Wednesday, July 8, 2020

What's Really Wrong With CMPD and its NOT Racism

When I read the news that "defunding" the police is actually a topic at a Charlotte City Council meeting and that serious consideration is being given to have "violence interrupters" and social workers respond to weapons calls rather than the police, all CP can do is classic face palm.

So how about some intelligent input? The following is unsolicited from an undisclosed source. But what do you think? 

This was recently forwarded to CP:

We can no longer demonize proactive policing as being racist. 

This is a key factor in us getting this turned around. Currently, a police presence means patrol units taking 3-5 minute rides around a area. Very few traffic stops, very few citizen interactions or officer generated instances. 

The idea is people seeing a blue and white car will not do crime out of fear of a fast response to their action. It works for about 2 days before a location goes right back to its original state. 

You are going to be told the opposite by command staff but they have not stepped in a patrol car with out units already being present to work these scenes alone or take service calls. 

Most approaches revolve around the net theory, fill a location with cops to reduce crime but if those said cops are not taking pro active actions, it means nothing. 

A officer pulling over a high number of vehicles verses a officer pulling over the same vehicle a higher number of times is vastly different. 

We need to ensure our bias reduction strategies do not hand tie good work from being done, because they currently do. 

Another problem is the rate of service call response to that of free time. CMPD has many specialized units, and those units do not always pick the best cases to get involved in to free up divisional time or to push ahead with suspect identification and arrest. 

In theory, why do we have crime reduction units that only produce a 1/4th of the work that patrol does? 

Either we focus on removing problem causers or we focus on padding our force with units by removing specialized units or de centralizing them and creating mini off shoots to work inside of patrol divisions to supplement officers. 

Past that point, how we make contact with both citizen and suspect could change to support how we handle crime. 

Basic tools like window tint graders and LPR can help. Window Tint is a limited item under state law. 
A lot of people who are involved in criminal acts break the tinting law to hide what is possessed in their vehicle. Units can do pro active work by making legal stops for window tint violations that allow us to focus our efforts on suspicious cars in suspicious locations. 

Neighborhoods have been screaming for traffic and drug responses and basic tools like this have been over looked for grandiose strategies that rarely bear long term fruit.

 LPR is short hand for license plate readers. I grasp the “big brother” complaints people have about this technology, but once again, instead of a net approach, we need to focus our actions to first reduce crime, and second reduce interactions that bear no fruit. 

LPR technology can be both mounted to public property and attached to patrol vehicles. There is a distraction for a unit driving a LPR vehicle as its system produces sounds and alerts about each vehicle it is scanning with louder warning when something like a expired tag, registration warrant, or bolo (be on the look out) comes up. 

If we created mini units that worked patrol divisions actively driving around providing patrols while letting LPR scan, we can take pro active actions and give areas the police presence they have asked for. 

The last point is officer placement. I am sure you all have heard the complaints of no unit in the city being available. 

I have had units clean from Westover in South West Charlotte taking calls for Metro before. 

We need to work to keep units working specific square miles, having regular work zones, and staying in them except for instances like vehicles chases, active shooters, and perimeter creation. 

We need people that know their work area and know what stands out from the normal, that only comes from familiarity that comes from regular working the area. 

CMPD has tried this with community coordinators but in many ways this work has been ineffective. 

They do not usually take calls for service or do direct follow up on criminal events, this is passed once again to patrol. 

This is a problem because in some cases numbers as low as 5 officers are made to work a full division. 

Coordinators, crime reduction units, and traffic cops end up being sent downtown for what are called “event pulls” where divisions give up their officers to provide security for center city. 

How can we take officers to guard the panthers but leave neighborhoods with bare bones and call it fair? This has to change and our patrol operations need to reflect where we are.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can feel the writer's frustration. The writer needs to understand that the city is building 8 new affordable housing complexes that require millions of dollars to build. This is causing the city to go cheap on enforcement and safety.

You are breaking your back so that the city can purchase real estate.

Bleep bloop said...

1

Bleep bloop said...

Who is the weak captain that told an officer in IA Hearing he should be in jail for assault for going to ground with a combative subject at jail? Shot like that is why nobody does nothing. Breeding mediocrity? No breeding near neglect of duty with shit like that

Anonymous said...

The punks and thugs on the street all scream I have rights and your racist. The stream of f-bombs and insults even for a traffic stop is ridiculous its just a traffic ticket. Had one white kid tell me 20 times he was pleading the 5th

name? I am pleading the 5th,
is this your car? I am pleading the 5th
are you brain dead? I am pleading the 5th

Changed his song when I told him that he had a right to call a lawyer from jail.

SteveN said...

Certainly the end of the article/opinion piece speaks to the real issue. Sometimes as little as 5 patrol officers working an entire shift and covering an entire division. That right there. Too many specialized units and not enough actual patrol units/911 fielders.......

Other departments (actually MOST of them of any size) grant patrol incentives AND shift-differential incentives. At CMPD, patrol is the butt-fucked red-headed stepchild. There's NO incentive to work patrol, what is (much to the chagrin of command staff everywhere) really THE bread & butter of a police department's very existence. I'll give a nod to investigations as the 'salad' accompaniment......

Everything else is expendable. When you have more than enough patrol officers and detectives, THEN you consider if you have enough bodies to cover stuff like community coordinating.......'special' drug or vice units.......school resource officers.........et al.

