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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Police work with a priority because so few on duty, available
FLINT, Michigan — Judy Hovey had given up hope that police would ever arrive, when her door bell rang at 2 a.m.
“It really, really frightened me, given the fact that I’d just had a break-in,” said Hovey, who opened her door to find a police officer there to take a report on a burglary that she had called into 911 about 12 hours earlier.
She’s not alone in her wait.
Although city officials maintain there are upwards of 20 officers available in the city, a closer look at the numbers shows far fewer available for routine calls.
Monday, a second-shift patrol schedule showed 14 officers on duty — only half of whom were available to answer calls anywhere in the city.
Of those 14 on duty, two were assigned to the Kettering University campus area, two others were restricted to patrolling only the city’s south side and a third was assigned to work at Hurley Medical Center.
Two of the four supervisors on duty were on administrative duty at police headquarters. On a typical day, the shift also includes two officers assigned to foot patrol downtown, but two officers called in sick Monday.
Most days, that leaves eight officers to patrol and answer calls of all kinds
throughout a city that, according to FBI crime statisitics, is the most violent in the nation.
But Mayor Dayne Walling and Police Chief Alvern Lock said all officers on duty, even the one paid for entirely by the hospital, can and do respond to high-priority emergency calls anywhere in the city.
“Those individuals are not private security detail,” Walling said. “Those are Flint police officers. They are able to respond to high-priority calls.”
Lock said the most violent and urgent calls, like assaults in progress, robberies in progress, major crashes, shootings and stabbings, get immediate response at all times.
But that can mean residents may wait hours to report minor car crashes, burglaries, destruction of property and other crimes.
Lock said there are still more officers available to respond to calls that aren’t listed on patrol schedules.
“We’ve got plain-clothes officers. We’ve got other officers working other kinds of detail that don’t necessarily check into the patrol desk,” Lock said. “We have some special operations guys. We have some other special task force guys.
“We have approximately 20 that are always available to answer calls.”
Brian Burdy, president of the Flint patrol officers’ union, said the Flint Police Department has lost two-thirds of its staff to budget cuts over the last three years. The police department currently has a staff of 124.
“That makes a huge difference on how many are out on the streets,” he said.
He said the city has tried to rearrange staffing to move more officers from desks to streets, but said the leaner ranks are taking a toll on police and residents.
Walling said regional police forces also lend a hand.
“There are
times
when Michigan state police check into our radio system,” he said.
But he acknowledged the long wait times residents are enduring.
“With a smaller police force, the priority is on crimes in progress and violent crimes,” the mayor said. “We continue to ask for the public’s patience in addressing other calls that are important, but not as immediate of a danger.”
Residents like Pat Miller say they aren’t sure how many cops are on duty at a given time.
“I don’t know if there are three police, 10 police, it depends on who you talk to about how many police are actually patrolling,” Miller said.
“I’m sure they’re trying to do their job. I’m sure they’re very busy, but what’s really going on?”
In Hovey’s case, a burglar broke into her home and left empty handed after rifling through her things. Wires to her Internet service and sprinklers were cut, but the burglar couldn’t disable her alarm system.
An alarm company notified 911 immediately, but no police officers were available to take the call.
An emergency dispatcher called Hovey around 5:30 p.m. to tell her an officer would be there soon to take her report.
“He came in and he took the report,” said Hovey, 68, who’s lived on Riverdale Road since 1974.
“He was apologetic. He said that even though it was two in the morning, he had to follow up and take the report. It is apparently because there are so few officers patrolling.”
Walling said there remains hope for adding to the police force through more federal grants.
“It’s my top priority to identify additional funds or partnerships to strengthen our public safety system,” he said. “There are two grants that are in the works right now.”
Hovey said she doesn’t know how many officers are enough, but that more are needed.
“All I know is it doesn’t feel like enough,” she said.
The person who burglarized her house entered and rifled through drawers despite the blaring alarm.
“Certain people become aware that police are not going to respond, so they understand that they have a certain amount of time to burglarize a house,” Hovey said.
“It’s sort of like a license to steal.” |
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Adam
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Tue Jun 14, 2011 12:13 pm |
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cleartheair
F L I N T O I D
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| The cops who are my friends say there are far less than a dozen on duty at any one time. They say they can prove it. Someone should FOIA city hall and get the record. |
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Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:41 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Doesn't it give all warm and fuzzies that Citizens of Flint Thought it More acceptable to hire More Officers than open the City Jail? It sure makes me feel better. Hey, Flint brain surgeons got exactly what they asked for. More cops without the ability to do their jobs. Why show up to take a report if ya know nothing is going to happen anyway. |
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Tue Jun 21, 2011 1:53 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Why send an officer to take a complaint 2 days after the incident. Prioritize calls and let someone take the report over the phone or at the station for nonviolent incidents. police responding in the middle of the night and long after the fac makes no sense. Let the police use any time between high priority calls to patrol high crime neighborhoods or collect information.
Our current system makes no sense .
The request to open the jail made citizens apprehensive as they felt the money would only support more of Walling's cronies. People wanted the jail, but they did not trust Walling. |
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Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:43 am |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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Maybe if we went soft on people having sex in parking lots and prostitutes we could free up some jail space for some gang bangers and thieves.
Also, aren't people convicted of felonies supposed to go to state prison?
