| Author | Message | ||
     User58 Citizen Username: User58 Post Number: 218 Registered: 8-2004 |
Mary it is wake up and smell the coffee! Roses? | ||
| mary032 Citizen Username: Mary032 Post Number: 171 Registered: 8-2001 |
Coffee schmoffee, what's the difference? In California we smell roses in the morning. | ||
| Abner Aliger Citizen Username: Vichy Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2003 |
You ain't seen nothing yet; wait 'til you get the " Comin Soon" market which will by law have to accept Food Stamps and will attract from Orange & Vailsburg then the real fun will begin! A Bientot! | ||
| Two Sense Citizen Username: Twosense Post Number: 172 Registered: 7-2004 |
Before contemplating additional officers, can't SOPD simply redeploy officers from unwarranted Valley Street traffic stops and the various places they hang out (e.g., 3rd Street Commuter Lot) to actual patrol duty? It worked for New York City; surely, it could work here. | ||
| Sitoyan Citizen Username: Sitoyan Post Number: 77 Registered: 7-2004 |
"wait 'til you get the " Comin Soon" market which will by law have to accept Food Stamps and will attract from Orange & Vailsburg then the real fun will begin! A Bientot!" says Abner. So now we don't want the supermarket? | ||
| SO Refugee Citizen Username: So_refugee Post Number: 430 Registered: 2-2005  |
Not unless it has valet parking for the elitists like Abby whose servants won't stand for shopping with the riff-raff. | ||
| Ace789nj Citizen Username: Ace789nj Post Number: 39 Registered: 2-2005 |
Twosense - Define "unwarranted Valley Street traffic stops" Oh and BTW, when you see a patrol car in that lot do you think anyone is gonna come in and rip out your headlights? they call that patrol  | ||
| Two Sense Citizen Username: Twosense Post Number: 174 Registered: 7-2004 |
A string of SOPD patrol cars lined-up on Valley Street, south of the Beifus Body Shop, stopping every car heading south -- peering inside (maybe looking for guns, drugs, or rock 'n roll CDs), and requiring documentation from selected drivers, while letting others proceed. If this is seat-belt check, isn't this exactly what N.J. legislators prohibited when they mandated seat belts? If this is a random, police stop to ferret out law breakers, is this more effective than patroling our neighborhoods? BTW Ace789nj, when you see two patrol cars facing each other in a parking lot for an extended period of time, most would agree it's an extended donut break -- not a stake-out to break-up halogen light theft rings. | ||
| Ace789nj Citizen Username: Ace789nj Post Number: 41 Registered: 2-2005 |
You have no clue what you're talking about. If you see a few patrol cars at a checkpoint they are most likely there because grants from the state allow them to hire extra cops for a 4 hour detail, they in no way add to the daily manpower of the poilce dept and cannot be assigned to other tasks. The 3 most common checkpoints are DMV safety(with mobile inspection units on site), drunk driver checks and the nationaly promoted click-it-or-ticket.......all of which make it safer for you to live in SO. What's with the CD joke, Those details wind up bringing in people who are wanted (warrants) and it's not uncommon that they recover drugs and guns. If you don't think thats benificial to your town then your just plain ignorant. BTW, what "others" do you see proceeding? You miss the point about the parking lot, whether there's one car there or two guys having coffee & talking they're still preventing a crime from happening there. Oh I know, those guys aren't allowed to have a coffee break or stop to talk to each other. That always cracks me up, it's ok for people to play solitare, shoot the sh@# at the water cooler, take smoke breaks, plus an extra 15 minutes on their hour lunch but see a cop stop in for a bite or a coffee........god forbid. The police dept does try to move guys around to cover different aspects of police work but you can only spread out but so much before it gets too thin | ||
| Two Sense Citizen Username: Twosense Post Number: 175 Registered: 7-2004 |
Ace789nj, since most of your MOL posts are about defending and adding police, and imposing more law and order, I'm guessing you're a cop or related to one. You really should lighten up a bit. MOLer learn all they need to know from your reference to Maplewood as Maplehood and your MOL profile Personal Quote: "Citizens sleep peacefully at night knowing that rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." - George Orwell | ||
| Ace789nj Citizen Username: Ace789nj Post Number: 42 Registered: 2-2005 |
I try not to sound argumentative but when I hear/read negative assumptions or misguided opinions I have to try to correct them or at least educate that person. The Maplehood joke has been around since I was at Coulumbia more than 10 years ago, I'm surely not the only one here who's heard/used it and you can't learn all there is to know about me from it. I'm with you that more can be done with what the PD has but your first post basically said the cops don't do their jobs cause they're doing their job. Don't worry I'm not always for imposing more law and order and I sure as hell won't defend the police when they're wrong but I just try to set the record straight sometimes. | ||
| Two Sense Citizen Username: Twosense Post Number: 177 Registered: 7-2004 |
Unfortunately, Ace789nj, your opening post on this subject was: "that's simple, demand more cops on your streets" When unionized, municipal safety officers stop infusing every public position they take -- here and elsewhere -- with demands for hiring more officers, then I'll go back to sleep on this one. It's human nature to strive for a better position, higher salary, better benefits, and a better work environment; but, it's a unique soap box rally among municipal union safety officers to scare the public into believing that without hiring more officers, we're jeopardizing our own safety and well-being. And, it's even more vexing when you recognize just how often incremental union jobs directly benefit family members of those rallying to add these jobs. This simply doesn't happen in any other sector of our economy or lives. | ||