Anonymous said...

Any more on Braxton Winston AOF arrest and un-arrest?

Anonymous said...

Steve just ask around look how many in Steel Creek are in the detective unit. Most those sit at a deck and computer all day. Crazy they are so focused on their computers that they fail to look out the window at the armed robbery and car jackings.

Anonymous said...

The CP comments section is comprised of overweight patrol officers sitting in parking lots, unable to effectively investigate a simple beer larceny, reminiscing on bygone policing days during which they also had zero ambition and an equally worthless ability to investigate a beer larceny. “Sarge, can you send this picture out for ID purposes?” These same inexperienced patrol officers get promoted to sergeant at year 5 and people wonder why you have a better chance of going to IA than getting a case past the district attorney’s office. Politicians will politick. Scumbags will bag scum. And real police will poleese. But vent away you silly sheep.

Anonymous said...

^^you tell em Cecil!

Good thing we have real poleese around here like you doing whatever it takes to get that fresh white shirt to match that fresh white load you sprayed everywhere while on duty.

Bleep bloop said...

Real police go to jail for doing their jobs now. Of you don't take that change in political dynamics serious and Change your behavior don't cry when you are 72ed. Us old grumps probably can out police the shot talkers on here but have families to lose now. We reserve the right to only react to the most important calls.
We don't spend 45 minutes tearing through a car for a dimebag of weed. Oh big case there rook.

Anonymous said...

The person who wrote this has to be a 5500 code number at best... who the fuck cares about drugs and window tint and other bullshit. The DA hasn’t cared about any of that shit in 15 years. Wasting all your time in court to have all your shit dismissed is a huge waste of time and most of cmpd from the old farts to the new jacks can’t investigate their way out of a paper bag. Read any statement taken by anyone and it could have been written by an 11 year old. We don’t need more street cops writing bullshit tickets or snatching up rocks or dime bags. We need to give the fine citizens of Charlotte what they want. No point in spending time doing work you know won’t go anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Why are we mandated to wear masks in the academy, the LEC, team offices and CFS but when I got to the ivory tower all the command staff and white shirts don’t wear them in common areas....are they immune or something??

Anonymous said...

I hear you 7:01 basic police work is pointless because well we might as well just let them have their way

open air drug markets
cars without insurance
drivers without valid NCDLs.
Non-Support cases never brought into court just let them be total ghetto.

Because enforcing the law is racist!

Anonymous said...

From the article:

"How can we take officers to guard the panthers but leave neighborhoods with bare bones and call it fair?"

Given the fact Tepper has ceded the Panthers entire public & social platform to BLM & complete dumb-asses like Tre' Boston (shoot me) & Eric Reid...

...I sincerely hope Charlotte police officers will call Tepper's bluff and force him to provide private security going forward for any and all Panthers games and other events at the stadium.

The Good Doctor

Anonymous said...

A word to the wise....
I'm in my Hidey Hole!! Find a good one and get in it if you are smart.

Anonymous said...

Its Coming......

Anonymous said...

If you’re a CMPD officer you need to do 3 things.

1. Delete all your social media and get underground. They’ll track you down even if you use fake names and shit. Just ask Wendy.

2. If you live in this cesspool of a county, get the fuck out. It’s cheaper outside and the schools have less guns and more books.

3. Find a hiding spot in your RA and stay the fuck there until you are called to leave, take your sweet time getting to where you’re called and return to said hidey hole as soon as possible to do the report. Wear blinders going to and from...

If you find yourself unable to do any of the three above things, find another job. You’ll end up doing something stupid and fucking over the rest of us with your Gung-ho GI Joe bullshit. The powers that be in Charlotte have spoken. There’s no place in this cities culture for superhero wannabes thinking they’re changing the world with one DWLR citation after another. And please save the “but my bullshit traffic stops get guns off the streets” garbage. Look at the homicides in this county: it’s fuckbags killing other repeat felon fuckbags. All you’re doing is standing in the way of the inevitable. Give the people what they want.

It’s time to police smart and survive.

Anonymous said...

Can I get an AMEN!!!

SteveN said...

7:11

Great advice.

A lot depends on your sergeants and lieutenants, though...........

Some of them live and die on their laptop using the patrol vehicles' GPS trackers to 'follow' their officers and find their hidey-holes.

Hell. There's OFFICERS who spent their time tracking other officers and bitching to the sergeants and lieutenants about so-and-so spending all their time at so-and-so.......

Anonymous said...

It's always a good idea to have more than one hidey hole within your RA to "Zone Check". That way you can strategically relocate every so often. A good point of reference is anywhere where there are good snacks, drinks, and bathrooms nearby.

Anonymous said...

If you are doing anything other than hiding in you're hidey hole these days then you are a damn fool! Charlotte City leadership has made it crystal clear that they do not want us policing in the areas where crime is occurring. Let the bodies hit the floor, take the scenic route to the scene, string up some tape, and sit back in your nicely air conditioned car while the Homie-cide Detectives bumble around for a few hours looking for the elusive witnesses. This wont end anytime soon until someone in our Dept. grows a set and stands up to them. And that ain't gonna happen. That's why JJ is now the Chief. An outsider would have been thrown under the bus within a year...