To the editor:
I do not live in Lawrence, but every day I work and shop in your beautiful city. As a customer service representative in a local grocery store, I had to spend time this week with a Lawrence Police Department officer who was taking a statement from me concerning a fake travelers check that had been presented to our establishment.
After getting the information the officer needed from me he had to use our store phone instead of his radio to call headquarters to get a case number - get this! - because his radio didn't work because the battery was dead and there are no funds to buy new batteries! When I asked more questions I was told that officers also could not practice shooting because there were no funds to purchase practice ammunition!
I would support City Commissioner Mike Dever in his attempt to pass a sales tax that would "take care of what we already have," but since I'm not living in your city, I won't get a chance to vote for that sales tax. I am truly saddened that city commissioners would put brave people on the line and send them into the "danger zones" with radios that don't work and without the practice/training tools they did to do the jobs they have been assigned to do.
Debbie McGee,
Baldwin City
Comments
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Ragingbear (anonymous) says…
Always interesting when somebody from out of town suddenly pops up and wholeheartedly endorses something that everyone in town is against. I seem to remember similar letters regarding Wal-Mart and the smoking ban.
pace (anonymous) says…
If the statements are correct then olin had an obligation to inform the public he had not designated funds to cover essentials. A review of how he allocates funds should be made. The Lawrence Police Department has a duty to communicate to the City Commission and to the public on issues like this. If he communicated this to the City Commission then this should of been public information.
classclown (Class Clown) says…
Why don't you live in Lawrence Debbie?
KS (anonymous) says…
Debbie , have you ever forgotten to charge your cell phone? They can go dead too. Maybe the officer didn't call who he said he did? Always two sides to a story.
kayakncolo (anonymous) says…
Perhaps a nice bake sale is in order...
Bassetlover (anonymous) says…
The Lawrence PD is NOT a fat force by any means! They have some of the buffest guys I've ever seen.
Sigmund (anonymous) says…
It's not that there are no funds, it is just that this and past Commissions have had other priorities for our tax dollars. Sales tax increases hurt lower income people and those on fixed incomes more than any other groups, when they go to buy groceries for instance. Property tax increases also negatively impact those groups as landlords and mortgage companies increase rents and mortgage payments to cover the increase tax burden, not Debbie's of course, she doesn't live here.
Tax increases hurt poor people, students (often one and the same) and the elderly more than any other groups. I know of no City, State, or Federal government that has taxed its Citizens to a greater prosperity. The truth of the matter is Lawrence has sufficient revenues, it just this and past Commissions have put other projects ahead basic infrastructure, and our fire and police departments, and now insist we need a tax increase. This callousness is little more than thinly disguised attempt at political extortion aimed at the Citizens of Lawrence.
The only question is will Lawrencian's fall for this age old gambit, or reject it and demand that City leaders set appropriate budget priorities and cut the size of City government and balance our current budget.
KsTwister (anonymous) says…
What makes anyone think if they pass a sales tax that it would help with infrastructure anyway? Not all the people who live here are naive enough to believe that the money would be used for what commissioners want and not what Lawrence needs- streets,curbs,sidewalk repairs,levy repairs,police,fire trucks,etc. Past experience have taught us very well.
Great post Sigmund!
ralphralph (anonymous) says…
Sigmund did, indeed, nail it. The problem isn't "no money", it's mismanagement of money. If you give them more of it, they'll just misuse it, too. That's how she goes!
biggunz (anonymous) says…
try listening to what is being said instead of who's saying it. seems to me some of you are just p*ssed off because someone else got to b*tch before you did.
police and fire perhaps not getting the funding they need to do their jobs safely but the city needs to build a new library, buy farmland, operate an empty bus system, etc??
ralphralph (anonymous) says…
btw ... You could tell the officers that they can come by our house and practice their shooting on the PS2.
packrat (anonymous) says…
If my safety depended on a radio, I'd buy the batteries myself if necessary.
smitty (anonymous) says…
There has been an ammo shortage declared by other police departments, not an inability to fund but that is the way Olin and his olinites spin things.
http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/aug/...
