Thursday, October 4, 2007

Frustration with JPD: Round II

See Comments at end of post.

How prescient this blog can be (especially after consuming massive quantities of melange). Yesterday I posted about JPD's failure to protect Belhaven from a local punk, http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2007/10/have-you-met-jason-no-rest-assured-half.html, and then The Clarion-Ledger publishes a story about the frustration crime victims experience when dealing with JPD. Today the newspaper reported a follow-up story after it was inundated with complaints from crime victims: http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071004/NEWS/710040375/1001/news.

Some of my favorite passages (sarcasm fully intended):
The only contact I've had (with Jackson police) was from the responding officer who took the initial report, and that was on the 10th," Tate, 49, said. "I understand they have a heavy caseload and they're busy, but at the same time, I am taking steps to at least find out the status of my vehicle."
On Sept. 28, Tate's insurance company notified him his car had been recovered by JPD a few days earlier. Tate began calling the detective assigned to his case but has not received a return phone call. Tate also called the police impound lot but was told paperwork had not been turned in that would allow the officer to locate his vehicle. He still has not been able to look at his car.
Police Chief Shirlene Anderson said people may not get results right away from the impound lot because it is inundated with phone calls."

Good job Shirlene. Innocent people have their cars stolen, their cars are recovered, and yet you can only say tough luck, you don't know when they can get their cars back. I forgot, you are the government and we exist to serve you, not the other way around.

My favorite: "Mayor Frank Melton said he is aware of the myriad complaints and plans to make changes to the Police Department today. He would not say what those changes will be." How many times have I heard Melton say he had a plan, was going to make a change, etc. and yet has offered no specifics and later we find out little, if anything happened? Remember the video cameras? Maybe if Melton would hire a real police chief and quit trying to micromanage the JPD or worrying about how to keep Michael Taylor out of jail, Jacksonians would not be complaining as much about the JPD.

Here's a goodie: "Clarke, 50, said she had trouble getting JPD to return her calls and ended up doing her own investigating. She contacted her credit card company, which told her where and when the charges were made on her cards.
"I had to call the police chief's office to get the detective to return my call. He called me back immediately and reprimanded me and told me not to go above him," she said.
Clarke said when she told the detective what she had learned, the detective told her he had no interest in interviewing the gas stations' clerks or checking to see if the businesses had caught the thieves on surveillance tape. Her truck was recovered three weeks after it was stolen, but so far, no one has been charged with the crime, she said.
"I just decided not to deal with them anymore. I just left it at that because it was just obvious they weren't going to do anything," Clarke said. "It was just like they were victimizing me again."

JPD does not return phone calls to someone who has been robbed and seen her life turned upside down. She calls the police chief's office and gets chewed out by the detective. Hey Jackass, if you pulled that crap in the private sector you would be FIRED!!! You wouldn't have some union and the EEOC protecting your sorry ass. You would be told by your boss, which Shirlene should've done (but everyone else ignores her, why shouldn't you), to call the customer back, apologize, and be very nice and resolve the problem. I'll give you a clue, keep your police job because you will not make it in the private sector.

Finally, there is this gem:
Harvey and Sid Collins, brothers who own a playground-building contracting business, say they won't do business in Jackson anymore after thieves stole $6,000 in tools from a construction site at Medgar Evers Boulevard and Forest Avenue Extension in August.......
Collins said the property crimes detective refused to review the security tapes of a nearby convenience store because the severity of the crime was not worth possibly getting a court order. But the Collins brothers said the loss of the tools put them out of work for weeks while they raised the money to replace them.
Collins said he called and left messages with a number of people, including the mayor's action line.
"We were promised we would get calls back," he said. "No one called us back. We've already told (our clients) in Jackson, 'Don't call us to Jackson.
'
Does this passage or the story need any additional commentary?

If you have similar stories, feel free to email them to this blog at kingfish1935@gmail.com. Too often crime victims are ignored by the authorities and media.

Related note: Chris Joyner published on his blog the crime stats for Mississippi cities:
http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/blogs/firstamend/UCR4blog.xls

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shirlene must go.

Anonymous said...

I have to say that it's not as easy as you all think and feel rergarding the crime in Jackson and I do feel for the victims and what they have to endure. Can you imagine responding to numerous calls a day, if it's a felony a detective in that divison will follow up on that case and just like the beat officers, they get cases everyday and have to prepare those cases if enough evidence is available to the DA's office, some companies are not willing to release the security camera tapes and they are not allowed in court.

As far as the case with the auto theft and charges on that person's credit card. When the vehicle was stolen it was an auto theft case but when the credit cards were actually used it was credit card forgery/false pretense. A seperate report would be needed for those charges, the auto theft divison handles just that and the Forgery Division would handle those cases.

Do you know how many times I have sit in my car at the Superstop on Countyline Road and people will pull up jump out of the car, leaving it running and go inside for more than 10-15 minutes, it's things like this that helps the criminal to get that vehicle or leaving valuables in plain view. I have taken reports were the victim has left laptops, purses and ipods in plain view. These are things that can be avoided and when it happens it's all JPD's fault that they are not doing their job or how they handled the case. Don't get me wrong there are some good officers within the department and there are some that perhaps don't care but don't criticize the whole department because of a few. When I get up in the mornings to go to work I made the choice to serve and protect and I would like to think that someone appreciates what the good ones do because when one reads all the complaints it makes you stop and wonder why put your life on the line for the people who really don't care about what you do.....


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Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

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This is definitely a Beaver production.


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Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

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