I was always taught that 911 was for emergencies. And just to make things clear the same people taught me that emergencies were life or death situations. Not bees in your house, or a mattress that's too heavy to lift. Maybe I'm still experiencing a bit of culture shock, but to me the billboard on the 35W that suggests people call 911 if they see somebody painting graffiti is a waste of an important resource.
Perhaps Twin Cities 911 operators have a lot of free time on their hands. What else would explain the ad in the pro-police state Minneapolis Defender that suggests vigilant neighbors call 911 to rat out "alley trawlers" who swipe recyclables from trash bins. Didn't this town just experience a record murder rate just last year?
People need hobbies, I suppose. Sue me for believing that the kid with the can of spray paint is being more productive that the narc with binoculars and emergency services on speed dial.
9 comments:
Gus, stay right where you are. I am calling 911 on you right now!
Damn, haven't seen these but I can tell you, cops hate people who this crap in. When I used to work for security at the UofMN and sat in dispatch I'd overhear them take some of the calls. They didn't have kind words for them.
Truth is, giving up your fundimental freedoms makes law enforcement easier. It is much easier to nab drug dealers when you don't need probable cause to search people. Police desires are the opposite of what we as free citizens should want. Whenever I hear 'police chief supports this measure!' my gut instinct is that it is bad for freedom and bad for me.
that being said, the 'r.a.t.' thing, it is unclear if these guys are stealing popcans and glass bottles out of recycling bins to sell, or if they are stealing downspouts, hubcaps, lawnchairs etc because they are made of aluminum.
The first one, yea, no biggie, but the second one, if i see a guy pulling the downspout off my house, I am going to call the cops.
of course, the 3rd thing these guys might be doing is 'breathing while homeless' I wonder how many calls are coming in because someone they thing looks undesireable is walking through the alley.
Didn't minneapolis try and institute a ban on people being in an alley if they didn't live on that block?
Andrew, I wanted to link to the article from the Minneapolis Defender, but its not online yet. In the her advice column Gladys refers to people "driving through my alley taking recyclables and other things." Admittedly the "other things" are wrong when they're bicycles and downspouts as you mentioned. You've got to read this article to believe it. It's the kind of thing you'd see in The Onion. Her best quote, "Those people, and I use the term 'people' loosely here, are what I refer to as Alley Trawlers -- more commonly known as thieves, crooks and trespassers."
I don't know about all that. In Los Angeles we never had to separate our recyclables. We just threw everything in the dumpster and some buy came through and fished the cans out. Even if you did separate them out, they'd still scrounge for something you missed. So we never bothered. These guys weren't stealing from us, they were doing work for us. For free!
Andy, there is something in Columbia Heights (NE Mpls) that says you can't go down an alley, on car or foot, unless you live there.
The logic being that the homeowners actually own the alley. Our property lines meet up with the neighbors behind us in the middle of the alley.
911 used to be just for emergencies, but if you call the non-emergency number with any sort of complaint you will be directed to call 911 instead because 911 has all the recording and filing software running and the non-emergency line doesn't.
Lets just hope the terrorists don't attack on recycling day then.
yea, the columbia heights thing just went under the radar and hasn't been challenged yet.
Frequently, property lines run to the middle of a road. Also, sidewalks are usually on the property of a private citizen (this is how the city is able to make you shovel it) Of course living in an incorporated area the landowner gives up certain things.
But just like a sidewalk, an alley on private property if it passes through the property, anyone can go on
I took a land use class in college, and one of the things we went over were rights of access laws, paths and trails through lands are just like if the previous owner sold the mineral rights, the right for people to use them is included, and if you didn't like it you shouldn't have bought it!
of course many laws make no sense and actually contradict other laws. Someone has to keep the lawyers employed.
Anyways, back to minneapolis bashing. Remember when there was going to be a big pro-globalization meeting here about 5 years back on nicolette mall? Police said to control protestors accessing public areas nearby, they were going to be stopping people and asking them what their business in the area was.
Of course they got a lot of heat for that and backed down, as questions of probable cause were brought in, and what were they going to do when someone responded "My business down here is to express my free right to assemble and my right of free speech."
Any time you explicitly assert your rights to a cop, expect the truncheon. (File this with the wallet-sized Constitution)
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