Citizens Seek Security Alternatives as Police Forces Downsize

Breitbart ^ | June 20, 2013 | Kerry Picket

[Perseverando]

As cities across the U.S. face police shortages and violent crime rebounds, some communities have begun to police themselves through other means.

One such watch group was created in a neighborhood in Milwaukee, Oregon and calls itself a "Glock Block."KOIN News reports:

“We’re starting a new group,” said Coy Tolonen, who lives in unincorporated Clackamas County. “We don’t feel neighborhood watch is sufficient, and we don’t feel the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office is sufficient.”

Tolomon and a group of Jennings Lodge neighbors say they’re responding to escalating crime on their block by also making fliers that read “This is a Glock block. We don’t call 911.”

It’s mostly petty crime that neighbors are sick and tired of: stolen lawn ornaments, vandalism. But for neighbors like Tolonen, a breast-cancer survivor, that’s enough: “I will defend myself — and my home,” she told KOIN 6 News.

Citizens of Detroit, a city that is about to default on a $2.5 billion debt to avoid bankruptcy, are trying a different approach. The Detroit police force, which has lost 25 percent of its strength over a four-year period, is attempting to bolster itself by placing unarmed volunteer citizens in a program that would have them patrol the city streets. The

[Average Al]

[yarddog]

The town I grew up in probably has ten times the police force it had during the 50s and it is the same population.

[Iron Munro]

They should just install 8" thick, see-through, bullet proof glass cages for everyone.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I remember once when the cops in Steubenville, Ohio went on strike. You haven’t seen as many armed citizens this side of a John Wayne movie.

[Vigilanteman]

One thing I've noticed about police forces almost everywhere: they tend to act on stuff most likely to generate revenue.

This is exactly why you will see a patrol car parked at the bottom of a steep hill with a radar gun for hours at a time, but call them for a real crime and it takes an eternity for them to show up. My daughter was robbed at gunpoint a few years ago with two of her friends. They drove to a nearby friend's house right near a major PA Turnpike exit and it took 90 minutes for the officer to show up to take the report.

Of course, I was over there by then and I was livid. I asked why they couldn't use my daughter's cell phone in the purse which was stolen to triangulate a location and possibly catch the thief. I was told it cost too much money and law enforcement resources. Seriously. Catching an armed robber just isn't a priority. But catching citizens going over 30 mph when they descend a steep hill is.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Sadly, you are right. They would rather set up speed traps than do other police work.

Also, in the situation you described, it was a robbery in which nobody was physicially injured, is that correct? It’s possible that such are given low priority by police. I certainly hope a 911 call about a crime in progress would pull the cops from the speed trap job and respond to such a call.

[Vigilanteman]

Yes, it was a robbery. No injuries involved, just property loss. The next victims may not be so lucky since lowlifers who do this once aren't going to stop once . . . particularly when they get away with it.

And, as you probably know, most 911 calls about crimes in progress (where third parties make the call and aren't seen by the perps) are typical cases of law enforcement being only minutes away when seconds count.

[Average Al]

If this glass went all the way around him it would remind me of the zoo...

[Average Al]

"Yes, it was a robbery. No injuries involved, just property loss.'

Your daughter should have suggested they may have had a hostage in the car.... ;-)

[Red in Blue PA]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html?_r=0

[Count of Monte Fisto]

Too many people in this country don't have the intelligence, temperament, or work ethic to produce a First World civilization, which includes things like police services. They have been provided a First World lifestyle by the people that can, the Makers, through coercion. The Makers have left the cities that the Takers moved to to take advantage of the the First World civilization the Makers built. The First World civilization there is now falling apart.

The answer has been "Regalionalization" where the Makers have to pay for the Takers no matter how far away they move. For example, the residents of Camden, NJ could not sustain their own police force so it was disbanded and a new county-wide police was created, paid for by the suburbs but mostly used in the city.

The other solution is to disperse the Takers to smaller cities and towns so all the Makers across the country can share the burden. For example, tens of thousands of Chicago ghetto dwellers have been shipped at great expense to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Iowa, and downstate Illinois, where they are provided for by the local taxpayer.

These solutions are also known as Communism.

[AtlasStalled]

How about this to deal with a police shortage: stop hypercriminalizing human behavior, and treating every supposed moral violation as a crime against society. First, stop prosecuting people for drug possession or even drug trafficking (first things first). That alone will clear the caseload for a lot of cops. Second, stop prosecuting people for relatively benign first offenses (not every drunken fight between two guys at a bar has to be prosecuted). Third, stop prosecuting people for selling non-pasteurized milk or who are violating some other so-called safety or labeling statute when the buyer is fully informed and consenting to said purchase. That’s just a start but you get the point!

[Pontiac]

Old but pertinent

Judge Mackey suggests townships residents consider gun ownership .

[Pontiac]

Here is a poorly reasoned editorial from the neighboring county’s paper saying the judge shouldn’t have recommended people defend themselves. Editorial: Endorsing carrying guns wrong verdict .