GPD Officer Speaks Out

I have received an e-mail message from a GPD officer who decided that he wants to speak out on the various problems and challenges that have been facing his department and all its officers. His identity will remain anonymous for obvious reasons.  He tells me that the piece he authored, found below, represents the culmination of a prolonged period of consideration of these matters; and incorporates remarks and comments he has heard from other officers.

I may not necessarily agree with every statement he makes.  But I am affording him the use of my blog because of the enormous esteem I have for him and for all the other honest, hardworking officers in the department who perform hazardous, risky work on our behalf; and because of the additional difficulties they have faced due to the extraordinary mess that has existed within the department for years.  I am going to allow him to moderate any discussion that ensues anonymously, if he wishes:

Rants and Ravings of a Patrol Officer

Let me preface my comments with the following: I have worked for the police department for more than a year and less than thirty. I love my job even when it does not love me back. I have been there done that and have all the tee-shirts, scars and completed the paperwork that goes with a career in law enforcement. I am just a lowly patrol officer, a nameless face, a black uniform that roams the streets trying to keep the peace. I am not bitter but at times a little bit disillusioned. I walk the walk and talk the talk and have earned the right to say the following:

The Thin Blue Line is getting thinner and it is on a diet that would make Jenny Craig proud. The police department is so stretched that it is only a matter of time before it snaps. Once it is broken all the city managers horses and all the city managers men will not be able to put it back together again. Four times a day for ten hours and fifteen minutes four squads of officers check on to patrol the streets. From the barking dog to a bank robbery and from a domestic dispute to life on the streets they patrol. This would all be doable if a squad of officers actually checked on for the shift.

 A squad should consist of seven to eight officers. It should also have a corporal and a sergeant but most nights the city is lucky if a squad consists of three to four officers and one supervisor. The only officer that constantly shows up for the shift is Officer 10-100. 10-100 is the departmental call sign for No Assist Officer Available. Throughout any given shift communications sounds like a broken record with “10-18, 10-100 holding a……”, and then pronouncement of a litany of calls.

How did we get to this point? Everyone wants to point fingers and yet no one wants to claim credit. Some of the problems go back twenty years or more when the first chief did not make hiring more officers a priority. It continued with all the successive chiefs who fell into the same trap. The problems go back to city council members who were afraid to raise taxes or allocate money. Oh it was ok to do satellite annexations to gather a tax base and revenue but hey lets not use any of that money to hire an officer to cover that area. Look at a city map sometime and you will cease to be amazed by why is one area of the city surrounded by the county. Then ask yourself if you lived in that area how would you feel if help was coming from ten to fifteen minutes away because we have no patrol cars close by? The blame extends to the general public who do not hold politicians and city government accountable for their actions. People forget that government is there to assist us and not the other way around.

Sometimes the problems are self inflicted when a police department makes a specialty squad for every problem under the sun. Everything from robbery to gangs has a group to address its problems, every problem that is except for call answering and dealing with the day to day public. Where do you think all those bodies come from? They always come from the field and then everyone stands around and looks shocked when they can not figure out why we are short. What is amazing is if there was enough patrol officers to answer calls then they could be proactive and we would not need specialty squads. Even if 200 hundred people rained down out of the sky tomorrow it would still be ten months until any of them were trained enough that they could be set loose on their own. In the mean time what do we do?

 Racing from call to call one asks the question who in their right mind would want to be a patrol officer? Nothing we do is right and everyone wants to complain. You get hurt, sued, subpoenaed and on top of all that you get to work crappy shifts. Over the years the department has let standards slip and now we are paying the price. Regardless of what one reads or hears the police department has two sets of rules. The last time I checked a standard means the rules apply equally to everyone and not just some of the people. Let me make it simple if you break the law or one of the rules then you get punished and not promoted and transferred. Telling the truth used to mean something but now-a-days I think it makes you an outcast. Add controversy upon controversy with no adult leadership to take charge and it has all the makings of one big mess. What I long for is a leader and not someone who just wants to lead.

I am tired of controversy and endless investigations that never end. I am tired of a city manager who thinks he knows how to run a police department better than the people who actually know what they are doing. What has this mess brought us? The city has turned into some type of outer badlands. There are parts of this town that no matter how much rebuilding or dumping of money is ever going to fix all the problems. There are some areas of this town that don’t need tough love but need a B-52 strike and a flamethrower as follow-up.

When gangs, crime and lawlessness are allowed to flourish because of a lack of resources don’t blame the patrol officer. Throughout all of this urban decay and societal chaos you will find one poor constant. At the end of the day some poor patrol officer, usually alone, will be doing his best to keep the peace and enforce the law even when everything and everyone is against him. It is enough to make a patrol officer rant and rave.

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Big Tuna]

"There are some areas of this town that don’t need tough love but need a B-52 strike and a flamethrower as follow-up."

Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.

Can't wait to hear how the the Chief of Police poo-poohs and marginalizes this letter.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

"There are some areas of this town that don’t need tough love but need a B-52 strike and a flamethrower as follow-up."

I live in one of those parts of town and would happily call in my location and bring the strike down on top of me if I though the B-52 would ever get it here.

And Big Tuna is right, all the brass all the way up to the mayor will attempt to marginalize this letter.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

PS. I'm perfectly capable of making my own flamethrower on any given day with zero investment.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

PPS. I hear these same sentiments from almost every GPD officer I meet and I meet 2 or 3 a week.

[Bubba]

But the Mitch and Tim Dog and Pony Show continues........

[cara michele]

The B-52 comment was sure to get attention. It didn't surprise me. The cops I know have a gift for (often funny) hyperbole.

But what really hit me was this statement:

"The only officer that constantly shows up for the shift is Officer 10-100."

And this made me go "hmmm...":

"Everything from robbery to gangs has a group to address its problems, every problem that is except for call answering and dealing with the day to day public. Where do you think all those bodies come from? They always come from the field and then everyone stands around and looks shocked when they can not figure out why we are short. What is amazing is if there was enough patrol officers to answer calls then they could be proactive and we would not need specialty squads."

With all of the focus and attention in the media on GPD's issues, the voices of the officers are not being heard. Thank you posting this, Joe. God bless our officers.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

I think it's time the City Council handed Mitch Johnson a badge, gun and keys to a patrol car so that he can experience life as a GPD officer.

Then next week they should let him work the rear of a city refuse truck.

And then he should be forced to use a shovel on the coldest day of the year and work to repair a busted water main.

Then he might have a better idea of what running a city is actually like.

[Joe Guarino]

Michele, thank you also. And Tuna, I agree with Michele that the police officer's use of language was obviously hyperbolic.

Thank you also , Billy, for your comments. From the comments you and Michele made, and of course the officer's post,we are reminded that these police officers have demanding jobs and play a unique role in our society. It is tragic that they are the victims of all the political game-playing that has been perpetrated by the City of Greensboro. It is tragic they are not supported as they should be.

And, in a broader sense, it is also tragic that they have been effectively neutralized with respect to the function they should be able to perform-- maintaining civic order and public safety. The law-abiding citizens in the "B52-targeted communities" are those that suffer most the consequences of crime that is not being controlled.

[Ryan]

Billy,

What part of town are you in? I have visited many areas of District 2 to get a better understanding of how people are living (most recently the Claremont area
) but don't know if I have come to your area.

Ryan

[Brian Clarey]

I live in District 2. It can be rough.

[Billy The Blogging Poet]

Ryan,
I live 3 blocks from Claremont.

[Ryan]

Billy, I spoke with a bunch of the kids from the neighborhood (school bus happened to come by as I drove through), some old and some young and most of them seem to have a good head on their shoulders.

I did talk to an older group of individuals (21-26) that seem to have completely lost hope. They said multiple times that "this is the ghetto" and that "no one really cares about what happens."

I hope that I can be a small part in changing that perception. These communities need to know that people do care and that they should not give up hope.

Ryan

[Fred Gregory]

I applaud this officer's comments and his service to the citizens of Greensboro.

There are, however, far too many unresolved institutional problems that remain extant in the GPD and that 100 additional employees won't solve. I think everyone knows the idenity of the cancers. They need to be removed. These actors have formed a network and are metastacizing within other elements of the GPD. This going on under the nose of the de facto Chief. His acquiescence in and failure to deal with situations is contributing to the overall breakdown of law enforcement in this city.

Bubba.. Joe,

Any formal response to the letter as yet ?

[Dr. Mary Johnson]

Wow. I guess Cone really is "out".

[meblogin]

It would be great to hear from more of Greensboro's finest. The greater the number the more likely to see positive change.

Thanks for helping.

[jww]

when your priority is to demonstrate gender & racial representation rather than competence you end up with an "all for show " program that has poor results.

[Joe Guarino]

The following comment is submitted on behalf of Joe Wilson:

Wow! now that bricks are being thrown through car windows in Irving Park maybe this and other officers concerns will receive some attention.

I was right when I said that the problem is upstairs and it will only become more apparent as more cops reveal what is going on inside our City Government from their point of view . The word is out on Greensboro it's a great place to bring your family ... if your last name is Gambino or Gotti. Alarmist? perhaps, but someone has to ring the damn bell! we need a big wake up call before it gets delivered the old fashioned way. With big city success you naturally have big city crime, all we need now is the success...

Joe Wilson

[Bubba]

"Wow! now that bricks are being thrown through car windows in Irving Park maybe this and other officers concerns will receive some attention."

Where does Robby Perkins live?