FloPoErich wrote:
St. Louis City recently went to a digital radio system that does not allow most outside providers access to their radio system... Just a heads up.
So is this the same type of system that just got approved with the E911 vote last week?
Not exactly. The City's radio system is digital, similar to a cell phone signal. It allows us to use the radio in places that previously would be "dead zones". It also produces a sharper, clearer tone.
The county's E911 vote was much more than just the radio. That will hopefully open up lines of communication between all of the separate municipalities in the county, thus making it easier for neighboring communities to work together.
Was it true there are/were different suburban police forces and fire departments who couldn't easily talk to each other? Something like they would have to agree beforehand to meet on a certain sub-channel or frequency?
Gopher - best of luck in the move. I would recommend you stay in the city but opt for a more kid friendly burrough - perhaps Shaw or TGS
lukethedrifter wrote:I have a 9 y/o daughter and currently live in Shaw after spending 3 years living down the street from Grover- we survived that.
Lukethedrifter - How do you like living in Shaw? My wife and I have looked over a ton of neighborhoods around TG park and have settled on Shaw quite possibly becoming our next destination in the city. We currently live on the Hill but would like a larger house for a future family. And I can see a marked difference in the Shaw neighborhood in the 3 years I've lived in the city. Is there any fear of home break-ins (an issue some police have told me was an issue for Shaw in the past)? Do you send your child to St. Margarets?
So is this the same type of system that just got approved with the E911 vote last week?
Not exactly. The City's radio system is digital, similar to a cell phone signal. It allows us to use the radio in places that previously would be "dead zones". It also produces a sharper, clearer tone.
The county's E911 vote was much more than just the radio. That will hopefully open up lines of communication between all of the separate municipalities in the county, thus making it easier for neighboring communities to work together.
Was it true there are/were different suburban police forces and fire departments who couldn't easily talk to each other? Something like they would have to agree beforehand to meet on a certain sub-channel or frequency?
Yes. They would all have to talk via a Mutual Aid Channel and even then there was no guarantee that each muni or officer had access to the channel at any given time.
The county did a great job in getting this passed. It it vital to the safety of both the public safety persons and citizens.
I walked up to find a drunken douchebag - one of the crowd from Lucas Park Grille - literally urinating on my front door step. This angers me because I don't appreciate smelling anybody's foul-smelling piss when I walk out my door.
I confront the guy from a distance, and he continues - and starts insulting me. I then tell him I'm calling the police, and I'm not tolerating him doing this. He then SPITS ON ME. I call the police, and tell them I'm dealing with a belligerent drunk who's urinating on my building, and he spat at me. They promised to send a car right over.
At this point, I tell the guy I've called the police, and go to follow him. I follow him, and confront him again about it. I don't do anything physicalk or say anything inappropriate, mind you. The guy then PUNCHES ME IN THE FACE. His douchebag buddies applaud.
I am shocked. I thought I was going to pass out. I went to press redial for the police, but missed and dialed a friend who was panicked enough to hang up and try calling the police on my behalf, again.
I call the police a second, time and state that I called earlier about a confrontation, and now was assaulted, and want to press charges. The guy was still within an earshot and bragging about just having punched me for confronting him. Again, I did nothing physical to this guy.
I then continued to follow him. As I go to call the police again, I finally see a police car coming down the street. I wave them down; they're just cruising, not responding to my call. There's two officers, one blonde female, and one African-American male. I tell them hurriedly what happened, and that the guy punched me for confronting him about urinating on my front door. She rolled her eyes at me and asked for a description. I pointed and said, THAT GUY, standing right here. I asked them to do something, that I want to press charges. The officer in the passenger seat said "We got to turn around before we can look for him." Please let me tell you why this doesn't make sense: he was sitting there, and the guy was RIGHT THERE. He could have EASILY gotten out of the car to deal with this guy. However, they chose not to, and instead of turning around, decided to ride Washington all the way to Tucker.
They never returned, and the guy ran around the corner. I called the police AGAIN, this time UNBELIEVABLY irritated. I said that I've been assaulted, by somebody who was urinating ON MY PORCH, and I flagged down a car which would not help me. This dispatcher tells me that she sees the calls in the system, and that someone is still responding.
I stand outside with my nose bleeding waiting for an officer that never came, over 30 minutes, all while being heckled by this guy and his friends.
I give up, and call the police one more time as the guy and his friends leave. I tell the dispatcher that I have been waiting, in a very public and visible space, for an officer to come help me after being assaulted. I was tired of waiting, it's been 45 minutes since the incident, and I'm going home. She takes my number and nobody ever calls.
I am so infuriated that this would happen, I can't even think about it. What's going on? Why would they ignore something when I was obviously upset?
Slay has an e-mail form on the City website. Tell him.
(Unfortunately, the City site isn't all that friendly for finding individual e-mail addresses, which is pretty poor for a public entity. Nonetheless, I'd ask the Mayor to share your information with Barb Geisman, who lives a block from where the incident occurred.)
