another fabricated story

Crime has actually dropped in St. Petersburg, according to police statistics. Still, Harmon said he assigned four-member teams to address recurring problems in Childs Park, Palmetto Park and Harbordale, three neighborhoods plagued with gun violence. The goal was for the officers to create relationships with residents, said Harmon.

During the program, which ends today, violent crimes decreased by 27 percent and gun-related crimes decreased by 17 percent, compared to the same period in 2007. There were also no homicides reported in all three neighborhoods during the CAPE initiative.


How do they come up with these statistics? Maybe because shots heard/fired calls are not reported to the press even if we have to take a report on all the ones we go to which are sometimes multiple in one shift. No reported Homicides? Maybe because unless a person actually dies, no matter the severity of the injury, it is titled an Aggravated Battery and not an attempt homicide.


Nice try but the truth of the matter is those who are out there every night no the truth!

What in the world is the CAPE inititive and who are the 4 officers assigned to it? If it has had that much impact on violence shouldn't we all know about it?

Actually, I can say the overall crime in Child's Park is down. But I'm sure if you checked the crime statistics in the other areas of the city, the crime would be up. It seems like the 80's and 90's have had more priority crime volume than the park. But no one will ever check that.

Here's an idea for making neighborhood's safe.......arrest criminals. How about sending out cops to arrest as many CRMINALS as they can find? Half of the problem is exactly this, “The goal was for the officers to create relationships with residents, said Harmon.” I want cops chasing, catching and throwing criminals in jail. That is what you are supposed to be doing. If J-Bo is standing on the corner selling dope…ARREST HIM. If he comes back…ARREST HIM AGAIN. Keep arresting him until he goes away, either to prison or some other town. If Sherry-the-Streetwalker is out on 4 Street, follow her, stop her every block, stop every car she gets into, and even arrest her if you can. When she’s in jail, that’s 1 less hooker lousing up the city. The "goal" should be arresting criminals. Is it really that hard to figure out?

I see the same prostitute on 34 Street, around 13 Ave North almost everyday. I have never once seen any cop stop her. I see lots of police cars drive past her and she’s doesn’t seem to be worried. Can any of you tell me why?

If some near-do-well is driving around at night breaking into every car in a certain neighborhood, then send a SH&*T load of cops to that area, at that time and catch him. I know its easier said than done, but I don’t want a “relationship” with the police in my neighborhood. I want then to have a “relationship” with the criminals. If you arrest the punk in my neighborhood who is breaking into houses when he should be in school, THEN I FEEL BETTER! I feel safer and I feel like my tax dollar is being used for the right thing!

SIgned - A Concerned Citizen and POLICE SUPPORTER!

Here's an idea for making neighborhood's safe.......arrest criminals. How about sending out cops to arrest as many CRMINALS as they can find? Half of the problem is exactly this, “The goal was for the officers to create relationships with residents, said Harmon.” I want cops chasing, catching and throwing criminals in jail. That is what you are supposed to be doing. If J-Bo is standing on the corner selling dope…ARREST HIM. If he comes back…ARREST HIM AGAIN. Keep arresting him until he goes away, either to prison or some other town. If Sherry-the-Streetwalker is out on 4 Street, follow her, stop her every block, stop every car she gets into, and even arrest her if you can. When she’s in jail, that’s 1 less hooker lousing up the city. The "goal" should be arresting criminals. Is it really that hard to figure out?

I see the same prostitute on 34 Street, around 13 Ave North almost everyday. I have never once seen any cop stop her. I see lots of police cars drive past her and she’s doesn’t seem to be worried. Can any of you tell me why?

If some near-do-well is driving around at night breaking into every car in a certain neighborhood, then send a SH&*T load of cops to that area, at that time and catch him. I know its easier said than done, but I don’t want a “relationship” with the police in my neighborhood. I want then to have a “relationship” with the criminals. If you arrest the punk in my neighborhood who is breaking into houses when he should be in school, THEN I FEEL BETTER! I feel safer and I feel like my tax dollar is being used for the right thing!

SIgned - A Concerned Citizen and POLICE SUPPORTER!

