I live by clarendon park and see them doing the same across from the twin towers at Wilson and Clarendon. I told the police officer in a car parked by the field house and he drove off in the other direction. Maybe he had something more important to do other then to make our area safe and healthy for us residents.
Sheesh. I was joking. You cant tell what the heck is going on here. How do you know it's needles? It's obvious there is an exchange, but what kind is not apparent.
That video is inconclusive as to what if any exchange was going on. This is why we have a Bill of Rights. No officer within their right mind would look for these 2 persons and arrest them based on a video such as yours. This is not CSI.
I see the video as giving an indication of a problem that needs to be addressed. When I first moved here, I dismissed what I suspected. My observation now is that drug trafficking is much more rampant than what some of us want to admit.
Back in the 1920's, you could legally buy joints in Uptown corner stores. People sell drugs because the demand is there. Whether you like it or not, drugs are a part of the culture here in Uptown. The folly is believing that a neighborhood should change because YOU moved in....all too typical of the condo crowd.
Are you seriously trying to win an argument by saying that Uptown is a "drug-friendly" community? Illegal drug-use or any illegal activity should not be tolerated, whether it be near condos or abandoned warehouses. Someone has watched one-too-many episodes of The Wire, huh?
The Supply & Demand battle is ever-raging. Do you go after the dealers? Or do you go after the buyers? Well, when the dealers are targeting elderly residents (see earlier UU post this month), we should probably aim for them.
However, just because "demand" is here in Uptown, doesn't mean that it cannot be changed. Believe it or not, other areas have done it!
Which brings me to an off-topic point. The "it is what it is" attitude saying things have to stay the way they are -- this includes arguments for "affordable housing" that have to be in Uptown. There is plenty affordable housing in Uptown. There is affordable housing elsewhere.
All of these nonsensical arguments actually make me want to leave the Democratic party.
Michael, here's a news flash for you. Neighborhoods change, all the time. In the 1920s, Uptown was legally segregated, with black people given ONE BLOCK (4600 Winthrop) to live on. In the 1920s, Uptown was making the transition from a German immigrant neighborhood to a real Roaring 20s good-time bar-and-entertainment district. In the 1950s, Uptown was home to poor white Appalachians. In the 1970s, it was so poverty-stricken that every block had an empty lot where a building had been burned down by its owner for the insurance money. This decade, most of those empty lots have been turned into new homes for new residents, both condo and affordable.
You say neighborhoods are changed as new residents move in. That's how it is, buddy. Every neighborhood in every city in every decade.
Michael, the folly is believing that low-income families never had a problem with the drug dealing that has been going on for as long as it has. How presumptuous of you to think only people in condos value safety.
What is here, for all the residents and non residents of Uptown, is the supply. Surely our fair city can share in the distribution of illegal narcotics.
Awww, Michael, aren't you a cute, naive, little man. While we relive the past might I remind you that children should be seen and not heard. Please go play in your room while the grown-ups visit with one another.
Enforcer, while I agree that this video in inconclusive and we do have a Bill of Rights (unless you are gay and looking to be treated equal, but that is a different post) there is ample reason for suspicion. This opens up the door of probable cause for police to search. You see, all a citizen of Uptown needs to say is that strangers are being seen with items changing hands and they can be searched. The fact that they are meeting "at random" on the streets and passing things off might not, by itself, seem to warrant such action by the cops but when you add this to both the know activity in the neighborhood and, more locally, this street and block, there is more than enough reason to conduct a search. This would not be considered an "unreasonable" search or without probable cause.
No, Uptown is not CSI unfortunately, it's is real life where we are working to produce a neighborhood safe for our children without drug-related gang activity that includes fatal shootings outside both elementary/high schools and our local Truman College.
Those who wish to make excuses for the trouble makers in the area by blaming it on over-zealous and entitled condo owners only exacerbate the problem and do nothing to find solutions.
Chuck, based on that video there is NO probable cause to search that civilians pockets. Have you of heard of "Terry Stops" or stop and frisk, or protective pat downs???? I can stop an individual and do a "pat them down" for my own safety, a reasonable action. I cannot go into their pockets to see if they have anything in them without probable cause. That video is inconclusive and to what if anything was in the hands of those 2 individuals. Now if the video showed a small clear knotted plastic bag containing a white rock like substance which I believe to be rock, cocaine, based on my 15 plus yrs experience working in Uptown (dope) then I have probable cause to retrieve same bag HOWEVER THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS THAT MUST ALSO BE PRESENT BUT I WILL NOT DIVULGE THEM HERE. FYI I still have dealers sitting in the joint based on my knowing of probable cause and what is justifiable. Chuck you have a somewhat of an understanding of this but you lack the knowledge of knowing the fine details which must be known and understood in order to get convictions and some serious jail time. Just having a citizen say they saw 2 people meet and may or may not have exchanged something unknown is not enough for the police to stop and conduct that type of search.
Wow. You should show this to the cops. Im sure it would be very helpful, considering the clear distinct shot of the people and the needles.
ReplyDeleteisn't that right by the methadone clinic too? wow...
ReplyDeleteI live by clarendon park and see them doing the same across from the twin towers at Wilson and Clarendon. I told the police officer in a car parked by the field house and he drove off in the other direction. Maybe he had something more important to do other then to make our area safe and healthy for us residents.