No batteries? Another Olin mismangaement if that is true but my past experience with the lpd is Olin has fed this erroneous information to his street officers to do his bidding for a budget increase based in lies. Nothing like a few of these baits from officers to uninformed citizens to do Olin's budget scare nonsense. Just like no one read or remembered the ammo shortage being connected to bush baby's war.
whatiswrongwithyou (anonymous) says…
It is very sad that these men and women put their lives on the line everyday while at work to protect you and your city and when some concerns are ligitimately expressed, people can take this concern, misconstrue it, and turn it into and opportunity to post a comment such as this: "Why are they all fat though?" These officers all have families of their own, but yet they risk their lives for the public without bias. I truely hope that those of you who have such negative comments to say about the police department, or anyone for that matter, never have to rely on the police department due to a tragic event that you or a loved one has encountered. The truth of the matter is regardless of their stature, they are still doing their job on a daily basis to the best of their ability with the resources they are given.
jayhaitch (anonymous) says…
I wish they'd used the money they spent on roundabouts to buy police essentials.
rez4prez (anonymous) says…
What's wrong with you people!!!
jayhaitch (anonymous) says…
You really want to know? Where should I start?
smitty (anonymous) says…
whatiswrongwithyou said....I truely hope that those of you who have such negative comments to say about the police department, or anyone for that matter, never have to rely on the police department due to a tragic event that you or a loved one has encountered.
This could be a threat from the lpd that they will not respond to anyone that questions or critcizes their policies. During the last few months an apparent police staff poster made an unmistaken threat against a family member of mine on the JW forum that they could/would kill if called out on a suicide intervention for our mental patient family member. Is that what you are invoking, what is wrongwithyou?(first time poster)
Did anyone read the story on the shortage of ammo that other police departments anre experiencing? That news report has more to do with this local article than most of the posts so far as does the lack of trust in Olin's management of the LPD.
Hoots (anonymous) says…
The LPD has been under funded and under staffed for years. I know several guys on the force and it is amazing how often they need something or are promised something and the city ends up spending the money elsewhere. This city is like a kid on CRACK. We buy everything but the essentials. More crack please...who needs food. I can imagine some people here might think differently when it comes time to have their bacon saved by the LPD.
As for the comment about they are all fat...give me a break. Most of the guys are in way better shape than most of the people here I'm sure. Now step away from your computer for once and give me 20. Bet ya can't do 20 ;-)
smitty (anonymous) says…
Do you mean ..like the new building on 15th that Olin gave an interview to the jw about staing the need for more slpace? City manger Wildgen responded in the jw that the expansion is planned but not in the budget for maybe 20 years. The next thing you know that structure was bulit. Now who's getting jerked around with the tax funding?
acquarius (anonymous) says…
I have lived in the town all my life. So have my parents and grandparents. This is a small "big" town with alot of "small town" special interest groups A select few dominate how money is spent in this town YES Mis management is definitely the problem We need more "outside" residents like you Debbie to run for city commission.
emilyhadley (Emily Hadley) says…
"...like the new building on 15th that Olin gave an interview to the jw about staing the need for more slpace?"
Huh?
doc1 (anonymous) says…
Well $60,000 art sculptures to put in front of the fire stations and all the homeless needs are too important for replacement batteries. You never hear of the fire department having budget problems? Is it the difference between the two chiefs? Or is it something else. I wonder???!
paavopetie (anonymous) says…
Colonel_Angus, that's the world someday I want to live in.
I love how the first post mentions Wal-Mart. I don't think the comments for the Letters to the Editor can go an entire day without someone bringing up Wal-Mart.
And Debbie, did it ever occur to you that the police officer you wrote about could get in trouble for telling you these things? Next time, try to mention too many details. I mean, you didn't mention The Merc or Dillon's, but how many fake travelers check cases at grocery stores are there? This officer could easily be identified by his supervisor and disciplined. Now there's a Lawrence Police Officer with no batteries, no practice ammo, and no job. Yeah for Debbie!
law (anonymous) says…
This is the same stuff I dealt with when I worked there. Aging batteries don't hold a charge and supervisors who are told by the chief to "make due" and make rediculous budget cuts everytime the city has a shortfall. When working patrol it was routine for street officers to get denied everything while Olin's precious detectives got anything they desired. Olin needs to change or go. (This coming from a person who worked for him). I could make a list a mile long of things these other officers hate about this department and have to put up with.
