Monday, October 08, 2007

Mayor Peterson's War On Crime Failing

Mayor Peterson's campaign ads tell you a story of how "we're winning the War on Crime." This past weekend's crime reports tell a much different story. Here's a sample of what you find in today's Star alone:

IndyUndercover has been keeping track of the number of murders committed in the city so far this year, which is just shy of 100. September was the deadliest month with 12 murders. October is proving more deadly with an average of almost one killing a day. What do you say Mayor?

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

The violent crime rate here is absurd! Nobody is safe in their homes. Obviously the mayor who promised a safer city & more police LIED!

The facts speak for themselves. There are fewer police on the street now than when he took office, crime is up, and 911 is answered by a call queue just like cellular customer service..."Thank you for calling 911, your call is important to us, now, for the illegal aliens, the Mexican version...."

But then, the city was taken over by Democrats, like those in Gary and Detroit.

-Need anyone say more?

Anonymous said...

What is so sad is that the Ryerson Red Star Rag continues to bury articles on the murders on inside pages while running fluff stories on the front pages.

Why is the paper running cover for bart peterson?

Anonymous said...

Is it a crime when the only major newspaper in the 14th largest city in the US hides articles on the escalating murders on inside pages, while running fluff stories on the front page?

The Ryerson Red Star Rag is intentionally hiding facts from the citizens, and helping a very lousy mayor get re-elected.

Anonymous said...

The insane monotonal "lie" distribe is really getting old.

7:03--Do you really think the Mayor woke up this morning, and crafted a plan that said: "How can I lie to the citizens of Indianapolis and sneak through this election?"

If you believe that, then on behalf of all sane folks in the city, I invite you to move. You talk about it all the time...just do it already.

The FACTS are that violent crime is down from 2006's disasterous level, but still too high. I trust the mayor, prosecutor and courts to get their arms around it, and they've made tremendous strides. Is it quickly enough for me? No.

But this problem didn't come about overnight.

I'd be happier, for instance, if the Mayor cut his personal staff in half and dedicated all the savings to either reduced taxes or more crime-fighting mechanisms. Symbolic, yeah, but potentially effective.

But after the incessant ramblings about his "lies" here and elsewhere, the IndyU folks would probably say he needed to cut the staff by two-thirds.

It's never enough, is it?

Fighting crime is a multi-layered problem that requires all of us to help. We've given more taxes as of Oct.1, but we need to do more.
Not taxes, but more as a city to care for one another.

And that costs nothing. It's sadly a lost art.

Anonymous said...

7:22 He LIED about so many things....more police? There are in fact fewer!

The criminal justice process is now a revolving door, or inconvenience of just an hour or so, before the criminals are victimizing us again...brought about by his Arrestee Processing Center, and Carl Brizzi's soft policy on prosecution of fewer cases.

Speaking of Carl Brizzi, when will he be announcing indictments on corrupt public officials, including those who surround the mayor? There has been enough documentation in the open about Ghost Employment, Racketeering, Conflict of Interest, perjury of ethics statements....

Yes, Bart does wake up every morning and think to himself: "How can I lie to the citizens of Indianapolis and sneak through this election?"

The rich are getting richer....nice tax abatements, new statium/fieldhouse, TIF districts, city contracts, etc.

And what do we, the people of this city see? The highest TAX INCREASE I've ever known, and I've grown up in this city. "TAX & SPEND, take care of the rich, the working class will pay" seems to be The Democrat Machine's motto.

-And many on the tax delinquency list are members of The Democrat Machine, the elected officials.

The Democrat Machine is just so corrupt that people are leaving this city....just like they've done decades ago in Detroit & Gary. Now look at those metropolitan areas:

Detroit: Nobody wants to live/work in the city, but leave Wayne County, MI and you see a thriving metropolis in Oakland & Macomb county!

Gary: Nobody will go into the city, but look at how beautiful it is in Crown Point or Merrillville of Lake County!

Anonymous said...

7:03 brings up a great point! Why are 911, life & death calls, going into a call queue like a business?

While someone is waiting for help because "your call is important to us and will be answered in order received" a person in a car crash can die being pinned under a car, school shooting can be taking place like Columbine, person with a heart attack not getting a defribulator.....

This is WRONG!

Anonymous said...

"Speaking of Carl Brizzi, when will he be announcing indictments on corrupt public officials, including those who surround the mayor?"
Make you wonder if any grand jury investigators are assigned to INVESTIGATE.

