Re: Community Policing & Law Enforcement - FWD via H.C. Sonny

Theodore Latham (tedrico@hotmail.com)
Fri, 17 Apr 1998 21:24:59 PDT 

Graeme,

    I wouldn't be surprised if that was just how it was in your 
community, and I agree that that is how it is in a majority of 
communities nationwide! However, I can say that i have personally 
witnessed effective "Community policing" in some of the principal 
southern cities, where the police or deputized policing organization 
members, have bent over backwards to not only, protect the safety of 
those on the streets, but offer assistance and in somecases, "a couple 
of bucks out of their own pockets" to try and help some of the "law 
abiding" homeless citizens of the community! Augusta, GA; Columbia, SC; 
Biloxi, MS; and Birmingham, AL are among some of these southern cities, 
in which I have lived on thier streets, and feel their "policing 
programs" should be commended and used as an example for making those of 
metropolitan regions more effective. Graeme, you strike me as a true 
concerned individual for homelessness, and I am glad you're on our team! 
Nuff Said!

Regards,

Tedrico Latham


_________________________
TEDRICO'S PAGE
http://members.xoom.com/tedrico/?homelessness
Your Informative Homelessness Resource Link!
<tedrico@hotmail.com>


>Graeme Bacque <gbacque@arcos.org> wrote:
>>In my 'hood 'community policing' has always consisted of groups of up 
to seven
>>cops travelling on foot or by bicycle and systematically terrorizing 
homeless
>>persons, sex trade workers - in other words anyone they don't like or 
who
>>falls
>>under their stereotypical view of who is a 'criminal.'

Tom Boland <wgcp@earthlink.net> replied:

>Graeme, I agree.  "Community policing" all too often is a polite term 
for
>"broken windows" style policing.  In short, sweep homeless people and 
and
>so-called "petty criminals" from "good" neighborhoods - and business
>districts.
>
>Homeless sweeps are a land grab.  The poor are driven from prized real
>estate and _public_ space, to protect property values and the interests 
of
>the wealthy and powerful.  In short, when laws are passed and enforced,
>profit too often comes before people.
>
>In many towns, we need _"citizen review boards"_ to monitor police more
>than we need so-called "community policing".  By holding police 
accountable
>to the public, review boards can reduce police violations of the civil
>rights of homeless people's and other outcaste groups.
>
>BTW, I forwarded the message below via HPN member Sonny Covington.
>(Sonny's post had bounced, so I reposted it.)
>
>The forwarded post was written by Dave Matthews 
<dmatthews@acf.dhhs.gov>
>
>Write on!--Tom Boland <wgcp@earthlink.net>
>
>>wgcp@earthlink.net wrote: [forwarded, actually]
>
>>> With due deference to America's best experts in "community policing"
>>> throughout the country who view COMMACTIONLIST message traffic via 
the
>>>Weed &
>>> Seed Correspondence List, a recent Infoseek search for that topic 
yielded
>>> several interesting websites.  One the most impressive and 
potentially
>>> informative for nonprofit public service organizations is located 
at: <snip>


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