St Louis Alderman admits police ineffective

[Atash Hagmahani]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,460725,00.html

ST. LOUIS —  A St. Louis city leader frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property.

Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

"The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it's clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold," Troupe, 72, said Tuesday.

Troupe said that when he and residents approached a district police commander last year, they were told "there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community ... that he didn't have the manpower."

And they never will. As long as the police have zero motivation to get involved (it's not like they don't get paid if the crime rate rises above some threshold), are under political pressure not to make certain kinds of arrests, and are under pressure to minimize arrests in general, then the police forces of any one of several cities that outnumber the armies of some whole countries, are totally ineffective.

[nwdespot]

police are not motivated to catch criminal because if crime rates are low, there is no increases in there budgets.  i know that here in washington, most police reports for most crimes are now just phoned in.  however, when i lived in the town of kalama, my jeep was broke into and they came over and finger printed my vehicle, but my girlfriend at the time already contaminated the scene.  also my next door neighbor apartment was burglarized and they fingerprinted and caught the guy.  that was one little town that hated crime.  i guess it was because it is a small town and they have to answer to its citizens.

[Mike]

Police spend most of their time watching for seat belts, helmets, skateboarders, and drivers coming to a complete pause at stop signs.  The penalty for committing these CRIMEs is far out of line with the seriousness of the offense.

On the other hand, police usually do not recover stolen property.  If they do, it is usually a car that has been stripped and abandoned by the thieves.

The police are ineffective.

Some societies are inherently honest.  In the seventies a neighbor traveled Europe and returned proclaiming the Spanish honest and the Italians thieves.

My own experience suggests the Japanese are honest to the point of fanaticism.  The Mexican people are generally as honest as the day is long.  But those Mexicans who are politicians, policemen, or mail carriers, are generally not. 

I have asked old people if Americans are becoming less honest.  They have said it is about the same now as before.  What does this board think?

[nwdespot]

mike i agree with you about the what you saying about the police spending most of their time on relatively minor things.  these are however revenue producing offenses that most people will not contest.  yeah i agree with you about the recovering of stolen property.  and even if they did recover your stolen property, they will not return it to you unless you can prove without a doubt that it is yours.

the point i was trying to make is that if you live in a city that is large you are screwed.  the only person looking out for you is you.  that is why i do not live in a city anymore.  although i live in the country, and i see a sheriff out here maybe once a month, i do feel much more safer out here.  actually, the only reason i lock my front door is that the neighbors 4yo comes to my house quite often and lets himself in, and with me not having children of my own, my house is not kid proof.  otherwise i could probably get away without locking the doors.

when i lived in kalama washington (pop 1800 at the time) i never lock my front door.  also, when i lived there, i would often drive into downtown and leave the keys to my jeep on the floorboard for 2 or 3 days at a time and i never had to worry.  the police in that small town were very proactive about crime and the reason for this was that everybody knew them (3 full time officer and 3 reserves) and if there had been a crime problem, they knew the city would have no problem replacing them with ones that could.  also they never went after you for petty vs (ie tail lights out, seat belts etc.).

in large cities the police have motivation for there to be a high crime rate.  the higher the crime rate the larger the budget.  sure they will solve the major news making crimes that make the news to make them look competition, but they let the minor ones go so they can feel justified in asking for more money.  but like you said mike, they sure seem to have all time in the world to go after those revenue producing infractions.

[Dame]

If I take the time to sit and listen to the police, generally any police, I here a modified story.

Listening can be done by going to whatever coffee shop they visit.  Get a cup and sit by myself at an ajoining table.  Listen.  Not polite, but it is informative.

The inside experience seems to be that they can work their buts off to catch the perpetrator of some crime and then find themselves meeting him on the street by the time they have put in the free overtime to complete the mandatory paperwork.  I suspect in the majority of cases they get hyper-frustrated and loose it on occassion.  This does not make it acceptable, just understandable.  Basicly ok people doing not ok things.

As for defending ourselves, I have a strong preference to invest in the insurance on a cooperative and integrated community where there is agreement on the basic rules.  This can be achieved in city neighbourhoods where there is relatively low turnover of residence.  In highly mobile spots, I would simply leave.  Rent the place out if necessary. 

Its similar to the urge to overdo the dicipline?? on childish behavior when everyone is confined by really bad weather and all are bored.  I just put the cushions back on the chesterfield one more time here and was grateful when my Mom called and reminded me of the endless playing with the things that I did as a kid.