The primary function and responsibility of government, of any kind, is the provision of public safety. All other functions of government are secondary to that responsibility. It is the basis of not only government but of common law. Governmental powers were first created and rulers sanctioned as "rulers" in order for a group of people to acquire that "public safety" protection. This is so paramount that the Charter of the City of Minneapolis in State legislation requires the adequate enforcement of State and Federal Law. Or that legislation requires punishment of the political leaders of the City for being criminally maleficent in their duties. Of course this "Law" is ignored like so many other laws in Minneapolis.
Perhaps we should ask the state to escrow a certain percentage of our tax dollars for payment of more police officers, if the City Council and Mayor are not willing to provide those resources? Hennepin County provides police services to communities that can not do so in the rest of Hennepin County. Is it possible that we need to contract with them for those services needed in poor communities? Yes we in Ventura Village have considered using cameras for monitoring active drug corners, such as Chicago & Franklin, Chicago & 24th Street, 11th & Franklin, and Park & Franklin. These cameras would also be useful for monitoring traffic. The police manpower is so low in "Impacted Neighborhoods" that police do not even bother with traffic unless someone runs the light in front of the squad car. Minneapolis does not have the manpower or political will to enforce gross misdemeanor and felony crime laws, let alone traffic. People even laugh in the hood that, "cops aren't bothering real drug dealers, you think they care about someone running a stop sign?" Last night, a Saturday night, you had one patrol car holding two police officers attempting to enforce the law and give service for four neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods contain the largest concentration of criminal perpetrators and crime victims in the State of Minnesota. How many squads were covering the four neighborhoods around 50th & France? With resources stretched so thin in poor neighborhoods, how can Minneapolis expect anything different. Well I personally expect a whole lot different, but it doesn't mean I am going to get it! Block clubs and residents are encouraged to call when they see crime in progress. Yet, how can residents be expected to continue to make such calls when the resident knows that there is not the manpower to address the problem and his or her call? If a resident calls the police forty times to report drug dealers on their corners and it takes 30 minutes to an hour to get a car to drive by and see that the dealer is gone, how long do you think it takes before that resident comes to the conclusion that "Law" has no meaning for poor communities? How long before that resident starts thinking, "well if they do not care about that drug dealer standing doing business at the corner why would they care if I stop or not at the light on the corner?" Children who grow up watching drug dealers openly commit felonies on the corner, without recourse, also probably do not care too much for behavioral standards at school. When those children grow up and get a license they probably do not have the same regard for traffic laws. And the cycle goes on and gets faster as it goes. The real problem is that Minneapolis has allowed a culture to be created of not caring about or believing in laws. The social and economic costs of this culture is trigonometrically higher than the cost of effective policing. Such a socially negative culture causes a caustic erosion of our individual rights and our overall quality of life. Some might say that this is the cost of living in a urban area, but I do not believe that. I believe we can live in a rich Urban setting and still have an orderly society, but this richness does have some costs. I would prefer to pay those costs in more tax dollars, rather than in paying with my personal freedoms and liberties. Jim Graham, Ventura Village _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