In addition the drug war is a complete and miserable failure. I wouldn't be surprised if we have 10,000 or more people on illegal drugs in Flint. There's no way we can afford that kind of jail space. |
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Tue Jun 21, 2011 12:07 pm |
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Bossman
F L I N T O I D
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| Ted, We need more officers more than we need the jail. The problem right now isn't having too many officers and nowhere to put the criminals. The problem right now is not having enough officers to respond to in progress crimes. It doesn't make sense to spend money on the jail if you can't even send officers to priority one calls for several hours. Listen to the scanner. There are officers responding to calls that are 2 days old on a daily basis. |
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Tue Jun 21, 2011 9:30 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Bossman I know you're in the think of Things. However, When the department was over twice the size it is now. They still cried. that they didn't have enough officers. You can only cry wolf for so long. And knowing that when the Jail has been opened Both under Stanley and Williamson. Crime dropped drastically almost 50 percent during the time the jail was opened until it closed just months later. I find it hard to come to the conclusion that we need more officers. Esp when I see a phone call from the 7-11 that there is a person acting suspicious and within 3 minutes at 10.30PM ten police cars swarm the store. Makes me wonder where they are hiding the rest of the time. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:39 am |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Ted, which 7-11, what date & time was this? Did you personally witness it?
I listen to the scanner almost constantly. I hear calls for shots fired into an occupied house, and a car assigned 2 1/2 hours later. This was on the next block over from us.
Listen to the scanner. You'll hear far more general information calls than you will cars assigned. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:41 am |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Dave I wouldn't mind having a scanner. I've seen enough action here in the last six months then I really care to. As far as the Date Just about a month ago. My girl was still here. We decided to stay in instead of go out that night. I've mentioned that night many times posting here. I believe I mentioned it the night it happened. I don't think I gave it it's own post. As I've mentioned on here before It's right across the street from my house. On Atherton Rd. Yes it's inside Flint. Don't remember exactly which day it was. I asked the clerk if I could get a copy of his video from his phone. Unlike many people I don't go out and gawk at crime scenes. So I didn't go out and take pictures. I prefer to let police do their job. I only personally counted 8 (5 of which I could plainly identify as Flint) cars. But the clerk that called said there were 10 and had it on video. When I asked for a copy he said his phone had broken and been replaced. But What ya gonna do with that information??
Did you personally witness it? NO Had I been there They would have probably needed to just call an ambulance from the way the guy was asking. Police arrested him. Leaning over customers as they were trying to pay for their stuff.
Dave I doubt you hear that all the time. But the house or the next street over doesn't have a former Flint police officer working there either. You're not on the High Priority list. There are so many police on the road their car radios are setting off my house alarm. I say this because it seems strange that the only time the alarm seems to go off is when a Police car seems to drive by. It's done it when I'm in the house. Look out the window and there's a police car pulling into 7-11. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:50 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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You don't need to buy a scanner, you can listen online at www.flintmi.us or www.flintpoliceblotter.com.
As far as doubting I hear general calls all the time, listen for yourself for a while.
Also, I can't remember ever hearing a call for 1633 W. Atherton, or even a code 7 or 8 request for that address.
What would I do with that information? Probably nothing, since I don't have the resources or connections to verify the call & the number of responses. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 5:27 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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| Well we figured out a way to figure out what day that was for you Dave. Wednesday June 1st. Not quite a month ago, but it seems like it as time really seems to fly the older I get. LOL I could be off but I believe that was the night we were taking pictures of things to put up on Ebay and I looked at the creation date of a few pics I'm pretty sure we took that day. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:46 pm |
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Bossman
F L I N T O I D
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| Ted, you need to keep in mind that when both of those previous mayors opened the jail they did so for election purposes only. Do you think it's possible that the numbers were fudged? I know that Hagler was fudging numbers for Williamson. The bottom line is that without more cops you are simply chasing your tail. Manpower has been used by every union since I've been here, but we've never been cut to the point we are now. 7 or 8 officers working per shift in the city with the highest violent crime rate in the nation. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we are spinning our wheels. Thankfully, the remaining men and women in the police department are dedicated and continue to bust their humps day in and day out. If it wasn't for their effort you could just grab your things and run to Grand Blanc, because Flint would be complete Anarchy. More jail space is necessary, but not without more cops to fill the beds with criminals. |
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Wed Jun 22, 2011 9:36 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Bossman, I believe in some of my posts I mentioned that clearly. That these Mayors opened the jail to cut crime and reduce their numbers. Exactly for election purposes only. Once they are re-elected Flint's Crime problem has no affect on their jobs until re-election time. But it looks good to double and triple arrests and take criminals off the streets even if it's just for a short time.
I look at it like this. When a criminal get's pulled over 6 times and has 7 warrants out for his/hers arrest. Yet the officer continues to let them go, because they have no place to put them. (AND YOU KNOW THIS IS STILL HAPPENING) These individuals have this many warrants for a reason. As they are picked up and funneled into the court system and taken off the streets. Crime will go down. (because it has happened before as I've mentioned). Officers time will begin to be freed up. This is a problem Flint has had for over 20 years. It can't be solved over night by just adding more officers. The criminals have to be taken off the streets. If ya can't arrest them, ya can't take them off the streets. |
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Thu Jun 23, 2011 1:45 am |
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Bossman
F L I N T O I D
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| And if there aren't any officers then there's no one to arrest them. |
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Thu Jun 23, 2011 9:27 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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In one election Stanley spent money on the jail without council approval and i don't believe the jail even opened. I had to read a book for college callled "How to lie with Statistics" and you see examples of people doing so every day. They are fudging numbers in Flint even now. If no one answers the phone and takes a report then you can't count the numbers accurately. mant crimes slip throuh the crack.
Williamson did not want to close the jail,but budget issues demanded it. Council limited respources for the impound lot, the auditor said Flint must pay for the space used for impound in the Oak business center and revenues were declining. Kincaid led the charge to refuse to fund charter and stated mandated functions so the issue went to court and the jail had to close so the fund balance could be used to restore funding for some of those areas. Kincaid refused to negotiate on 23 budget issues and neithercutt wimped out. |
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Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:11 am |
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