| Brett Weir Citizen Username: Brett_weir Post Number: 648 Registered: 4-2004 |
"This simply doesn't happen in any other sector of our economy or lives" -Two Sense True, but in how many other sectors can lack of sufficient personnel result in loss of life, serious injury or property losses? Few. The fact is that public safety workload increases every year, not only due to crime and safety issues but to added responsibilities from new laws, training, increased Homeland Security issues and other factors. Add to this the addition of new housing in several locations and increasing resident populations at Seton Hall and the duties of each police officer have surely been multiplied. If your manpower is static as your workload increases, simple mathmatics tell you that your productivity per worker will decrease. This is why we don't see cops walking the beat or riding bikes anymore; there aren't any available after addressing basic needs. We can't afford extra cops when our taxes are so high, but the trade-off is that some things are not going to get done. If you have 40 cops working 40 hrs per week (meaning 1600 man/hours), and you have 2000 man/hours of work to do, some things are going to be lost. | ||
| Spitz Supporter Username: Doublea Post Number: 1127 Registered: 3-2003 |
Maybe someone can speak to this issue. I've heard one ex-trustee say on at least two occasions that we have "real crime" in South Orange and that is one of the reasons our police force probably costs more than towns of comparable size which are not close to high crime areas. I'm not questioning that statement. And I'm thankful for the great job the SOPD does. I suspect that there is a lot that we don't hear about, or a lot of crimes that aren't committed because of the SOPD's presence. How does our police department compare in terms of size and cost to towns that don't border high crime areas. Can it be quantified? | ||
| Ace789nj Citizen Username: Ace789nj Post Number: 44 Registered: 2-2005 |
IMO, the sopd does a great job with what they have right now. SO's crime rate is miniscule compared to those of the towns we border. But it's immpossible to think that an officer, even if on diligant patrol, can be everywhere at all times preventing any and all crimes so when Neen says he/she wants to see more cops around town the logical solution is to physicaly have more cops. Having said that, the sopd often works with the bare minimum officers per shift and given the number of bars in town plus the population of Seton Hall's campus (not to mention the rest of the town) those guys have more than enough reason to want more cops on the force and not just blab off at the soap box. As far as the lack of manpower complaints from other sectors are concerned I don't think there's many other jobs where you're not guarantied going home at night so the "power/safety in numbers" theory comes into play a lot more often with police and firefighters than with other fields. | ||
| Sheena Collum SHU Citizen Username: Sheena_collum Post Number: 129 Registered: 4-2005  |
Glad you should bring up SHU Ace because there have been several incidents of students walking back to campus late at night and being "mugged" and threatened (and unmentionable acts of perversion by the perpetrator(s) to say the least). I imagine if SOPD had the money and resources to expand they would but in the meantime I don't know if that's a viable option. Is there a "Neighborhood Watch" implemented anywhere in South Orange? Along with SOPD, I think the citizens of S.O. should take more ownership to lessen the amount of crime. There's things like the National Citizens' Crime Prevention Campaign which has been instrumental in several communities. A lot of places I have seen have signs as a deterrent (http://www.nnwi.org/street.htm) which could possibly let these individuals know that EVERYONE is watching (not just the cops). -Sheena | ||
| User58 Citizen Username: User58 Post Number: 225 Registered: 8-2004 |
Sheena.....do you own a house in South Orange? The taxes on our homes average $18,000 per year. So now we should defend ourselves? | ||
| Pizzaz Citizen Username: Pizzaz Post Number: 1879 Registered: 11-2001  |
I think the average house is closer to $11,250. Assuming an average assessed value of $225k.. | ||
| e roberts Citizen Username: Wnwd00 Post Number: 351 Registered: 3-2004 |
sheena, so you want SOPD and the citizens of SO to get involved with crime prevention? what about SHU students, what should their role be? in my opinion it should be more significant then stumbling around the neighborhood intoxicated or walking back and forth to the train. also what does SHU pay in taxes?...oh right nothing, so perhaps this discussion should be left to legitmate residents who actually contribute to providing the resources to the community not just drain them in oh so many ways as seton hall and its students appear to be gifted in doing. | ||
| Taylor M Citizen Username: Anotherusername Post Number: 491 Registered: 8-2004 |
Sheena Wow! I'm glad you believe "the citizens of S.O. should take more ownership to lessen the amount of crime." That said, I'll be looking for you and the other SHU leaders to present a proposal to Seton Hall Officals for the funding of a couple more police officers on the police department. All it would take to pay the officers is for each student to pay an additional $100 in tutiton. |
