Monday Open Thread [4.29.13]
This was a deadly weekend for the City of Wilmington, with 4 shooting incidents in about 24 hours. Mayor Dennis Williams did not return Adam Taylor’s calls for his article this weekend, but one of the WPD’s PIOs spoke to WDEL this AM on the subject:
Public Information Officer Mark Ivey says police are limited as to what they can do to curb crime. He points to a vicious circle that keeps many of the same criminals working their way through the system.
Did you see what he did there? Mayor Williams promised marked improvement in the City’s rates of violence in 6 months, focusing largely on the WPD, its deployment and resources. Now that we are close to that 6 month milestone, it looks like we begin the effort to back away from that promise. Still, if you have spent any time at community meetings during the violent periods in Wilmington, you will recognize that line of reasoning. Chief Szczerba had his management roll out to community meetings armed with statistics showing the number of arrests made by the WPD for a period, noting that *they* were arresting people as fast as they could. It was the AG’s office and the Judges that kept turning them loose as fast as they went in. The thing is, that this really is part of the problem, and Cris Barrish’s excellent special report on how easy it is to get back on the street after being arrested for fairly serious crimes shows a part of it. But it is intriguing to watch how fast they’ve backed off of the tough guy belligerence that was going to fix it all. They aren’t helping themselves by reorganizing to be utterly reactive rather than proactive to issues, and cutting themselves off from the kind of community partnerships that are supposed to help them do their work. Too bad.
This amazes me — retired Justice Sandra Day-O’Connor tells the Chicago Tribune editorial board that Bush v. Gore may have been a mistake:
Looking back, O’Connor said, she isn’t sure the high court should have taken the case.
“It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue,” O’Connor said during a talk Friday with the Tribune editorial board. “Maybe the court should have said, ‘We’re not going to take it, goodbye.'”
The case, she said, “stirred up the public” and “gave the court a less-than-perfect reputation.”
“Obviously the court did reach a decision and thought it had to reach a decision,” she said. “It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadn’t done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day.”
Well, hello.
What interests you today?
As a Wilmington resident I’ll say this: I have noticed an increased police presence. I even saw a group of recuits walking around downtown with their instructors about a month ago.
I didn’t vote for Williams, but I see indications that there’s effort. Now I don’t have any delusion. Some neighborhoods are just pits of despair and ad hoc war zones… but I believe the new administration is trying.
@ Dorian Gray, you see an increased police presence and your example is recruits walking downtown, by far the SAFEST place in Wilmington outside of the Mayor’s office.
How about recruits working in a hot spot or a neighborhood that is working to not become a hotspot, maybe in our playgrounds where we know drug dealing goes on.
The police are making arrests, but they have been for a long time, they just publicize arrests now. There is no denying shootings are up in the city this year over last.
If change, and quick change at that, wasn’t promised Cassandra may not have written this post.
Oh, and I too am a Wilmington resident.
Well, I saw the recuits walking on 4th and Orange. I still consider that downtown. And my travels take me into Trinity and Quaker Hill (which I guess they just call West Center City now) as well as Littly Italy, Cool Springs, the Triangle, plus my bus at 2nd and Walnut. I live in 40 Acres…
I’ve seen bigger cop presence everywhere… I agree with you though. The shootings happen maybe 4 spots. I don’t understand why they don’t just camp out there… then again I know nothing about police work.
Hey, look, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m no fan of cops in general. I think the people attrached to that career can be a little strange with power, etc. Maybe for once in my life I’m trying to be sanguine. It feels bizarre…
Yes, why aren’t police camping out in the areas where the shootings take place?
Yeah, yeah targeting corners just moves them somewhere else, I have heard that too. So, keep moving them, move ’em on out of here! Move ’em right over a cliff or maybe push ’em into the dump, yeah push ’em into the landfill with the rest of our trash.
When the WPD has a cadet class you can see them in Downtown, over in WCC and down at the Riverfront. WFD cadets too. When I first moved to Quaker Hill (yes, we still call it that. Trinity, too), there was a cadet class that came up 4th St early in the AM — like 6 or 7 or so. They were coming from Hicks Anderson and led back to police HQ by then Lt. Christine Dunning.
I work outside of the city, so am not a good judge of police presence. It doesn’t seem any different here, really. I do know that a local business close by has had pretty serious issues with WPD response time to calls. I do know that the promise was that he needed 6 months to make some real change and a month away from that there isn’t any.
Bostonian confronts an Alex Jones minion.
Video of the confrontation
Comedian Doug Stanhope tweeted a note to Alex Jones today too:
Doug Stanhope @DougStanhope 6h
Note to @RealAlexJones… u said I’d find Jesus inside 3 years – times up. But I guess we all hope youre wrong about everything anyway.
I work in West Center City. I haven’t noticed an increased police presence. Some days the neighborhood is crawling w/ heavy patrol, both in cars & on bicycles. Other days I might see one or 2 cruisers over the course of 10 daylight hours. Last time I saw anyone on foot patrol was when mayoral candidates were speaking at Interfaith Community Housing prior to the election.
Female DNA has been found on some of the Boston bomb parts, and authorities are testing DNA from the widow of Tamerlane Tsarnaev for a match. When asked for comment, Mrs. Tsarnaev said “So that’s where my pressure cooker got to.”
I live on the East Side. Last summer there was a police cruiser parked in the middle of the intersection down the street from my house, making it difficult to pass through the neighborhood. Apparently they think most cars coming through are to buy drugs. That is incorrect. Most times, there is no police presence other than the occasional drive through.
Williams did talk to Norman Oliver Sunday about the crime and plans that will be implemented soon. He said that he didn’t know that the city was down twenty officers and he didn’t have the kind of money he thought he’d have when he came into office. The joint jurisdiction coming between the city and county will help (I thought they’d already been sworn): .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h7P7tUuiOn4
“He said that he didn’t know that the city was down twenty officers and he didn’t have the kind of money he thought he’d have when he came into office.”
Translation: He couldn’t find his ass with both hands. Dumb SOB thought the city budget was $500 million until it was budget time. It’s six months after his inauguration and he STILL hasn’t moved on what was supposedly his one area of laser-like focus.
The Council approved a recruit class before the elections, that can only be called when the force is a certain percentage below the authorized strength. He is related to someone who was on council at the time and is friendly with other council people and police officers so how is it he didn’t know they were down 20 officers?
I knew the numbers were down (maybe not the exact number)and I am just a city resident, not candidate for mayor.
Budget? Um, once again you know people in the city council and city employees, the budget is public info so how did you think your budget was 3 or 4 times the actual?
Sigh
Does it matter if Williams knew about being 20 officers down? His Chief surely knew as she was probably present at all of the walkouts of the rush of retiring officers.
Well that. is a good point Cassandra.