get labeled by some members of the department as a trouble-maker.
Many of them seem to be of the opinion that I am trying to play like I am a cop, with my calls to vice and other departments. Yet the calls to the front desk just don’t get the job done. Even though people in vice have sometimes told me to call the front desk rather than them, the people at the front desk actually direct me to vice at times.
I was communicating for a while with the second-in command for my district (FW uses the quadrant system). Things were going pretty good for a while until one day I described a situation which he said I should call vice to talk about. I explained that I already had and that they had brushed me off. I told him that I was hoping he could use his position to find the right person in that department for me to get in touch with. He said he’d get back with me, but that was the last I heard from him.
Years before this, I had spoken directly with the deputy chief who runs this area. I actually offered (in writing) to let her department use my house to place cameras and officers if it would help to straighten things out here. She made no reply to this. Years later, I discovered that she had not even circulated among her subordinate officers the fact that a there was a police-friendly civilian living in the heart of the worst neighborhood in the city.
I’ll be honest and say that I think the people who run the department realize that they do not have the resources to do everything that is required of them. In my opinion, the only legitimate way of dealing with such a situation is to muster the courage to speak honestly about it. The people who run the department should be telling the politicians that they are simply inadequately funded to be able to do everything that is asked of them. Instead, they lie. They say “Yes sir, we’ll get the job done” knowing full well that they can’t.
And one of the ways they cover their tracks seems to be by creating a confusing and frustrating labyrinth of hurdles for a citizen to maneuver through. We are told that we are not allowed to liaison directly with the patrol officers in anything other than a most rudimentary fashion. We are told that for the big problems we must talk with the higher-ups, who will then integrate our information into their master plan and pass it down the line to the patrol officers who drive past our houses every day.
Yet when a citizen attempts to communicate with these higher ups, they are run in circles until they get so frustrated they just give up and stop trying to even communicate at all with the department. Then, as a final wound, the department constantly and publicly proclaims that the reason crime is so bad here is because the citizens won’t cooperate and communicate with the police. And this is what they lean on for their ultimate excuse.
They don’t have to challenge the duplicitous and lying politicians, by telling them that their funding is woefully inadequate for the mandates which they have issued. And this is a very good thing as it is those very same politicians whom the highest members of the department depend upon for an advancement in their careers. Instead, they can simply point to people like me - people who obviously just don’t give a damn because we won’t run through the endless maze of trying to communicate with a department that really doesn’t want to listen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)