| Author | Message | ||
     Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 2339 Registered: 1-2003  |
Thank you for the clarification, lumpynose. I wonder why the News Record is so inconsistent. Who gave the impression that the murder was a passion crime, and how? You seem to know a lot about local crime. What are the recent trends, i.e. decreases or increases, and in which types of crime? Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| lumpynose Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 779 Registered: 3-2002  |
Actually I don't. I have talked to policemen that are my friends socially and off the record and they say more than they ever will to Harpo or Kathy 'officially'. The murder case was unsolved for a long period of time, well over a year. In that time it was thought that she was murdered by an internet date or a young man from the school she taught at that she had reported for inappropriate behavior. All this was wrong and just a crime of opporuntity from a neighbor of Maplewood's. That is really scary. Could have happened to anyone. | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 2340 Registered: 1-2003 |
This might sound heartless, but I don't see how knowing the truth about that murder would make us much safer. I think we tend to want to live in risk free lives, which isn't realistic. I'm reading a book called "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things". It's interesting to learn that fear of crime is increasing while crime is decreasing. Getting back to school crime, the book points out that a kid is 30 times more likely to be killed by lightning than school violence. It's terribly odd to me that we fear some dangers and not others, regardless of the levels of threat. I suppose it is more gruesome, in a way, to be killed by violence than lightning, but I think we should take action in proportion to levesl of real risk, not levels of fear. Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1347 Registered: 6-2001 |
lumpynose, How do you know I don't talk to police officers socially? Does Marie? In her post she describes meeting officers in their official capacity only. I actually have had police officers in my family and learned they are no different from anybody in telling war stories and having gripes about their bosses. There is also a lot about their jobs they don't like to talk about socially and even have trouble dealing with themselves. But for people who really want to know about crime in Maplewood, it is still a higher quality of information to go directly to the police and town officials and ask about your concerns than to think information on MOL (or the news record) is reliable. Tom Reingold, A lot of people posting on MOL, anonymously or like Marie, have run for office against current members of the TC and lost, or some of their nearest and dearest have. They are pretty skimpy with posting positive news about the town. You can get the crime stats from the police. To my recollection, they not only show a steady decrease in the last several years, they show descreases larger than Millburn and other neighboring communities. | ||
| lumpynose Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 781 Registered: 3-2002 |
Well Tom, I am not a big door locker, especially at 6:30pm in the evening. Now I am. That's a small precaution that could have saved a life. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 4921 Registered: 5-2001 |
The police admitted that there are full fledged gang members living in town at one of the NAG meetings, or so it was reported here. As far as CHS is concerned there are a lotta kids who dress and act like gangsters. Some are actually wanna bes and may make it someday. I doubt if too many Crips or Bloods are at CHS. Gangbanging is a full time occupation. Although, I am very worried about the second grader mentioned by Marie in an earlier post.  | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1348 Registered: 6-2001 |
Tom, Our posts crossed. I think people in the vicinity of the local murder might have been inclined to be more alert or go for greater security measures on their houses had they known sooner that the victim didn't know her attacker. I also think the police made a mistake with that case. The question is whether any measures were taken to remediate that -- and that I don't know. I've never asked. | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1349 Registered: 6-2001 |
Weren't there full fledged Al Qaeda members living here at one time too? Anybody ever ask if there are full fledged organized crime members? Doesn't sounds to me like people are asleep at the switch about gangs if they are alert to second grader who does suspicious doodling and furthermore have a program for dealing with it. | ||
| Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 2341 Registered: 1-2003 |
harpo, are you saying that being bitter about an election's results leads a person to post distorted negative things about the town? Tom Reingold the prissy-pants There is nothing | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1350 Registered: 6-2001 |
I didn't say these people were bitter. What I said is that some are losing candidates themselves or very close personally to losing candidates and that they are pretty skimpy with posting positive news about the town on MOL. | ||