Anonymous said...

The FACTS are that violent crime is down from 2006's disasterous level, but still too high. I trust the mayor, prosecutor and courts to get their arms around it, and they've made tremendous strides.


Care to name some of those tremendous strides??????

There are not more police on the street. Juggle numbers all you want, but come out and ride. It is not like it was pre-2007.

No emergency releases from the jail? You might want to check the APC and see what kind of bonds the criminals are getting. If they never make it to the jail then we don't have an overcrowding problem.

Maybe the Sheriff is leading the charge with IMPD. Um,,, I havent heard one word at all from him since Jan 1 2007, and I work for him. No direction or leadership to the troops at all.

Waiting for the great strides.

Anonymous said...

Nice to see that Anon 722, one of the nutcakes from TDW has seen fit to throw his/her 2 cents in again.
I guess if we had a R mayor who screwed up public safety by destroying a PD that had over 150 years service to the city they would be yelling about "lies".
Perhaps if the R mayor would have shut people out of their own CC building while planting city employees to clap at his 65% tax increase someone would be yelling "lies".
Or if we had 6 murders in 7 days and the R mayor went out and told everyone that crime is down 30% they would be yelling "lies".
Its too bad the Wilson 46201's of the internet can't see the forest from the trees when it comes to politics.
Keep pulling that D lever in support of your "Do No Wrong" Mayor and dont cry foul when one day you wake up and find yourself either a victim of a crime(if you live through it) or have an eviction notice on your door because the taxes were raised 165% to support another one of the mayors mismanaged budgets.

Anonymous said...

7:22 I can honestly say that I have noticed the change since democrats took over the mayor's office. I see an increase in the salary of deputy mayors, increase the number of deputy mayors....

...I also see the violent crime increasing. NO, it is not a coincidence that this happens when Democrats take over city governments in America! Like 7:40 points out so well, Gary, IN & Detroit MI are shining examples of what happens. "Don't blame us" doesn't hold water.

The increase in crime is the result of the mayor failing to hire police, give the prosecutor a budge to prosecute criminals, staff the crime lab, and deal with the tough issues of the causes of crime head-on!

Sir Hailstone said...

"7:03 brings up a great point! Why are 911, life & death calls, going into a call queue like a business?"

This happened last winter over near Lafayette Square. Car crash with serious injury and the person calling 911 claimed to waited 10 minutes before getting through. The dispatch center claimed several people called at once for that same crash and "jammed" the phone lines.

Why would 3, 4, or even 5 phone calls for one incident "jam" the 911 lines? What is wrong with that picture?

One of the McAtees brought out statistics to show the hold time for 911 calls has "gone down" to some number between 2 and 5 minutes on average. Ummm should there be ZERO hold time for 911?

I said at the time perhaps reorganizing non-emergency public safety with a "consolidation" of the call center at the Mayor's Action Center to start a 311 service.

Maybe Mayor Greg Ballard will consider such a proposal.

Anonymous said...

7:03 brings up a great point! Why are 911, life & death calls, going into a call queue like a business?

Simple, they don't pay folks enough for the job. I can't believe that MECA is basically on the same pay scale they were when I got into law enforcement 10 years ago. They have constantly paid a very, very low wage. I know that a few suburban 911 call centers are paying right at $20/hr. Most are heading or are at the $15+/hr range. The starting pay is just over $23,000. That is pathetic for a city this size with the run load we have. Yea, you can eventually hit $44,000, if you stay for 20 years. This is the #1 reason why people are constantly complaining about being put on hold for a long time. They claim it is because people sit for a few seconds, hang up, and call back. Funny how Channel 13 twice reported on staff shortages and reported classes of people were being trained and would be on the phones. I think the class sizes were 10+. The turn over down there must be in the 30% rate, if not more. Folks get trained, get burned out for crappy pay, crappy work schedule, and eventually get out. I know a financial services call center that starts folks at around $30K, if not more. Not that hard of a job either and likely not as busy. No overnights or weekends as well. It is high time this city do something about it's 911 call center. Get the starting pay up to around $30K with $40Kish the top level after 7 years of service. You will have plenty of quality people apply and _stay_ so putting people on hold will be a thing of the past.

