Before I got home my phone was ringing because our next murder had
been committed by the drug dealers on my corner. This was after the
Female on the Lease was supposed to have been physically removed by
the Sheriff this morning. The stop Team spending a Half hour
watching the dealers earlier.
After this not unexpected murder our police chief, in his
role as apologist for the mayor that appointed him, stated that his
shrunken department was "working smarter". "Working smarter" seems to
mean a form of triage rather than the proactive "community policing"
that has been so effective in other cities with fully staffed police
departments.
That triage begins when you call 911. Noting how overwhelmed
our Police Department is I don't even bother calling 911 for anything
short of a felony these days. A house on my block has been infested
by some rather feral homeless folks for months. After finally being
thrown out I heard and saw them breaking back in the other night.
Breaking and entering being a felony, I called 911. I was greeted by
a third degree inquisition demanding a plethora of demographic
information about the perps as well as whether I had witnessed the
break in. It being rather dark and looking through foliage I could
not make a certain identification, and I sure as hell wasn't going to
walk over and check the door for damage then call 911 back.
Now of course the falling crime statistics our mayor brags
about are based on reported crime... and discouraging reporting by
inquistitious 911 opertaors and slow police respose is a pretty
effective way to reduce crime. But I persevered through the 911
inquisition, given that hanging up would have brought the police to
my door instead. Minneapolis' finest drove by a while later, stopped
for a bit in front, then drove on missing the broken back door and
felons inside.
I will admit that a shooting brings a more prompt response-
in fact the firefighters will usually beat Minneapolis' police to the
scene and have to wait at a safe distance for police to get the crime
scene under control. Given that a fire truck weighs over six times as
much as a police cruiser, doesn't have much more power, and doesn't
go around city street corners as well, it's obvious that Minneapolis'
police are having trouble keeping up. If the victims dies the police
chief, probably the mayor, and maybe the council member will soon
appear to provide sound bites for the media. If the victim is a child
the above spokespeople will mutter platitudes like "never again" and
"this will be the last child murdered in Minneapolis".
A couple hours after the medical examiner, police,
firefighters, EMTs, press, and politicians have left the drug
dealers, hookers, et al will emerge from the shadows and the cycle
will repeat itself. Good citizens will call 911, housing inspectors
will charge more elders with criminal possession of peeling paint or
prairie grasses, and the odd peace march will be held. But inevitably
in a matter of hours, days, or months the same streets will be
bloodied as another life is snuffed out.
Or we could elect a new mayor...
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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