| lumpynose Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 782 Registered: 3-2002 |
Does this mean Vic and Jerry are going to start posting negative things about the town or did you just mean Marie? | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1351 Registered: 6-2001 |
Where did I say people posted negative things about the town? Do Vic and Jerry ever post here? | ||
| just me fromsouthorange Citizen Username: Jmfromsorange Post Number: 170 Registered: 7-2003 |
lumpy- i thought the teacher from richmond taught at oak knoll. if so, it's upper school is girl only. | ||
| bobk Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 4922 Registered: 5-2001 |
Lumpy, didn't the Maplewood and Essex County detectives begin to view the guy from Irvington as a suspect as soon as he was arrested for a similar crime a few blocks away? I thought this was the case and the detectives and the prosecutor decided not to do a DNA test until after he was convicted to avoid any chance of the test being thrown out of court because of probable cause issues. | ||
| lumpynose Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 783 Registered: 3-2002 |
They used to. Maybe they still do. Sorry I guess being skimpy about saying positive things doesn't equal saying negative things. | ||
| lumpynose Citizen Username: Lumpyhead Post Number: 784 Registered: 3-2002 |
Justme- The guy was a teacher at the school. I thought it was Kent Place. | ||
| harpo Citizen Username: Harpo Post Number: 1353 Registered: 6-2001 |
hmmmm. Looks like a lot of partial information about crime gets passed around on MOL. | ||
| ReallyTrying Citizen Username: Reallytrying Post Number: 291 Registered: 1-2003  |
I have so many thoughts about all that's been posted here, and I'm trying to watch my language. There are people in this world who do overreact about things of which they know naught. There are also people in this world, yes, even in open-minded good ole Maplewood, who are not free of racism and have been known to call the police about activities involving non-whites. (No, I am not accusing anyone here of these acts.) I have children in both MMS and CHS, and have asked them and their friends about the presence of gangs. They and their friends have told me there are no gangs ("yet", they always add ominously) but that wannabees are present. I suppose it's an open question as to whether an aspiring gangsta might be as dangerous as an actual one, but one difference would lie in the absence of an organized support system for the former. I'm going on too much, and I suppose my point is two-fold: (1) let's be careful about relying on a particular person's or on particular persons' statements; and (2) let's stay calm. | ||
| Rebecca Raines Citizen Username: Robin_realist Post Number: 91 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've noticed that there's a lot of partial information on MOL all around. It takes awhile, eventually the story get put together. It's like reading a book one sentence at a time with an hour our two in between each. Concerning the murder on Richmond. My objection was that the police in meeting with us as neighbors, gave us the distinct impression that we should not over-react because the murder was committed by someone she knew and not in any way a random act. I believe that the Essex County Prosecutor's Office was telling them exactly what to say to us. They gave us some details but not others. They gave us the idea that she must have gotten involved with someone who then murdered her. If they had just told us "We have no idea. It could be anyone in the area, or someone passing through." I personally would have changed mine and my 17 year old daughter's schedule so we were no longer in the house alone or walking home from school alone that whole year. In terms of CHS. The kids are being taped in the halls all the time, why not outside on the school grounds also? How would putting metal detectors inside the doors and security cameras outside the building be so horrible? Whether they are in a 'real gang' or not, many of the kids admire violent behavior they see on TV and in movies. I would be more worried about an individual kid with a knife than whether there are actual 'gang' members in the school. There's hardly a public building that doesn't have security cameras anymore. It seems like a relatively inobtrusive security measure to me. R. | ||
| xavier67 Citizen Username: Xavier67 Post Number: 366 Registered: 6-2002 |
There were known gang members and gang wannabees at my high school. I remember one school dance where a kid ran into the school auditorium all bloodied because he had been surrounded by members of Flying Dragons and "scratched" by their switchblades. There also was a time when 2 members of White Tigers (who weren't students at the HS) attacking a good friend in the school cafeteria (and it wasn't over the food!). These are just 2 of numerous instances of gang-related violence during my high school years. And if you asked me whether I felt safe at my high school, I'd said "yes" in a heart beat. To most, if not all, of us students such an enviornment was still felt safer than the environment outside of school, most of whose dangers were of our own making. |
