Tamir Nolley opined:
Still, I was willing to give Moore a chance until I
learned that Olin Moore now has the endorsement of the
Police Federation. To me, this means that Moore is
the endorsed candidate of a group of thugs and bullies
The Police Federation is the police officers union. Like any
union, their major issues are wages and working conditions. The
average officer is neither thug nor bully, rather they protect us
from thugs and bullies.
A group that defends the reprehensible behavior that
included harassing and sometimes killing innocent
people who are metally ill, have dark skin, speak
different languages, have long hair, spiked hair.
Such is not the major activity of any labor union. Labor
unions are required by federal labor law to defend their members
against discipline, whether deserved or not. Given insurance
companys' denial of their responsibility to provide treatment for
people with mental illness police officers have increasingly been
forced to play crisis mental health workers.
I'm sure of Christopher Burns (the man who was most
recently murdered by out of control cops, the case was
even ruled a homicide by police in court) could were
still with us he would empthetically plea with us not
to elect anyone supported by the police federation
ever!
Murdered? Has any officer been convicted yet in a court of
law? BTW, R.T. Rybak was elected mayor with Police Federation
endorsement. Are you arguing that had his opponent Sharon
Sayles-Belton been elected the outcome of this tragedy would have
been any different?
Still, Don Samuels' Nixonesque "Tough on crime and
drugs" rhetoric is very disturbing to me as I believe
that drug addiction can not be solved even by
responsible law enforcement. This is purely a
medical, psychological problem and to some extent the
result of a desperate economy.
Agreed- Don Samuel's "tough on drugs" policy has been tried
for a couple decades now and largely proven a failure.
The only thing law
enforcement can contribute to solving the drug problem
is to drive it further underground and make the
violence that goes along with drugs worse.
I doubt if legalization would suddenly cause the dealers to
start paying taxes and obeying zoning codes. The Police have a role
to play in shutting down the illegal drug trade. The choice to
rehabilitate or punish is made by the courts as directed by the law.
Samuels' solution, to "get the cops out of thier cars
and in to the neighborhoods" will only increase police
harassment of youth and people of color.
Don Samuels' proposal is also quite impractical- walking
around all day with the 30 pounds or so of the stuff officers have to
carry would lead to a lot of expensive workers' comp claims. An
officer also needs to stay close to their squad which contains
hundreds of pounds of gear. That's why downsized police cruisers
didn't cut it in the real world.
I personally don't want cops getting out of their cars
to "get to know me better." I just want people to be
able to go to the grocery store without getting
harassed twice a week because they "look suspicious."
There are some suspicious "grocery" stores in my 'hood that
need to be checked out at least twice a day, never mind the crowd of
armed drug dealers hanging around them.
Jonathan Palmer wrote:
Don Samuels on:
INSPECTIONS
"City Inspections must work with residents to preserve
our fragile, valuable
housing stock and create quality neighborhoods."
Agreed.
- Ensure sufficient staff to work with residents on
enforcing community
standards.
Inspectors can only enforce the code. "Community standards",
taste (or lack of same) in home decorating, etc. are not within their
purview.
Partner with neighborhoods on clean-sweep
efforts and preventive
education.
Again, no disagreement here.
- Institute a system of public accountability where
inspection goals are
tracked and reported on a regular basis.
- Work with the courts to ensure consequences for
poorly maintained
properties. Coordinate resources on chronic offenders.
A pleasant fantasy, but given the city's budget crisis there
won't be any more "resources" available. Unless perhaps Don Samuels
is proposing tax increases to fund his platform's wish list?
- Balance increased enforcement with appropriate
resources targeted to
property owners.
So Don Samuels proposes to target us property owners for
"increased enforcement". Perhaps he has forgotten that us homeowners
tend to vote in high numbers. As far as resources go, we'll be lucky
to save NRP never mind expand it- unless Don Samuels is proposing
another tax increase for this item in his platform...
Partner with neighborhood groups to
promote property
improvement incentives.
Again, how much of a tax increase is Don Samuels proposing here?
chuckling in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
--
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