daddax98 (anonymous) says…
lord knows the poo'lice need as much practice as they can get
whatiswrongwithyou (anonymous) says…
To Smitty-I can assure you that I am not a police officer for the City of Lawrence as there is no way that I could put up with as much stuff as they do. Also I think that you are a little parinoid, not to mention you have too much time on your hands,if you really think that the police department would post threats on a newspaper website.
kneejerkreaction (anonymous) says…
After getting the information the officer needed from me he had to use our store phone instead of his radio to call headquarters to get a case number - get this! - because his radio didn't work because the battery was dead and there are no funds to buy new batteries! When I asked more questions I was told that officers also could not practice shooting because there were no funds to purchase practice ammunition!
*************
I wouldn't be so quick to believe this. I can buy radio batteries TODAY at Radio Shack and I can buy ammunication at Walmart/Cabela's/Bass Pro Shops. Baloney! If things are so bad then where are they getting the gas for their cars? Double Baloney.
smitty (anonymous) says…
Kill the messenger syndrome?? If the information was not to get out then the officer was the one at fault as someone pointed out. My best guess is the information was to get out so Debbie and other uninformed could do Olin's budget bidding. Our cheif has a doctorate in developemental psyche and knows how work the mind benders.
Officers who gave out info that got them fired....
Davis for stating that Olin runs a racist force and other incriminating info at the times of Sevier,s murder...fired and reinstated to city employment cause Olin was wrong
Peck... for letting out the information that judges and attronyes were on his drug informant list...framed and fired. Olin hired drug war detective Peck because of how well he produced but Olin didn't know how honest Peck really was about equal application of the drug stings. Olin had/has the political power to scape goat his detectives/officers. The lpd all know this. We have a high attrition rate in the police department that can not be accounted for in retirement numbers. Why? Well, if I am to believe the ex-lpd cops who have talked with me, it's due to Olin's management of the lpd.
emily, get used to the typos. I don't proof or spell check much to the amusement of some. If, how ever the meaning is changed as was in the recent typo of pubic for public, the meaning wasn't even changed then, but feel free to ask for claifications.
aeroscout17 (anonymous) says…
Again, probably not uncommon. When I worked as a deputy (not in this county), we had too few radios and the batteries were all shot. I did buy my own; although pricey I felt it was worth it for my own safety. I'm not saying that is what LPD officers should do.
This city has got to get a clue and start looking at something called a budget! Start spending the money on the necessities and cut some of the fluff.
Oh, and thanks LJW for not allowing me to use caps to emphasize something.
farmgal (anonymous) says…
"Oh, and thanks LJW for not allowing me to use caps to emphasize something". Yeah, what's up with that anyway? Odd and controlling, to say the least. It's hard to convey your meaning when you're not allowed to use caps to emphasize and add some inflection (sp?) to your words.
Mkh (anonymous) says…
I'm calling BS on this whole story.
purplesage (anonymous) says…
Cry me a river. No batteries. Do what teachers - or any number of vocations - do when there aren't funds for stuff they want. Buy some. If my life might depend upon my 2-way communications, I'd buy a battery.
No, it isn't right. But look at how they might save. Some departments leave their autos running the entire shift. Every cop has a car to drive home. Share a vehicle like other folks do. Drive yourselves to work like the rest of us do.
Spend time enforcing laws that make a difference. Then they wouldn't spend all their time in traffic court because some poor schumck went 26 MPH in a 20MPH zone. Didn't I just read that they wrote $170K of tickets on the Kasold speed trap deal? That would buy a truckload of batteries.
NotALBERTOGonzales (anonymous) says…
And they only give Barney one bullet at a time!
local_guy (anonymous) says…
So, they can't call for backup if I'm being chased? And even better, they can't hit the broad side of a barn because they aren't allowed to go to the shooting range? I'm running from now on!
aeroscout17 (anonymous) says…
Purplesage, BTW, these are not cheap throw-away batteries. If the radio is required for your job it should be supplied. WTF are you talking about every cop has a car to drive home? To the best of my knowledge, Lawrence, along with most other cities, doesn't allow the cars to be taken home. They are used by the next shift (not necessarily true with county LEOS). If I am wrong, let me know but I have three city LEOs within site of my house, and don't see them driving their squads home.
law (anonymous) says…
Smitty I was there when Peck was. He was never a detective. He was only an Officer and in my opinion he was one of the best officers around that got screwed by Olin.
smitty (anonymous) says…
My mistake on his rank.
