News-Record.com

"If there are divisions and distrust in Greensboro, guess what? Those symptoms were not evident this afternoon on this issue. This council appears united and focused."

Well duh! Of course they're focused with all that fear that rich white people might start leaving town to find a safe place to have dinner or go shopping. Funny thing is, Greensboro's poor have been living with this for 30+ years and nothing was ever done.

I wrote a year ago that Greensboro was 100 officers short and that crime was rampant but they all thought me silly: http://bloggingpoet.squarespace.com/bloggingpoetcom/how-you-can-tell-its-new-years-eve-in-east-greensboro.html
Well guess what? The silly old poet was right again....

Billy, you've been on the front lines of this issue, and you deserve lots of credit for helping to raise awareness.

I don't think it's a matter of rich white folks feeling threatened, though. Concern throughout the city is reaching a critical mass, and that's driving political action.

Just a few comments.

I agree with your point that there are certain levels of responsibility for issues and the Council has its share. I do not agree with your belief that it was the right thing to do to direct specific requests to the Chief. (Your nine-headed city manager example). This is never the right thing to do. It undermines the manager and makes employees unsure of which directive to follow. This then becomes a slippery slope for other Council members to call various departments demanding specific items or tasks for unknown political reasons. I dont disagree that the meeting was a good idea. However, you really need to rethink the Council part and what role they should play in the day to day tasks and assignments.

It's important that we support our new City Council's efforts on the growing crime issue. Today's special council meeting was a beginning in the battle to defeat the criminal element; it will take time, good thinking, resources, and community support to gain and maintain the upper hand.

Hopefully our police department will draw on police success experiences in other cities, and will rebuild solid working relationships with federal and state law enforcement and the court system. I believe the police department was involved in several federal and state task forces that worked together on criminal issues of local interest, but stalled when the David Wray matter took center stage. It seems important for these relationships to be restored so that timely intelligence swapping can take place.

Let's all continue a constructive dialogue on crime prevention, offer up constructive solutions as much as possible, and stand firmly behind our police department and City Council. They need our support.

Sorry, Doug, but I do not see that much to feel positive about based upon what has been reported. Using officers to back-fill on patrol and have detectives work extra hours on cases seems like a very temporary band-aid. Everyone expressed their concerns, but what action is going to be taken to really address this problem that has grown to crisis proportions? What Mitch Johnson and the City Council have done to GPD over the last two years is criminal. This department which was once one of the best in the country is now a hollow shell. It's understaffed by 100-200 officers, and the experienced command staff that was in place two years ago is non-existent. Detective Cuthbertson has been the Gang Unit of one until very recently. Someone has been asleep at the switch here. It's going to take years to get GPD to the level it needs to be. Tim Bellamy maybe a good police officer, but is he up to what needs to be done as Chief?

Captain Hastings made the comment that they really can't do much:

"All the prevention in the world can make those crimes difficult to commit, but it can't prevent them," Hastings said.

"When you're dealing with drug dealers who are heavily armed, late at night, in private places where there are not police officers, it's a very difficult thing to prevent...

Drug dealers who are heavily armed, late at night????? My, my. That'll get those rich, white folks out of town pretty fast before dark. You know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that criminals will tend to congregate where the least resistance lies, and Greensboro has been it for a long time.

Your newspaper reported in an article that homicides in 2007 are slightly above the five-year average. But, take a look at the standalone years in that average, and you'll see that the trend has been up over recent years.

It's about time that someone got excited and concerned about the crime problem in Greensboro. No one in the city government has been for some time. Billy's right. White, rich people are leaving Greensboro for several reason, including the policing problem. Many are leaving Greensboro and going into the county or towns such as Summerfield or Oak Ridge. Greensboro better get its act together quickly. Too many problems and not enough action.

Thanks for coments.

Nick, I'll have to disagree. The crime issue is so important that the council had to get directly involved. But council acting as a whole does not give license to individual council members to direct professional staff.

Omar, I agree that addressing manpower shortages by having officers work overtime will quickly produce diminishing results. There must be a longer fix, which is why I think a thorough evaluation of the department is a good idea. Find out what resources are needed and how they can be deployed most effectively.

No one is going to be satisfied by the excuse that murders are hard to prevent. Get rid of as many guns, drugs and gangs as you can and murders will decline.

Bill, I agree that the council needs and deserves support and encouragement on this issue. This is a test of the political, popular leadership in Greensboro.