In a message dated Fri, 14 Jun 2002 1:46:09 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Jim Graham
writes:
> So either we need a whole lot more police resources allocated to
> troubled neighborhoods, (with a much more aggressive posture), or we
> need "citizen" to be allowed to defend themselves. When I, with other
> neighbors like Robert Cook, have to sit up all night to protect a family
> in the neighborhood from gun tot'en "Gangbangers" because the police
> do not have resources to do so, and when I call 911 on twenty five
> occasions in one afternoon about one block with out the drug trade
> being even slowed down , then it is time to start asking
> what is the next step.
Jim is absolutely correct. If we are going to be serious about
fighting the war on drugs, then we are going to have to accept that
this is a guerrilla war, and it cannot be won without the support
of the people who live in the neighborhoods where the war is being
fought - and that support sometimes has to consist of more than
just being the eyes and ears of the police. You cannot confront
armed druggies with empty hands on a continuing basis and expect
them to control themselves - if they could do that, they would not
be doing what they're doing, they'd have honest jobs.
I am not advocating vigilante action, however, and Jim again
is absolutely correct that there is a world of difference between
a homeowner with a shotgun or a pistol defending his family, his
life and his property and some Punisher wannabe out to hunt down
the criminals. The police already have a police reserve, and they
should expand it to include trained, armed and responsible
homeowners living in neighborhoods like Phillips and Near North.
We trust people barely out of their teens to carry weapons as
security guards and armored car crewmen; are you telling me in
all seriousness that we can't trust homeowners twice their age
with shotguns and pistols?
The Regular Army (Air Force, Navy, and Marines as well)
would never consider going to war without the support of the
reserves. It is time the police and the citizens of Minneapolis
stopped thinking that the "regulars" in the Thin Blue Line can
go to war against the drug dealers without the "reserves" ready
to back them up and help force the criminals into a corner that
they cannot escape. It's time to either get serious about this
or give up and accept the solution that Michael Libby and others
have proposed: reopen the saunas/massage parlors as brothels and
allow the crack dealers to open coffee houses in which to sell
their products. Amsterdam on the Minnehaha, anyone? I didn't think
so.
Kevin Trainor
RPM Candidate HD 61A
East Phillips
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