New Downtown St. Louis Partnership director: Maggie Campbell, mcampbell(at)downtownstl.org
president(at)dslra.org
If you want to share your story with the media, you might start with Jeremy Kohler at our place, jkohler(at)post-dispatch.com
The 911 calls should be retrievable. If this happened anywhere close to the way you describe it, the Mayor and DTSLP should be holding a joint press conference as soon as they investigate the incident and demanding immediate disciplinary action against the SLPD.
Again, I have no reason to doubt your account, but right now, it's an anonymous posting on a message board. But if we're trying to build this hypothetical "24/7" downtown and various elements aren't on board to provide even the most basic security, there's something seriously wrong going on here.
I completely feel for you, and hopefully you get some sort of reaction from the city for this incident and what you feel is lack of response. However, you have made several comments on this thread about lack of police response to anything in "the city" and I must say that in the few times I have needed police response, it has always been as immediate as one can expect. One person's experiences cannot make for complete generalizations about an entire city and its force.
Again, taking nothing away from what happened to you and I feel for you. That was idiotic.
The police have always been great whenever we've called them, but this is outrageous. Bonwich gave some great advice and resources and I hope you follow up with it and make a huge stink that the City can't ignore.
audioguy09 wrote:I am so livid right now I cannot see straight.
I walked up to find a drunken douchebag - one of the crowd from Lucas Park Grille - literally urinating on my front door step. This angers me because I don't appreciate smelling anybody's foul-smelling piss when I walk out my door.
I confront the guy from a distance, and he continues - and starts insulting me. I then tell him I'm calling the police, and I'm not tolerating him doing this. He then SPITS ON ME. I call the police, and tell them I'm dealing with a belligerent drunk who's urinating on my building, and he spat at me. They promised to send a car right over.
At this point, I tell the guy I've called the police, and go to follow him. I follow him, and confront him again about it. I don't do anything physicalk or say anything inappropriate, mind you. The guy then PUNCHES ME IN THE FACE. His douchebag buddies applaud.
I am shocked. I thought I was going to pass out. I went to press redial for the police, but missed and dialed a friend who was panicked enough to hang up and try calling the police on my behalf, again.
I call the police a second, time and state that I called earlier about a confrontation, and now was assaulted, and want to press charges. The guy was still within an earshot and bragging about just having punched me for confronting him. Again, I did nothing physical to this guy.
I then continued to follow him. As I go to call the police again, I finally see a police car coming down the street. I wave them down; they're just cruising, not responding to my call. There's two officers, one blonde female, and one African-American male. I tell them hurriedly what happened, and that the guy punched me for confronting him about urinating on my front door. She rolled her eyes at me and asked for a description. I pointed and said, THAT GUY, standing right here. I asked them to do something, that I want to press charges. The officer in the passenger seat said "We got to turn around before we can look for him." Please let me tell you why this doesn't make sense: he was sitting there, and the guy was RIGHT THERE. He could have EASILY gotten out of the car to deal with this guy. However, they chose not to, and instead of turning around, decided to ride Washington all the way to Tucker.
They never returned, and the guy ran around the corner. I called the police AGAIN, this time UNBELIEVABLY irritated. I said that I've been assaulted, by somebody who was urinating ON MY PORCH, and I flagged down a car which would not help me. This dispatcher tells me that she sees the calls in the system, and that someone is still responding.
I stand outside with my nose bleeding waiting for an officer that never came, over 30 minutes, all while being heckled by this guy and his friends.
I give up, and call the police one more time as the guy and his friends leave. I tell the dispatcher that I have been waiting, in a very public and visible space, for an officer to come help me after being assaulted. I was tired of waiting, it's been 45 minutes since the incident, and I'm going home. She takes my number and nobody ever calls.
I am so infuriated that this would happen, I can't even think about it. What's going on? Why would they ignore something when I was obviously upset?
audioguy, you know what I did, and got a swift response from?
Nowhere on the city police's website do they offer up the chief's email address, so I took a wild stab at the standard naming convention. He never responded, but a District 2 sargeant called and apologized and said they will be looking in to it and she ENCOURAGED me to file a complaint. Nothing ever came of it because it came to be that they had sent a car, but the fact was that dispatch told me "I'll try, we're pretty busy tonight." So I won I felt.
Please email the chief ASAP and keep us updated. Elliot Davis from Fox 2 should do a "You paid for it" and start holding the SLMPD responsible. I have little to no respect for city cops. That's definitely somewhere that the suburbs have us beat on.
Thanks, everybody, for suggestions. I woke up this morning sore to the nose and even more angry.
I have no motivation to "make up" a story like this, and while I realize I've complained in the past about slow/nonexistent police response, it's when calling about relatively petty community issues - noise pollution, possible gunshots, etc.
When it comes to me saying "I have been assaulted, and I need help", I expect a swift response. I stood on the street for 45 minutes, much of which was spent being heckled by the guy and his friends ("Ooooo, you're calling the POLICE, what are they gonna do?!"). What even irritates me the most is the attitude of the cops I did see and spoke with. I'm standing there, POINTING TO THE OFFENDER, and they were too lazy to deal with it.
I understand not caring about someone urinating on my doorstep. It doesn't make it any better, but I understand not being willing to respond to that kind of call. When the guy spits on me, and then punches me for confronting him (with no physical action on my part, either before or after the punch), I expect a swift response. What if the guy had pulled a gun or a knife?