Then how about you somehow expand the police force so they can handle (manpower wise) doing an operation like that?

Citizen X,

Being a police officer in this city, I do agree with you when you say arrest J-bo and Penny the prostitute as many times until he goes away. The problem here is every doper in the city has their attorney's home number on speed dial on their Metro. Their attorneys give them the knowledge to get out of every situation and the only thing we can do sometimes is sit around and watch the show. The dopers know to follow the rules, just as the hookers do, and they know we can't touch them. Unless we have a reason to stop them, we can only make a casual contact with them. If this is the case, they don't have to stop for us and they can motherf@$k us as much as they want and there is nothing we can do but stand around with out thumbs up our butts. Believe it or not, criminals are smart too. Not booksmart like you or I, but they have a working knowledge of how to get out of trouble and get others arrested for their crimes. They usually know the loopholes better than we do. Their dope and hooker money goes directly into their lawyers pockets and they in return get the most updated information before we get it.

Another issue is when we lock these dopers and prostitutes up, they are usually free, back home, and committing the same crimes before we can check back into service and start typing our reports. The system is completely in favor of the criminals. As cops, we sit back and become more and more frustated watching these criminals roam the streets and ruin it for all of the citizens and ourselves included. We took this job because we love to put the bad guys in jail, the excitement, and the intrinsic rewards we get out of it. We are not here for the poor pay, the weak benefits, and the unthankfulness we get from our "victims." You have no idea how man times we arrest someone two or three times in a shift for the same offense. Imagine having to fix your urine and crap filled toilet three times a day for the same problem. It kind of feels like that.

Rememer one thing, the Constitution states: All persons are innocent until proven guilty. Why is the burden of proof on the police when we catch someone red-handed, with all the video, photographs, and witnesses of the incident, cutting of the head of an innocent bystander? Why is he burden of proof not on the criminal to disprove all of us? Are we not entrusted by the citizens who pay a miniscule amount of their taxes for this service? So please don't be stupid and try to put the blame on the police. We do the best we can with the poor leadership we have, and all the rules we have to follow. Oh, and that's another thing: Dopers and prostitutes don't have rules.

And if it isn't their lawyer on speed dial, it's AW, DW, CG, CW, etc.

The biggest reason why there is so much crime is simple. The mayor is soft on crime. If you do little to enforce and not be proactive then you have crime all over, like we do. The second thing is we are at least 300 police officers short. We do not have the manpower and again that is because the mayor does not want to end crime. Just look at Tampa, they have three times more officers because they are not soft on crime.

Third base is right. It trickles down from the top. We are not allowed to do real police work because it may anger somebody who knows somebody, then complains to that person, who then complains to........... You get the idea.

If you are procative in this department, you are screwed. There have been incidents recently, one in which a very proactive officer (lots of arrests, tickets, etc) was terminated because he po'd his major. Has he made mistakes? Certainly, and he'd be the first to admit it. But instead of trying to work with him, they piled little crap on him until they could fire him. Was his offense serious enough to be fired? Hell no.

Then in another incident, the officer made enemies with the criminals he was "hasseling" on the street. They complained to "someone" who complained to his supervisor, which led to him being removed from a specialty unit and back to the streets.

And it goes on and on. This department is more worried about traffic DP's which lead to tickets, which leads to bonuses for majors and above. Drug arrests don't do that. Prostitution arrest don't do that. The emphasis isn't on what's best for Joe Citizen; it's about what makes the admin feel good, which is $$$. A certain major got a raise that exceeded everyone else, and in no way did she deserve it.

Until there is a change in the city and department administrations, officers will not be allowed to be proactive. It will always be "rush, rush, rush" because we don't have enough officers on the street. Officers are being forced to work OT and off-duty because there aren't enough people to voluntarily cover it.

We're tired. And tired officers aren't going to be proactive, and probably not for the reason you are thinking. It's about safety. We don't want to get hurt because we are physically and mentally exhausted. That's when you make mistakes. And with this department, that's when Jr and the Rat Squad salivate. They can't wait to feast on the remains of an officer who made a mistake doing his job.

That's all I'm saying.