How to Make Enemies and Lose Friends

This going to be another post that many will find offensive, wrong, you name it. This morning I received an e-mail from someone whom I both like and repect announcing a public demonstration to urge the state to provide funds to avoid a lay-off in the police department. Yes, Trenton faces the loss of roughly 108 officers next month. The announced lay off was followed by a cry of, "We'll have a crime wave. The criminals will run the city!!" Well, Blogolanders, they already do. Lest anyone think I'm trying to be cute, I'm talking about street activity. When the Stewart family arrived in Trenton twenty-five years, I noticed that whenever a police car drove by, the groups of teenagers (and sometimes even adults) would scatter. Today, on the rare occasions when a police car does drive by, no one moves, not even the damn dealers. Two of my pet peeves here on Lamberton Steet are (1) An outdoor dice game that has been going on since the warm weather started. The rare police car just drives by. (2) People who park on the street and chat with their friends thereby tying up traffic. One evening there were three such vehicles on Lamberton Street. When the police drive by they don't even ask the driver to move much less write a ticket for blocking traffic. Last week, I attended a civic meeting and heard how the police were upset that there was so little public outcry The answer was, "All you've done is alienate the citizens; no, they're not prepared to fight for you." Sadly, that's so true. My civic group often heard from a police officer attending the meeting, "You're our eyes and ears." OK. Yet, generally, when we report a crime to the police, usually drug dealing, we're told, "If we don't see it, we can't do anything." We, the residents, see it yet the police, trained (one hopes) professionals, see nothing. Next there is the cry from the police, "We do a dangerous job." Yes, policing is dangerous. Firefighting is probably more so." Yet the danger is no secret. Every cop and firefighter knew the dangers when they signed up. My last bitch is the fact that police and firefighters rarely live within the City of Trenton. Oh, they offer great reasons, but they miss one important point. If they lived within the city limits, they would be one HELL OF A VOTING BLOCK! In fact, if just the police lived within the city, the police director plan would have been defeated. In closing, I have the highest regard for the fire department. I have watched them fight fires many times (once it was the house next door to me), the co-ordination among those men and women is almost like a ballet. As for the police - I resent it when calling in the fact that an empty hosue is being broken into and having the police arrive only to ask, "If it's not your house what do you care?" To use a quote from a once popular comic strip, "You brought upon yourselves."