I will be following the leads you all generously provided.
^ The idea of contacting those named above is a good idea. Another good one would be grabbing the bag id's of the officers, that way it is clear who was "not doing their job."
dweebe wrote:^^^ This is typical for St. Louis City cops as most are patrol officers are useless. Sorry to say this but you're not going to get any satisfaction.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Is there certain instances they have failed or is it your opinion.
dweebe wrote:^^^ This is typical for St. Louis City cops as most are patrol officers are useless. Sorry to say this but you're not going to get any satisfaction.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Is there certain instances they have failed or is it your opinion.
Erich, it doesn't take much to see the contempt a great number of the officers have for the citizens of St Louis, at least those citizens that don't live in the far SW reaches of the city. If you need a reminder just take a visit to coptalk.
dweebe wrote:^^^ This is typical for St. Louis City cops as most are patrol officers are useless. Sorry to say this but you're not going to get any satisfaction.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Is there certain instances they have failed or is it your opinion.
Erich, it doesn't take much to see the contempt a great number of the officers have for the citizens of St Louis, at least those citizens that don't live in the far SW reaches of the city. If you need a reminder just take a visit to coptalk.
Unfortunately CopTalk makes most cops look bad. There a just a few that post on there out of the 1200 Officers in the City. The strong majority of men and women I see everyday care about this city and love their job. As with any profession, laziness may occur and shortcuts maybe taken, however, I have more confidence in the SLMPD than any other area police department.
I am truly sorry for anyone (on the right side of the law) who has had a negative experience with the St. Louis Police Department. I know that when I pin my badge on every morning and snap my gun into my holster that I am putting my life on the line for the city and its residents that I love and care for and I am honored to do this. I believe most of us feel this way.
FloPoErich wrote:
I'm sorry you feel this way. Is there certain instances they have failed or is it your opinion.
Erich, it doesn't take much to see the contempt a great number of the officers have for the citizens of St Louis, at least those citizens that don't live in the far SW reaches of the city. If you need a reminder just take a visit to coptalk.
Unfortunately CopTalk makes most cops look bad. There a just a few that post on there out of the 1200 Officers in the City. The strong majority of men and women I see everyday care about this city and love their job. As with any profession, laziness may occur and shortcuts maybe taken, however, I have more confidence in the SLMPD than any other area police department.
I am truly sorry for anyone (on the right side of the law) who has had a negative experience with the St. Louis Police Department. I know that when I pin my badge on every morning and snap my gun into my holster that I am putting my life on the line for the city and its residents that I love and care for and I am honored to do this. I believe most of us feel this way.
I'm truly glad that you- and others like you- feel the way you do. I have witnessed city officers in incredibly difficult situations act with incredible patience and tolerance and concern. I have also personally witnessed other officers treat decent people with incredible disdain and contempt. And at times violence. I wish I felt like there were more of the former.
I wouldn't say CopTalk is all bad. It is a sad day when Brent Darrow's address is published on there encouraging cops to "pay him a visit" and threatening his life (Brent Darrow is the guy who recorded the St George police nut). That being said, I was given several good responses when I asked why I never see police in my hood when I live on one of the busier streets in Dogtown (I did, at least). My computer sat by the window and my wife and I would always let each other know when a cop drove by because it was such an infrequent occurence. When I asked why, I had several responses from alleged city officers who said they were, uh, "encouraged" to patrol St Louis Hills to make the upper crest in the city council and the higher ups in the department happy. I only had one scathing response, which shocked me.
I got this today from Captain Mary Edwards-Fears, Commander of the Fifth District:
We are in desperate need of your assistance: Encouraging residents in the various neighborhoods in building Block Units. Chief Dan Isom has set some challenging goals for our entire department (for 2010) but the one that is proving to be the most exciting for us is assisting community residents in the building/reactivation of block units. Yes, we have set a goal of 25 block units to be either built or reactivated within the 5th District and we, your 5th District law enforcement team, embrace that challenge. We all know that by having block units, residents are empowered to watch out for their neighborhoods and share any criminal activity in a more structured way.
Our efforts include sharing the news at several different community meetings and while we are pleased that we have made some headway, we realize we still have a lot of work to do.
We are scheduled to have the end of the year “Community Affairs Meeting” on Monday, November 16th, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Paul Church, which is located at 2137 E. John (Corner of E. John and N. Florissant). We would appreciate your attending and reinforcing the message on the importance of having solid block units. Please encourage your constituents to attend for we have slated Chief Isom to be the main speaker. We have also invited Sgt. Roger Englehardt, of the Homicide Division to speak on the violent activity that has occurred in our district.
We hope to partner with you and make the goal of 25 block units a reality, seeking to increase that number as time goes on.
Refreshments will be served. Thank you and hope to see you there!
If any of you are in the 5th District, I'd encourage you to attend. If any of you are not in the 5th District but have things you'd like to discuss with the Chief (looking at you, audioguy09), I'd encourage you to attend. I'm not sure how it is in the rest of the City, but up here the police have made a great effort to engage the community.
