mcl said... "If you do start calling 911 for all crimes, as you should, be prepared for the cops to start purposely disregarding your calls. I have heard (on my scanner) the sergeant on duty advising their beat cars to ignore certain calls. Of course, I continue calling anyway. Also, the dispatcher will often send the calls to the 'box' (beat car computer screen) to avoid putting it on the air with their 'comments', knowing that I'm listening to the scanner. So much for "We Serve and Protect". Some of these officers have real attitude problems and something needs to be done about it!"
Blognotes: Note to my readers who make regular anonymous 911 calls. After listening to the scanner for a few years, I've learned these anonymous 911 calls rank lower on the priority line than illegal parkers. Maybe the comment about illegal parkers wasn't so funny. It seems writing parking tickets has become priority #1 for the city of Chicago.
22 comments:
what do you expect?
don't blame the police...
when they have a manpower shortage.
they are not respected.
people tend to not trust them and assume they are corrupt.
the media constantly piles on them.
the city and department does not support the average officer.
the court system works against them in criminal and civil cases.
there are always bad apples and exceptions to the rule. i doubt anyone can understand what they deal with in bad neighborhoods. i see it, and i sure dont want to be a cop. with that said, dont they respond to thousands of calls a day without incident???
they should be commended.
I pay plenty in taxes. It's not my fault they have a manpower shortage.
The book "Fixing Broken Windows" should be required reading for anyone and everyone involved in and concerned with urban crime and disorder, especially our Superintendent of Police and our uniformed officers. For those not familiar with this book and its thesis here is a quote from the cover jacket: "In Fixing Broken Windows, the authors, criminologists George Kelling and Catherine Coles, a lawyer and urban anthropologist, restore our focus on the prevention of crime, without resorting to stale rhetoric about its 'root causes.' While the national response to crime focuses on such issues as building more prisons, capital punishment, and 'three strikes-you're out--dealing with crime after it has been committed--Kelling and Coles prove that controlling disorderly behavior in public spaces creates an environment where serious crime cannot flourish, but ordinary life and business can." The book was published in 1996 and is truly a must read and should be utilized as a guide to restoring order to our neighborhoods.
P.S.
"The police at all times should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police; the police are the only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community welfare."
Sir Robert Peel, Founder, London Metropolitan Police, 1829
you pay taxes and should hold your politicians accountable for the poor job. i know you call out the alderman almost everyday, but what about all the others in power who would never address this issue?
the mayor
ike carothers(head of the police and fire committee)
how about the lawyers who are winning the war AGAINST good police enforcement.
Read the book, Isaac!
mcl!!!!
Do you expect the book to be read in a few hours from the time of your suggestion?
How does it help if I read it, when the powers that be need to read it and implement the ideas?
And an obvious question which most never raise or answer, "what are the qualifications to lead?". Do politicians have credentials to make decisions about our society? Even books such as your recommended reading have counter viewpoints, and thus it comes down to a general consensus by those in power.
have fun reading about how it should be done.
I, for one, am shocked and appalled that the police would ignore anonymous calls that would inevitably lead to misdemeanors - especially calls from individuals who are either like minded to this blog or directly associated with this blog.
Shocking, really. Who would think such a thing would happen right here in Chicago?
Lulz......
i recommend that people take a few minutes to educate themselves about the broken windows theory, which has been pretty well debunked.
google broken windows theory. read the wiki, and read the wapo piece "cracks in the broken window theory".
raising pettiness to a high art, and a high budgetary priority, is just the sort of theory that i am sure all you craig heads love. too bad it's a myth.
Is there anything more tedious than been there? Try googling "been there shit artist mullet" and see what you get...
Nobody has 'debunked' the "Broken Windows" approach to restoring order to communities. In fact, the basics of 'community policing' came out of this (even though it has been totally misapplied, i.e. no foot patrols, beat officers isolated in cars, etc.). Those who question the Broken Windows effectiveness are by and large academians and social apologists with an 'agenda' who hold on to the "stale rhetoric" about the root causes of crime in our communities. Talk to those who LIVE in communities where this 'zero tolerance' policing has been applied and ask them about the before and after aspects of their neighborhood/community quality of life. Read the book!
The majority of 911 operators don't bother to ask me if I want to give my name or remain anonymous. The few that have asked my name don't bother to get the correct spelling of may last name, and act like it really is a burden to them to get that information.
Another topic, does anyone know if it is possible to get information about tickets written in an area? For instance, if I want to find out how many tickets for drinking alcohol in the open have been written in the 24th district, is that information readily available anywhere?
If they respond to the "small calls", i.e. loitering, graffiti (most often of the gang variety), drinking in the park, etc., they won't have to respond so much to the big calls (shooting, gang fights, etc.) as one most often leads to the others. Like someone said, it's the "Fix broken windows" theory. Fix the small stuff NOW and you avoid the big stuff later.
maybe someone should tell them that they'd save money too. It takes less manhours to investigate loitering than murder.
