A help seeking problem
Back when I had a car I would have car problems. I would bring my car to the shop and say my car is doing X. The worse thing was when it was doing X and failed to do X again when taken to the shop. If the guys could not observe X or problems associated with X and thus could not help me, but they would find something else wrong and charge me for that.Tis the same problem with the hangers out on corners and under closed store awnings. You, a citizen observe X (drug dealing, public urination, whatever) and call the police. When, and if, said police show up, the offending citizens have A)left the scene, or B)already did X and are just hanging out taking advantage of their right to be in a public space.
posted by Mari @ 2.6.06
3 Comments:
It's hard to catch the drugdealing without undercovers. The dealers usually usually keep their stash close by, but not on them. And they usually pay younger kids to hang out nearby to act as look outs.
First, I must say binoculars work wonders. You can see stuff up close & personal, w/o being seen. As any ninja knows :), you can step back into a dark room so there's no way they can see you from the street. The faster you can identify illegal behavior, the faster you can call the cops. I used to worry about the cops showing up to an empty street, or that the illegal stuff would be over, but not anymore. I saw it, I called it in, I did my part. If they don't get there in time, then either they don't care or something more important came up. As long as you don't lie about it, then there's no reason to feel bad.
And everyone says to always call it in, because even if they don't catch the person, the incidents go into a database that is constantly reviewed for patterns/frequency to determine police deployment. At least in theory.
I need binoculars. That and roof access. A black cat suit. A really good catchphrase. And ninja skills.
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