Giving Mayors Everywhere a Bad Reputation

Is she going to tell the FD not to enter burning buildings next… and the EMS crew they have to have the patients come to them. The police chief was being career wise in front of the cameras but I’m sure he has some other comments off the record, like the mayor being a fruitcake.

Where can one find a drug that would make one sooooooo delusional! If I were a criminal, I would strongly consider packing my bags and moving my business there!

To bad the police chief does not have the guts to stand up to this lunatic. He must need his job. Hopefully, this community will realize what they have done and won’t re-elect her.

Garrison Keilor said it best:
“The problem with the secret ballot is that people will vote for the wrong candidate if they think nobody is watching.”

Anyone want to rob a bank….I know of this sweet honey pot of a place. Even if they see us…they can’t chase us…on foot! This is freakin hilarious. That woman is a NUT!!!

Seriously though, anyone want to rob a bank? I will provide the mask and you can wear something comfortable like SANDALS…

Wikipedia says this town has 2,000+ citizens in two square miles of township. Is this a place with a real crime problem?

The curious question is how does a poor town of 2,000+ citizens afford a police department. In a municipality that small I wouldn’t be shocked to find out that a few OJIs/disability claims would dramatically raise their insurance rates.

I’m with the mayor on this one. The reporter wanted to make a big story out of nothing. What are the Justice Department stats for the big city of Wellford. If this guy had been a reporter he would have brought those numbers to the interview. He might have asked the chief about his injury rate among his staff, which is why the policy was enacted.

Fat, out of shape, cops who smoke and have poor diets raise the social cost of medicine for all of us.

Gordo…so your saying that small towns shouldnt have police departments? OR that small towns cant have serious crime? I can guarantee that THIS little town will now have a serious crime problem now that the bad guys have the upper hand.
I live in PA. where many small towns rely on their own police departments for protection and we have murders, robberies and drug problems like any other urban area. A story out of nothing??? THIS IS SOMETHING! HEll if I lived there, Id be down at the courthouse getting a carry permit first thing. Life is about to get a whole lot more interesting there.

This little town is part of the Spartensburg regional area…which is a huge city, with all the problems of a big city.

And another thing….Jericho Arkansas has a trigger happy police department with several officers…and a population of only 150! Well at least they HAD a trigger happy police department before the courthouse shooting rampage!

Steve,

The idea that an absence of a chase policy will lead to a surge in violent crime is silly. I certainly appreciate what the COMSAT reports did for community policing in NYC. But certainly the reduction in crime was also linked to the growing economy. Crime doesn’t pay as well as Wall Street. Unless Wellford is home to amazing riches that now lie unprotected, my guess is that crime will stay pretty constant.

I’m saying this at the least this is bad reporting. These questions should have been asked and they weren’t: 1. Why was there a change. 2. Did rising insurance costs for a municipality mandate this change (if you are a small pool, OJIs or disability claims will send your insurer running) 3. What is the crime rate of the municipality in question.

I thought the chief gave a terrific response, by saying we will still be out there. Murders are not dissuaded by police policy. Violent crime is often associated with illegal drug use, or the victim being attacked by an individual who is a friend or family member. Changing the chase policy doesn’t change either of those contributing factors.

If you want to address whether small communities need to have independent police forces, I’d say that the individual community should get to decide, at least under my current understanding of the legislative process in the USA. If you asking me if it makes prudent financial sense for every municipality out there to have their own independent uniformed force, then my answer is no, I think it is stupid. It is a waste of money and resources.

In my major metropolitan city we have the city police, the sheriff’s department, constables, the K-12 police force, parks police, State police, Games and Fisheries, the Metro police who handle roads, buses, and trains, and we have at least 4 separate universities (each with their own independent police force). Yes, I happen to think that is a waste of taxpayer money. There would be less waste and less white hats if there was a unified command.

Our politicians love to talk about how they are “tough” on crime, but rarely do they ever have the guts to address why there is crime in the first place. I’ve found that when I’ve known my neighbors and they knew me, they had my backs, and the suspicious individuals in the neighborhood were noted. I’ve found that when you serve overseas and can speak the language of the people, they’ll be more than happy to tell you where the IEDs are before they blow-up your men. I’m all for grabbing the bad guys by the short and curlies, but I have found that if you win the hearts and minds of people, there are lot less bad guys to worry about, and the local citizenry is more than happy to point them out and be rid of them.

Okay. It may not lead to a rise in violent crime, but it will damn sure result in a rise in repeat offenders in this jurisdiction. “Hey, all we have to do to get away is run, they can’t chase us!!”

Another out of touch politician. Shame on the Police Chief for not educating her on what thye do. Ignorance begets ignorance!

FireCap5,

This is a small town, if you are identified as a criminal, the chief said they will serve an arrest warrant.

Gordo,

I see that you say crime doesn’t pay as well as Wall Street. I must disagree. Recently, within the past year, there have been several drug stings that targeted $500,000 – $2.5M / month operations in NJ & PA. Wall Street doesn’t even come close, especially now! Since we are in a economic decline people using drugs is on the rise. The fact is the DEA has since an overwhelming increase in the amount of drugs in the US over the past five(5) years. So, drugs are more readily available, period! Drug addicts often commit crimes to support their habit.

You also mentioned that the question of “why the change was made” should have been asked. I believe it was answered by the avoiding politician when she said “the insurance claims are costing more than most people in Wellford earn.” She is hiding behind religion by being defensive and saying “may GOD bless you”. I think it’s a shame but, in small towns like that people have few choices.

The police chief also said that if they CAN identify the suspect they’ll issue a warrant later. A mask and clothes discarded/burned later could prevent that. I doubt they have a large forensics department.

What is a “K-12 police force”? Do you mean K-9? And many universities are private and therefore either elect to or can’t use the local police force. I lived in a university town and worked for the PD and the small university had their own police force and investigated everything unless the loss was greater than $2,000 or a crime greater than a misdemeanor was committed. I also know that many universities use their own force because crimes like rape are not included in the official federal count of crimes in a specific area if not investigated by an “official police department”.