Again today I call 911 about dice games for cash at the north entrance to Gale Park. I call 911 for a drug dealer on Paulina. I call 911 for a drug dealer on a bicycle at Jonquil Terrace and Marshfield. There are 5 or 6 gang bangers at the corner of Howard and Marshfield in front of the pizza place. If I can see all of this in a 10 minute walk, why can't the police see this and get it cleaned up?
The drug dealer on Paulina has been in the same area for at least the last 6 months. He has been reported to 911 at least once a day almost every day, he has been reported to the aldermans office, and for the last 6 months he has been reported at the CAPS meetings. What does it take?
I'm tired of being told at CAPS meetings these individuals and gangs of thugs can't have their civil rights violated. What about my civil rights? What about my right to live in a neighborhood where I can walk safely and not be confronted every day with drug dealings, thugs, gang bangers, prostitutes and public drunkeness? What are the exorbitant property taxes I pay being used for?
When is the alderman going to admit he has created a big problem that needs to be cleaned up? When are the residents of this neighborhood going to stand up and say enough is enough?
When are these quality of life issues going to be addressed by the new police commander as he promised when he was introduced to the neighborhood in the spring? We're on the cusp of fall and there is no change.
Well Bos - the alderman loves NOH because it's so special to him. He has his spies, his addicts who flyer the hood for his special projects, (and he's too cheap to pay them to remove them afterward) and most of all its his voting base.
The libs can yell 'diverse neighborhood' till the cows come home but it boils down to a different stew.
When these big apartment buildings were bought up and used as rich men's Section 8 tax loopholes that's when it all started. Orr was in office then - Joe followed suit. There are 'condo' buildings NOH that are rentals but that's a big secret.
We have some infamous families - large families here. Remember the Hudsons? One is still in prison for murder, the other got out of prison and was dead in a week or two. That murder was allegedly payback for a messy dice game and probably general payback. Who knows the truth?
But who is enforcing HUDs rules? Certainly not Joe and certainly not the managers of some of these buildings. They go through the motions because unfortunately - they're scared of many of their own tenants.
The cops can't go into apartments without a warrant and just cause. The clean up begins with the owners and managers cooperating with the cops. If the residents march, well, we all know the stalker hides in the bushes and counts how many white people vs black people are walking for peace! What the stalker doesn't admit or know is many of our neighbors would walk with us if they weren't too damn scared of the dude down the hall or upstairs retaliating.
man on the street said:
"If they respond to the "small calls", i.e. loitering, graffiti (most often of the gang variety), drinking in the park, etc., they won't have to respond so much to the big calls (shooting, gang fights, etc.) as one most often leads to the others. Like someone said, it's the "Fix broken windows" theory. Fix the small stuff NOW and you avoid the big stuff later."
In a 'nut shell' that is the "Broken Windows" concept and it is extremely effective when put into practice. It's about enforcing ALL THE LAWS...ZERO TOLERANCE in dealing with the law breakers on the street and the public way!! As Senator Obama recently stated emphatically.."ENOUGH"!
They ignore anonymous calls because, without a witness to sign a complaint, the odds of the case being tossed are high. Without a witness, the bad guy complains that the cops had no particular reason to roll up on him. With a witness willing to sign a complaint, the cops know they have a much better chance of making an arrest that will stick, and so those calls get higher priority.
It's been an adjustment for me (I live in Logan Square, not Rogers Park, but I feel you) to remind myself, before I call 911, that I am going to give the operator my name and address. You're right, they don't ask. They should.
The cops don't need "witnesses" to sign a complaint in order to arrest and charge someone with breaking the law in regard to violating city ordinances/laws, i.e., public drinking, selling and using drugs, prostitution, littering, etc., etc.!
At any given moment in chicago someone is robbed, raped, shot, stabbed, beaten, killed, do you really feel comfortable calling the police and then getting upset when no one comes out when you call to report a permit parking violation.
This is not a "suburb" people expect some type of noise or commotion in a city as big as this!! you complain about property taxes try moving to a suburb and see what you pay!!
I've been rear-ended by hit and run drivers twice within a year... Once with damage totaling over $7,000 and once with minimal damage. BOTH times my 3-4 year old little boy was in his child seat in the back seat. BOTH times I got the plate number as the hit and run driver exited the crime scene. BOTH times the Chicago Police department informed me that my incident was not important enough for them to pursue. This is B$llSh%t - and NOTHING But. I'm quickly growing completely fed up with the City of Chicago and ALL it's paid 'workers' ! ENOUGH !
--- And when a little kid is mowed down by one of these lousy bastard unlicensed illegal drivers - go ask the CPD if it's now worth their time !
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