Just after noon today there were three Woodstock police cars at the Post Office on Country Club Road, and another police car was circling nearby behind the Walgreen's building. Something was definitely up.
A patrol officer was standing with an elderly white male and appeared to be taking a report. I had been in the Post Office and stood at some distance, waiting for an opportunity to ask what was going on. Sgt. Latham arrived and I nodded to him as he approached the other officer and the apparent victim. The absence of acknowledgement by Latham was immediately obvious - no nod, no gesture - absolutely nothing when he looked at me. (Latham and I have a little "history", but there is no excuse whatsoever for being rude.)
When the officer had walked away from the apparent victim, I asked him whether he could tell me what was going on. He replied that he could not, which was the answer I expected. So I asked from whom I could get information, and he told me to speak with Sgt. Latham, which was the correct answer, since Latham was the ranking officer there at the moment.
I knew it would be a waste of my time to ask Latham for information, so I didn't. Would he have given information to a reporter from the Northwest Herald or the Daily News, even The Woodstock Independent? Probably.
So I called the Northwest Herald and reported a story developing.
I realize that cops might not talk to everyone passing by but, had I been told something, anything, such as "We're looking for a blue Chevy with a red fender" or an individual of a certain build who ran in a certain direction, I might have spotted it (or him) and notified WPD. They all know of my police background and willingness to help.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
Too many assumptions here. The first and biggest is that you are more essential to life on this planet than anybody else. Your "police background" seems to make you more of a pain in the ass to local law enforcement than anything else.
And others would say that my "police background" gives me an insight to how they operate, in a way that the non-law enforcement citizen does not have.
When an officer's report indicates that a Complainant's two-page typewritten statement is attached, but it never makes it to the City Attorney's office and is gone from the Records Department, what is a person to think?
The motto "to protect and to serve" doesn't say "to protect and serve if you like the person".
Nothing on the Crime Alerts of the Woodstock PD on its website, as of 8:45PM.
There are some cases...and this is one of them...where the police really can't give out information because of privacy issues.
Not every call the police receive is about a crime. Sometimes people call the police for help. If you really do have a "police background" surely you would know this.
I think you are just plain nosy.
And yes, I am tangetially involved in this situation. There was no crime, the police were VERY helpful, and it's none of your business.
Three police cars at the Post Office plus one circling the neighborhood, and there was no crime? So what was going on that required THREE officers AND a sergeant? While the affairs of an individual might be private, the business of the police is public in this country. At least, so far...
Now THIS is RUDE! (click on links below). This is some serious bull****
Cops better watch they way they act and how they conduct themselves when on the job. They need to remember people can video on cell phones.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-videotaped-police-incident-1feb19,0,2456215.story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM0Lm8PgM9U
So when Jimmy's cat runs up a tree and his folks call the fire department for help...that means there's a fire, right?
Yeah. Go peddle your meddling somewhere else.
When police take the "it's none of your business attitude" that's when the public loses trust. Somethings should remain private when the police are doing their job. Police should be intelligent enough to keep private matters private and interact with bystanders accordingly. If a police officer can't come up with a better explination than "none of your business" then he/she is in the wrong business.
Anyone who calls the Fire Department for a cat in a tree should hear the same astute comment I heard from a WFRD firefighter in about 1999: "You never see a cat's skeleton in a tree." The cat will figure out how to get down. Why should there be a $1,000 response for a cat in a tree?
Everyone should watch the YouTube video of this police brutality. That Chicago cop deserves jail time. Will he get it? Hahahaha. Unfortunately, we'll never hear about any departmental discipline. There should be criminal charges against the cop!
The "none of your business" attitude is,I suspect, directed solely at those who think they know how to do the polices job better than they do and whose constructive criticism always ends up sounding like just plain criticism. I have found Seargent Latham to be polite, astute, and forthcoming as a police officer. I also haven't butted in where I was not needed flashing my Dick F. Tracy junior crimestoppers badge and then held forth about how they did it all wrong and how important my opinion was.
I had police officers outside my neighbors house in November. There were two squad cars at a house down the street a couple weeks ago. Do I know why. No. And I don't care. Because it is none of my business.
I don't trust the police, in any town. I was in the military with many guys who said they wanted to be cops when they got out. If only a small percentage of them actualy did; That would be too many. There are some cops who respect their badge and some who demand respect because of their badge. I work around CPD all day at o'hare. They're all a**holes.
Sorry guys(CPD), but you are.
Hear hear, Owner's Manual! You get what you give. I too have found Sgt. Latham quite approachable, probably because I'm not in his or the other WPD officers' faces every damn day about BS like this issue.
My brother's a firefighter, though not in Woodstock. Many's the cat he's rescued. He's a hero to the kids, and he and the crew were sitting around staring at each other at the fhouse when the calls came in.
In any case, Gus, you're missing the point: a fire truck in front of a house doesn't ipso facto mean there's a fire any more than a police car in my driveway means there was a crime.
Also, I think my mom remembers you from her years of working for the Arapahoe County law enforcement community. Oh, the stories... ;-)
Hey, I remember the stories, too. How about sending a few along, from your mom's perspective? The first one I remember was the ire of the women dispatchers, who didn't like my quickly running a plate when a deputy stopped a car. The women always waited for the deputy to request it, instead of taking the initiative and acknowledging the increased safety factor for the deputy by furnishing it ASAP.
You truly are too wonderful for words. Tell us,oh great one, were you as well liked in your previous lives?
Yes.
Zane....get a job.
Owner's Manual...he was exactly as well liked.
No, my mom was not a police officer, not even 'just' a dispatcher.
LMAO
I guess I have as many fans as Chief Crawford (yes, my law enforcement credentials include watching 'Highway Patrol') here. Maybe I should start my own blog... I think I would call it Woodstock Irritant and use it to counter mass assumptions by the ill informed. That would probably take up so much time though that I would have to quit work, sell the business and my family, and all the pets just to find the time.
Glad to say that I got better training than you did. I watched CHiPs and Dukes of Hazzard!
And thats probably EXACTLY what Sgt. Latham knows.
Of course, then there was the DUI refresher training I attended. I was the only one in the room out of 25 who said he would arrest a drunk officer in uniform in his own car for DUI. That made me even more popular. Do you think there are five officers/deputies in McHenry County who would do that? Four? Three? Two? One?
To z.von or g. pile or whoever, Zane does have a job... driving the "good ole boys" crazy!!!
Z. Von, why don't you just call me if you have something to tell me, I haven't changed my number. Better yet come to my house, just ask you're bosses for the address. They have been here several times intimidating my wife and children. Here's another idea, sit outside my subdivision and run everyones 10-28. I have my vehicles registered in my wife's Hispanic maiden name. I also had the Sec of State remove the attached 10-27. That should be enough probable cause to pull me over and say whatever you want. Be a man. Say it to my face and use your real name.
If I were Zane, my "job" right now would be getting my job back. When you get worked over by the "system", then you want to change the system so that, when you get your job back, you don't get worked over again. Retaliation and retribution are illegal. Unfair labor practices are illegal. Herding everyone from a crime scene into the same room and managing their report-writing must be illegal; like, maybe, Obstruction of Justice? Racial profiling? Anyone think that's legal?
Post a Comment