Paris Avenue- “Break the Silence"

[Tom]

The Paris Avenue naming will honor the life of a young murder victim and highlight the Paris Project to “Break the Silence". This Silence among witnesses to crime (the "no snitch" rule) allows violent crime and public street drug sales to flourish in certain parts of South St. Pete.

Better police tactics and more cooperation from residents have contributed to a 45% reduction in homicides.

http://www.bartlettpark.net/2010/03/...ue-naming.html

http://www.bartlettpark.net/2008/12/...uesday-at.html

[Tom]

Today's St. Pete Times has discovered that there is a lot of shooting in South St. Pete. http://www.tampabay.com/news/publics...equent/1085023

They don't say much about solutions.

Better police tactics and more cooperation from residents have contributed to a 45% reduction in homicides.

Tom that is a stance that our staff would like you to believe. Homicides are one crime that in themselves are not preventable. You can attack some of the root causes such as drugs-but don't be fooled to think much has changed at the SPPD.....the current staff would rather sit back and hope homicides drop instead of increase enforcement because there's less that they're responsible for that way.

STRONG LEADERS and HEAVY ENFORCEMENT is the only way you'll see real change and that WILL NOT happen with our current staff.

[Tom]

We don't have the luxury of waiting for a new administration. We can't save the world but we do what we can to save the kids from the few blocks in our area.

Over the last 5 years SPPD has: filled a vacancy for a CPO in our area, helped us restart crime watch and a citizens patrol, moved officers from other areas to a new Street Crimes Unit, gone door to door to contact every resident, met with citizens at many block parties, kept the Uhurus from burning down our Community Resource Center, and started the gun bounty. I don't know how much all this would have accomplished without the tragic deaths of two young girls last year that shocked the community enough to make us act.

City council has never provided adequate resources to keep our neighborhoods safe. The Pier, the Rays, Bay Walk, car racing, etc. are the priorities.

Mayor Foster wants to see what a a 7% budget cut would look like. Here is your chance to make suggestions to cut the fat.

Get the public involved.

Hey I got news for you. The public is appreciate of the dirty, thankless work cops do. But ultimately, police are blue collar workers who are fairly low-paid like school teachers who are ALL college educated and no one is going to go on a crusade for them or you.

You're screwed over by the chief and staff who sit in the A/C while you are out answering call after call. While you're begging for a meal break, they're sitting at Piccadilly and some luncheon talking about how this city doesn't need more officers.

What's the new mayor done of substance so far?

The new signs are up and they look really good. Great Job guys.

[Tom]

Please come on by this Saturday at noon and enjoy some music and lunch. A lot of work is now being done on several homes on and near Paris Avenue. Residents can see real change.

We tell them they are responsible for giving officers the information you need to keep street drug sales from coming back.

Fox13 will report on progress on the Friday morning show.

http://www.bartlettpark.net/

[Tom]

Another summer program reached hundreds of students with the message that they need to "Speak Up, Speak Now". Kids are learning to give information to police to protect themselves and their families from crime. Youth produced beautiful artwork to carry the message forward, which was on display at the Florida Holocaust Museum, and a survivors summit brought healing to families that suffered from violence.

This web site has TV news spots and more information: http://newsouthstpete.blogspot.com/2...-in-peace.html