ReplyDeleteSheesh. I was joking. You cant tell what the heck is going on here. How do you know it's needles? It's obvious there is an exchange, but what kind is not apparent.
ReplyDeleteWell, would you agree that whatever it is, it's probably illegal?
ReplyDeleteI talked with someone who walks past that area on a daily basis and was told that the drug dealing at that corner is constant.
ReplyDeleteThis is in Beat 2311 and their next beat meeting is Tuesday, May 5th at 7pm at Truman College. This is a good time to bring this matter up.
That video is inconclusive as to what if any exchange was going on. This is why we have a Bill of Rights. No officer within their right mind would look for these 2 persons and arrest them based on a video such as yours. This is not CSI.
ReplyDeleteI see the video as giving an indication of a problem that needs to be addressed. When I first moved here, I dismissed what I suspected. My observation now is that drug trafficking is much more rampant than what some of us want to admit.
ReplyDeleteBack in the 1920's, you could legally buy joints in Uptown corner stores. People sell drugs because the demand is there. Whether you like it or not, drugs are a part of the culture here in Uptown. The folly is believing that a neighborhood should change because YOU moved in....all too typical of the condo crowd.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteAre you seriously trying to win an argument by saying that Uptown is a "drug-friendly" community? Illegal drug-use or any illegal activity should not be tolerated, whether it be near condos or abandoned warehouses. Someone has watched one-too-many episodes of The Wire, huh?
The Supply & Demand battle is ever-raging. Do you go after the dealers? Or do you go after the buyers? Well, when the dealers are targeting elderly residents (see earlier UU post this month), we should probably aim for them.
However, just because "demand" is here in Uptown, doesn't mean that it cannot be changed. Believe it or not, other areas have done it!
Which brings me to an off-topic point. The "it is what it is" attitude saying things have to stay the way they are -- this includes arguments for "affordable housing" that have to be in Uptown. There is plenty affordable housing in Uptown. There is affordable housing elsewhere.
All of these nonsensical arguments actually make me want to leave the Democratic party.
Michael, here's a news flash for you. Neighborhoods change, all the time. In the 1920s, Uptown was legally segregated, with black people given ONE BLOCK (4600 Winthrop) to live on. In the 1920s, Uptown was making the transition from a German immigrant neighborhood to a real Roaring 20s good-time bar-and-entertainment district. In the 1950s, Uptown was home to poor white Appalachians. In the 1970s, it was so poverty-stricken that every block had an empty lot where a building had been burned down by its owner for the insurance money. This decade, most of those empty lots have been turned into new homes for new residents, both condo and affordable.
ReplyDeleteYou say neighborhoods are changed as new residents move in. That's how it is, buddy. Every neighborhood in every city in every decade.
Michael, the folly is believing that low-income families never had a problem with the drug dealing that has been going on for as long as it has. How presumptuous of you to think only people in condos value safety.
ReplyDeleteIs there demand in Uptown?
ReplyDeleteSure.
Is the demand coming from residents of Uptown?
???
What is here, for all the residents and non residents of Uptown, is the supply. Surely our fair city can share in the distribution of illegal narcotics.
Awww, Michael, aren't you a cute, naive, little man. While we relive the past might I remind you that children should be seen and not heard. Please go play in your room while the grown-ups visit with one another.
ReplyDeleteEnforcer, while I agree that this video in inconclusive and we do have a Bill of Rights (unless you are gay and looking to be treated equal, but that is a different post) there is ample reason for suspicion. This opens up the door of probable cause for police to search. You see, all a citizen of Uptown needs to say is that strangers are being seen with items changing hands and they can be searched. The fact that they are meeting "at random" on the streets and passing things off might not, by itself, seem to warrant such action by the cops but when you add this to both the know activity in the neighborhood and, more locally, this street and block, there is more than enough reason to conduct a search. This would not be considered an "unreasonable" search or without probable cause.
No, Uptown is not CSI unfortunately, it's is real life where we are working to produce a neighborhood safe for our children without drug-related gang activity that includes fatal shootings outside both elementary/high schools and our local Truman College.
Those who wish to make excuses for the trouble makers in the area by blaming it on over-zealous and entitled condo owners only exacerbate the problem and do nothing to find solutions.
Chuck, based on that video there is NO probable cause to search that civilians pockets. Have you of heard of "Terry Stops" or stop and frisk, or protective pat downs????
ReplyDeleteI can stop an individual and do a "pat them down" for my own safety, a reasonable action. I cannot go into their pockets to see if they have anything in them without probable cause. That video is inconclusive and to what if anything was in the hands of those 2 individuals. Now if the video showed a small clear knotted plastic bag containing a white rock like substance which I believe to be rock, cocaine, based on my 15 plus yrs experience working in Uptown (dope) then I have probable cause to retrieve same bag HOWEVER THERE ARE OTHER FACTORS THAT MUST ALSO BE PRESENT BUT I WILL NOT DIVULGE THEM HERE.
FYI I still have dealers sitting in the joint based on my knowing of probable cause and what is justifiable. Chuck you have a somewhat of an understanding of this but you lack the knowledge of knowing the fine details which must be known and understood in order to get convictions and some serious jail time. Just having a citizen say they saw 2 people meet and may or may not have exchanged something unknown is not enough for the police to stop and conduct that type of search.
An officer could do a Terry stop, feel something dangerous/threatening, and then look into pockets.
ReplyDelete