Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Excitement in Woodstock - almost

Shortly before 9:00PM an area south of the Square was alive with five sheriff's deputies and one Woodstock officer. They arrived quietly on Griffing Street and parked six in a row. After gathering in the street, they moved toward a house on the east side of South Jefferson, just south of Griffing.

Flashlights and officers could be seen moving around the property, and within ten minutes they returned to their vehicles without anyone in custody. The deputies were accompanied by Woodstock's canine unit, and I think one of the deputies had a dog.

Not one of them greeted me as I stood in a driveway on Griffing across from their squad cars. I don't think I could be seen clearly, and I was wearing and my motorcycle jacket, so it wasn't like I stood out. But they did see me.

Had I been one of the deputies or the Woodstock officer, I would have crossed the street, introduced myself and inquired about identity. A good PR move with a citizen, I would think.

Law enforcement PR in Woodstock... that's a foreign concept.

3 comments:

mark beeson said...

One time I heard a rustle in the woods next to my house while planting bushes along my lot line , when two frustrated officers poked out at my side. I asked what they were looking for. They asked what I was doing. DUH !! I said what are you looking for as they picked off the burrs from their uniforms, and they said nothing as they approched my yard. Where are you going I said , as they stared at me looking for a fast way to the street, What are you looking for again I said, they said a young man in a red hooded jacket. I said no one has been through my yard in hours. Was that so hard to say???? I then showed them to the street the easy way.

Another time my neighbor and I called the police to report a fire in the woods and two young officers came and looked out at the fire and talked amongst each other without even asking us a thing. When they looked behind them, they put there hands in the air and yelled GET BACK TO THE STREET 20 feet back and we said we should get brooms to brush out the grass fire cause it is spreading and the fire department kept going to the wrong access point to reach it with their trucks. They argued with us long enough about having it handled that the fire crept up on their pants and startled them. Then the fire department showed up and grabed brooms and literally brushed out the fire by hand.

I am tired of being treated like a pesky citizen. I am a tax paying adult with a brain. I can help

Unknown said...

Bad PR? Maybe with you.
Why are you chasing the police and sheriff around town and standing on someone's property? You're just out to look for trouble.

Gus said...

Let me be a little more specific, Hans, for your tired, old eyes. The portion of the driveway in which I was standing was between the sidewalk and the street.

OK, satisfied? That's in the right-of-way, which is public property. It's outside the lot line of a person's property. Anybody can stand there, at any time.

Before the group of deputies crossed S. Jefferson St. to approach the house, they were standing in the center of the dark street just off the corner. Had a driver turned off Jefferson onto Griffing, he would have been surprised by the six individuals in dark clothing standing in the middle of the street. Hopefully, he would have stopped in time before hitting them.