Thanks law, for speaking out.
It 's a long slow road to expose this guy. I always knew that the truth need come out from those on the inside. It takes more than one officer at a time though.
I personally consider any law enforcement to be in collusion if they know facts that need be exposed but don't do so.
My hats off to the officers that got fired. Some of us can see what really happened.
purplesage (anonymous) says…
aeroscout: One of my jobs is with a government entity (not the PD). The computer doesn't work so I use my personal one. It is expensive, too, just like the batteries. But I do it because my job needs to be done. It isn't right and it isn't right that police have to buy batteries for the radios. But sometimes, you do what has to be done.
If LPD does not drive the patrol cars home, that department is an exception to the rule.
Yabut (anonymous) says…
Smitty-What building on 15th are you referring to? The one on BBP (15th) and Wak? If so, that wasn't built by the city. It was a lab company that closed down and the buidling was purchased by the city in like 2000. As usual, your hatred of the LPD has blinded you to accurate facts.
matahari (anonymous) says…
3 always 3's
what you say happened
what he says happened
what really happened
One, or maybe two of you are lying...
ps i hope Badwind City is out of funding! (but I seriusly doubt it)
either the officer was inept, you are inept or well, it was the truth, which means the whole dept is inept~
matahari (anonymous) says…
care to disclose what you job really is???
As a customer service representative in a local grocery store
Yabut (anonymous) says…
In case you forgot, the city commish ordered that the city reduce the 2007 budget by 4%: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jun....
With a budget of $14 mil, LPD had to cut over half a mil for the rest of the 6 months of the year.
Stain (anonymous) says…
No money to pay for officers' tools, but somehow there is money to bid on the toxic waste dump owned by Farmland Industries.
Stop paying for development. Make the profiteers pay - for all of it.
Dracul (Bill Chapman) says…
28 August 2007 at 2:56 pm
Notalbertogonzales (Anonymous) says:
And they only give Barney one bullet at a time!
>Barney was a spaz though.
If I were a LEO, I wouldn't care whether or not I had practice rounds issued from the department. I would BUY my own rounds, and keep track of spent rounds for taxes.
By buying my own rounds, I would KNOW the performance would be very similar for each round. Some cities use a lowest bidder on all law enforcement equipment - including bullets! This would mean varied performance as suppliers are swapped around. I would not want to shoot someone, but if I had to use my sidearm in a conflict, I WOULD like to know the rounds will function predictably!
Unfortunately, some PDs do not allow officers to purchase their own bullets. They do this to prevent the use of "questionable" rounds - hollow points, AP, etc.
>I'm not a law enforcement officer!
aeroscout17 (anonymous) says…
Dracul, you are right. Most departments do not allow officers to use any rounds other than those issued, which are the same that the LEO qualified with (all because of liability). Luckily my department bought good stuff, although all of my practice rounds were out of my pocket and not the same quality.
GSWtotheheart (anonymous) says…
The police officers can buy their own batteries and then deduct that expense from their taxes. WIN WIN for everybody!
smitty (anonymous) says…
Why is it that we read of the sheriff's office frequently utilizing federal grants to update their equiptment? The lpd is usually included in that benefit but seldom read of the lpd utlizing grants. The last grant that I recall the JW reporting on was initiated by the lpd for traffic enforcement. This is a matter of Olin's management of the budget.
The 15th st police buliding article appears in Jan of 1999 when Wildgen stated 20 years in the future but he was speaking of the acerage further west so Olin got his space for the detectives in a newly purchased structure. Feb 2000 JW article is on the move in expenses after the push for space for the detectives(as law explained above the preferences for detective spending).
purplesage (anonymous) says…
The debate on bullets reveals the unfortunate fact that we cannot trust law enforcement. Would they use, say, hollow points? Many would. Would they plant a weapon on a shooting victim? Some would. Will they lie, stretch the charges, do what they have to to get a convicton? Yep. If circumstances had been just a little different, lots of people in law enforcement would be criminals. There are lots of cops who get their self-worth from lights, badges, guns and paying back people for the pushing around they got as kids.