AND DUCKING MY CALLS!

9 responses to “DUCKING HIS RESPONSIBLITY!”

1. hereshecomes October 31st, 2012 at 09:44

   No disrespect, Becky, but what can a mayor and police force do, short of things that violate civil rights, to increase a clearance rate?

2. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 10:03

   Is that a joke, hereshecomes? Seriously? It’s the job of the police to solve crimes! That’s why we pay them! That’s what increases clearance rates! What am I missing here?

3. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 10:33

   But some people in communities ravaged by violence bristle at the quickness of police and the media to label crimes “gang-related” before all of the details are known.

   Pamela Montgomery-Bosley’s 18-year-old son Terrell was killed in the parking lot of his church in 2006 as he waited for choir practice to start. Police first labeled the shooting gang-related but then backed off after details emerged that Terrell, a community college freshman, had no such involvements. Montgomery-Bosley thinks cases go unsolved in struggling neighborhoods because police don’t make it a priority.

   “All of them are not gang-related when they go back and talk to the families. That’s just a way out so they won’t have to investigate it. They need to put more detectives on cases,” Montgomery-Bosley said. “When (offenders) shoot, they shoot from a distance because they’re cowards, so they shoot innocent people.”

   http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-27/news/ct-met-shooting-no-cooperation-20120827_1_shootings-chicago-police-homicides-and-other-cases

4. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 11:02

   “As a general rule, if we don’t have a cooperating victim, there’s no other way to go about it,” she said.
   But experts point to other jurisdictions, including Baltimore, that regularly try such cases.
   Research has shown criminals consider their chances of getting caught before deciding to act.
   “If word gets out that you can shoot people and there’s little chance you’ll get caught, you’ve lost the deterrent effect,” said Volkan Topalli, a Georgia State University associate professor who has interviewed hundreds of criminals.
   Shooting victims who don’t prosecute often don’t elicit much sympathy from the public, especially if they’re involved in criminal behavior.
   But shootings affect more than just the people involved in a dispute, Topalli said.
   “It never stays between the initial combatants,” said Topalli, who tracked a dispute from a Georgia dice game that sparked retaliatory shootings that dragged on for five years and killed five people, including a child.
   Chicago researchers estimate that one in five youth homicide victims is an innocent bystander.
   Gunshots possess a unique ability to terrorize communities, experts say, with their lethality, ability to kill from a distance and unmistakable staccato blasts. Meanwhile, researchers have estimated the social costs of gun violence to be $1 million per gunshot injury.
   A city’s violent reputation repels businesses and development, Topalli said.
   “There’s nothing worse for economic development than having a high murder rate and violent crime rate,” he said. “You may not care about offender-vs.-offender shootings, but that number still shows up in your statistics. … They (companies) don’t want to develop in places that are out of control.”
   Forté remembers victims refusing to prosecute when he became a patrol officer in 1986. He thinks decades of shootings without repercussions have encouraged criminals “to continue to do what they’ve done.”
   The Star’s findings convinced Forté that the department needed to review the way it handled such cases.
   “It’s critical we change our practices in how we approach victims and show empathy on the front end,” he said.

   Wow! This is a long and really good article and also shows you what a “real” newspaper can do – http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/23/3775980/nonfatal-shootings-in-kc-many.html

5. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 11:11

   Same article as above:

   Jeff’s mom always told him not to go out late at night. Trouble will find you, she said.
   Yet when the 19-year-old athlete and his brother got hungry one June night, they set off in their mother’s car for McDonald’s about 11:20 p.m.
   As they returned home, another car pulled alongside.
   “I thought it was the police,” recalled Jeff, who had filled out college financial aid forms that day as part of his plans to play football while attending community college. “So I told my brother to slow down.”
   As they entered their driveway, bullets pounded their car. Jeff fumbled with the door. The bullets kept coming.
   He sprinted behind his house and felt his shirt for blood. Holding up his hand, he saw none. Yet he reached the back steps too woozy and weak to open the door. When his brother let him inside, he collapsed. His brother lifted Jeff’s shirt, revealing three holes in Jeff’s abdomen.
   Chunks of what looked like meat oozed from the holes. Jeff struggled to breathe, afraid he was dying.
   “I love you,” he told his sister’s boyfriend before closing his eyes.
   “Don’t be talking like that,” the boyfriend said, slapping Jeff’s face. “Stay with me!”
   Police arrived and asked Jeff whether he knew who shot him. He didn’t. He couldn’t explain what happened because he was in too much pain.
   Jeff underwent two surgeries and spent the summer in the hospital. Doctors left in one bullet, afraid removing it would cause more harm.
   A detective who came to the hospital found Jeff asleep. Later, police sent Jeff letters asking whether he wanted to prosecute. Preoccupied with his recovery, he never replied.
   “I was wondering how it was going to get better,” said Jeff, who still carries an ugly scar. “You could see inside my stomach. It took forever to close the wound.”
   He later learned police had stopped investigating his case.
   “I never said, ‘No,’ ” he said.
   Now, nearly a year later, Jeff figures it’s too late.

6. Anonymous October 31st, 2012 at 18:16

   i thought Mayor Gray looked like
   “Paddington Bear”
   and that provided a bit of levity in the
   constant drum of disaster being proclaimed
   by WGAL on Tuesday

7. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 18:30

   I had to google Paddington Bear – and you’re right! LOL! But the bear is much, much cuter than Gray! Actually, I’m not sure you can use “cute” at all with regard to the Mayor!

8. Rednek October 31st, 2012 at 20:39

   Has Storm Team * ever apolpogiz3ed for having blown a forecast? Or by missing a tornado completely???? Obviously there is no such thing as “Super Doppler” and their “predictor” leaves a LOT to be desired.

   But Doug Allen’s hair is always perfect!!!!!!

9. Becky October 31st, 2012 at 22:10

   I’ll pretend I never read the Doug Allen hair part, Redneck!