News-Record.com

There seems to be a war of public relations going on between those who think the police dept. is in a "shambles" and those who think everything is OK.

N&R front page news this morning: "Four killings in 24 hours puts strain on Greensboro police".

N&R website headlines since Thanksgiving Day:

Police report series of Thanksgiving Day robberies
Update: Officer Ok after being shot in bullet-proof vest, manhunt for suspect continues
Vehicle stolen in early morning burglary
Subway, Primo's robbed
Teen charged in robbery investigation
Teens accused of attempted robbery
Papa John's driver robbed
Taco Bell robbed by armed men
Man stabbed in fight
Teacher charged in Dudley assault
Thieves steal ATM in Guilford County
Teen charged in convenience store robbery
Man kills self as police move in
3 Greensboro businesses robbed Monday
Woman shot in drive-by
Man shot during business robbery
Man accused of robbing Subway

For every letter I read in the N&R praising the Greensboro Police Dept., I hear or read in another publication at least 2 or 3 instances where the GPD is grossly late in response times.

Aside from traffic tickets, my only experiences with GPD has been when I report possible intruders to a city owned facility I live near. The response time is very fast. On the other hand my neighbor had his car broken in to, vandalized and partially stripped in his driveway. When he called to report it the case was handled over the phone.

The average response time in my east Greensboro neighborhood is often an hour or longer and often the police never come at all.

But that's okay as I've gotten very good at digging holes out back.

I truly believe that 99% of the rank and file of the police department are unselfish public servants. They go out day by day (or night) and stand as best as they can between us and the evil.
As a career law enforcement person, I've never lost the fever to protect my community.
BUT!! The last 1% (like Drew Peterson?) can really take down an entire department. And, as a community, we must remain on high guard against those type. The Dog's outa here.
Crime Dog

You have to remember several things:
1) GPD is short about 85-100 officers. That means they're almost 20% understrength.
2) How fast you get an officer depends on whether it's a busy time and how close an officer is to you. If one has to come from across town, no matter how serious your situation, it's gonna take a long time.
3) When the City Council sits on it's fat butts and worries more about how many millions of taxpayer $$$$ to give Skip Alston and the Moneypit on Elm Street than they worry about you and whether the police get to you in time then the worse this situation will get.
4) GPD only has the resources given it by our elected City Council. Make the Council accountable to YOU and the safety of our citizens.

Crime Dog said "The last 1% (like Drew Peterson?) can really take down an entire department."

Who is Drew Peterson?

Drew Peterson is the retired policeman in Illinois who is a "person of interest" in the disappearance of his 4th wife, and while investigators look into the death of his 3rd wife (again). He might be an official "suspect" by now - I haven't watched CNN or FoxNews in a few hours!

911 and police response is a joke and their attitude is even worse - based upon what happened to my son saturday night !

to expand upon my previous post. :
sat. nite approx. 8:30 pm we receive a frantic cell call from my son, he says some just rear ended him (while he was travelling 45 mph) at a high rate of speed and this person is now trying to assault him. the last words i hear my son scream is "get away from me" and his cell goes silent. can you imagine my anxiety. my wife and i are now in our car driving way over the speed limit while i am calling 911 - i tell the 911 operator what had transpired and that my son was being assualted, i provided an address for them to send a police car - the operator said he would have to transfer me to GSO - 30-40 seconds later that 911 operator asked me for info and i repeated again what was transpiring and begged him to roll a unit to the address, he told me to hold that he would transfer me, well about a minute later i am connected to a voice recording "if this is an emergency please hang up and dial 911". meanwhile my sobbing wife called 911 and got a sympathetic woman to assist us. we are now arriving on the scene and the man who rear ended my son is now approaching me and it is obvious from his walking and his breath that he is drunk. he was slurring his words and was difficult to understand because of his broken accident (i believe he was hispanic).about 7-10 minutes later a firetruck arrives and speaks with my son, meanwhile i am trying to have a conversation with the driver who hit my son, he starts walking towards his car (i assumed he was going to sit in it) and i go to where my son and fireman are talking - about two mnutes pass and i realize the perp had disappeared, he had fled into the surrounding woods, leaving his crashed car running on the side of the road. approx. 5 more minutes pass and a state trooper arrives and never exits his car or never talks to my son - after he was on the scene for 5 minutes he takes off in the opposite direction of where the perp headed - 5-7 miutes later he returns (we suspect he drove up to a convenience store and got himself a hot cup of coffee, after all it was chilly out there). the trooper then gets my son in his car and after 15 miutes he realizes the accident actually happened in randolph county and that he has no jurisdiction, he calls another trooper, meanwhile the original trooper gets a dispatch call that a deer is laying in the road and that he is needed, hopefully that poor deer got better assistance that did my son. well this insanity continues, the bottom line is MY son was a VICTIM of a drunk hit and run and MY son was treated like he was responsible for this accident. it's funny how an 'officer down' call will elict 15 patrol cars within minutes but the average citizen who is victimized must endured transferred calls and finally a voice recording and then wait, wait and wait and then be subjected to an officer who could care less and somehow try to make you feel responsible for someone elses actions. so my take based upon this most recent incident is that 911 and police response are pretty much a joke.
i now expect a plethora of excuses (from one who blogs here) why all of this transpired and that my son was an exception and not the rule and that somehow he deserved what he got.

Buz, your son is no exception.

Thanks for the great description of what goes on every day around here.

I don't believe 99% of the police force is here to protect and serve. Not ANYWHERE close.

They were probably hoping to clean that deer up for the covered dinner on Sunday.

I know what cops get paid. It's not top-secret information. How in God's name do so many of them afford $300,000 (and up) homes in the Triad. And don't tell me it's their wives salaries. Many I know personally have wives that don't work.

So, seriously. Explain that to me.