As far as crime goes, we have not seen anything yet. Too many IPD/MCSD officers are not happy with the merger. Rightly or wrongly, that affects how they do their jobs, which can mean just being a "run taker." That means drugs, guns, and fugitives are never taken off the street like in the past. I have heard a rumor that 30 some IMPD officers applied to Carmel PD. That is unheard of until now. Can anyone confirm this? I have also heard that they are so short, a ton of folks who were riding desk jobs got booted back onto the street. The problem with that, these folks have 15-25 years on the department. A lot of them can go ahead and retire and thus beats go uncovered again. Anyone with a scanner can hear the broadcast of various districts being short, the broadcast are for any officers who want to work over-time. The only positive thing I have heard is that they are finally looking at lateral hiring processes. My guess is that they did not want to do this, but have no other choice. They have to get folks who have been cops at other departments so they can train them at a much quicker rate and get some bodies on the street. Getting ride of take-home cars for non-public safety staff and using that money to buy new cars for cops is also a good thing. I know some folks have tons of miles on their cars.

Anonymous said...

Just like any phone system, there are likely times when 911 is overloaded.

I've called it twice. The first time, about 10 years ago, I waited for 1-2 minutes. It seemed like hours. The second time, last month, after witnessing a crash, I got the recording, and someone was online within 15 seconds.

7:40, you obviously need to look up the definition of "lie." When your definition matches reality, get back to me.

Until then, IndyU needs you worse than this site does.

Disagree with a politician all you want. It's the American Way. But the "lie" moniker really needs to go, because it's not true. In case your ear isn't to the ground, it's hurting your cause. Big time.

Anonymous said...

IMPD Sucks!!!!

Bring back IPD!

Anonymous said...

10:27 Bart Lies!

He promised 200 more police, and then went several years without hiring ANY. That, sir, is a lie.

He promised tough on public safety and now we are softer on crime than any other place in the state...another lie.

BART LIES!

Anonymous said...

10:10 with a turn over rate that high any manager would be FIRED in the public sector. I have heard that the 911 center is nothing but a dumping ground of political patronage....is it true that a political appointee with a title of "colonel" has appointed his son with no experience as a managment level 911 staffer?

Nepotism & patronage have no place in a 911 center!

Anonymous said...

What War?

Again, BART LIES!

Anonymous said...

Thank you 9:51 for clearing up the smoke blown by that TDW nut case.

David C Roach said...

mayor helmke , of the "brady bunch" in DC would want to enact a gun ban, just like in washington dc. sure worked there. it would sure work here too!!!
buy a hand gun. learn to use it. obtain the proper permits, and be prepared to use it.
and if you look at the demographics of the victims, and perps, I bet there are very few gun murders in the mostly white suburbs- unless theyre in a trailer park, then all bets are off..

Anonymous said...

Just like any phone system, there are likely times when 911 is overloaded.

The problem is that they have never claimed the system was not able to handel all the calls. What they have said, twice that I recall, is that they were short on people and they had a group of folks almost done with training. If MECA is staffed at just 95%, wait times should be minimal, as in 10 seconds during the busy times. Call 911 in any suburban county and see how fast you get an answer. Funny how your only long wait was during the Goldsmith era, yet your short wait was under Peterson. Obviously your bias. Sorry, but I believe the media reports and those who I talk to about min. long+ wait times. Maybe instead of making do nothing positions in the fire department, we should terminate that position and move its $80K wage to upgrade the 911 system and hire more dispatchers. Maybe fire a deputy mayor and give the dispatchers a raise as well.

Bart Lies said...

Homicide down from 2006? Yes.

Homicide down from 2005? No.

Homicide down from 2005? No.

Homicide down from 2004? No.

Homicide down from 2003? No.

Homicide down from 2002? No.

Homicide down from 2001? No.

Homicide down from 2000? No.

Why do people listen to Bart's lies and deceptions as if they are the Holy Truth? Are you BLIND or what?

Anonymous said...

Seems like several someones did not get their medication today....I have not heard this much whining and moaning and groaning in a long time....makes you want to ask people what they are doing to improve our city.....

Anonymous said...

It's hopeless.

The folks here do not uinderstand the definition of "lie."

See ya after Nov.6.

Mayor Ballard. Now there's a laugh. I'm sure when he wins he'll attribute it to the FOP endorsement.

Just like the Republican candidates for clerk, recorder, and sheriff did last year.

Sir Hailstone said...

"The folks here do not uinderstand the definition of "lie.""

Nice. Now we have Bill Clinton commenting on this blog.

Anonymous said...

You ask the Mayor what he says? Gary, you should know that the Mayor has a closed door policy when it comes to the people. Don't hold your breath for an answer.