POLICE BUSINESS NEWS
10-9-07
Wednesday night the city police had two calls that should disturb the public.
One was Edgewood School where a burglary occurred. Several computers were taken that were used to educate our children.
The second was BellSouth at Dallas Avenue and Washington Street. A truck, a trailer with four generators, and several rolls of copper were taken. Estimated value $80,000.00. Where is the protection the citizen's pay for? The officers are doing as good as they can with the number of officers the Mayor has allowed on the police force. Experts say we need 65 to 70 officers; we have 39 and 2 of them are in the Academy. 37 police officers can NOT patrol seven sections of the City.
A citizen emailed this website and told us of several crimes not reported and, to boot, were handled in a sloppy, very unprofessional manner when they were reported.
In August, the police were called to an apartment where shots had been fired through the back door. The officer's attention was called to a bullet that was rattling around in the clothes dryer. The tenant gave the bullet to the policeman and he (the policeman) threw it in the trash. When asked why he didn't keep it for evidence in case the gun was used in a future crime, he said the bullet wasn't good for anything. When the tenant asked if he (the policeman) would speak to the girl in the next apartment to see if she knew anything, he (the policeman) said, "She doesn't know anything." The tenant with holes in her door said she knew better.
A citizen reported that the police were called about several teenagers ganged up on the street corner - cussing, hollering, and beating on a stop sign. A few days prior to this, some teenagers pulled up in a car and pointed a gun at another teenager. The teenager ran to his house to get a gun only to be pulled back into the house by his parents. Before the citizen could explain to the officer, he said, "We aren't babysitters! We can't be watching all these kids standing around!"
About six weeks ago, some young men threw two pistols under a house on Third Avenue. The police were called and the guns retrieved. The people living at the address have a son that is a Policeman. This citizen said the young man had been seen visiting the residence. The citizen called and asked the officer who confiscated the guns to call him. No calls as of this posting.
These are examples of low morale and laCk of committment police officers experience when pushed to the wall by working double shifts, lack of backup because of too few officers, and lack of proper leadership.
THANK YOU PERKINS!!!!!
