Exactly. It didn’t hurt that I had the cutest pitbull in the neighborhood!
4 Likes
Yeah, I had a friend who lived in Long Beach on Broadway on the Miracle Mile. Cheap rent since it was both near a lot of gang territory and was on a strip of gay bars. If I visited on a weekend or evening I had to park way out since there were a lot of folks hitting the bars, but it was always fine, if there were dudes with gang symbols, I gave them space and didn’t try to strike up a conversation or anything though. I did make the mistake of getting lost, pulling off in Compton in the early 90s and going to a corner store to ask for directions. When the guy in the wheelchair rolled up and offered to sell me some crack, I just hopped right back into the car and headed straight for the onramp.
The scariest stuff I saw went down in Garden Grove, though. That was where I got stuck in a Vietnamese restaurant with a gang beat down blocking the parking lot.
3 Likes
I taught ten years in GGUSD and I’m duly impressed with a gang that shakes down businesses for protection money. But just like LBUSD, the gang kids leave teachers alone.
2 Likes
The only time I heard a gunshot in my neighborhood when I was growing up was when a neighbor who’d sprinkled corn on his driveway used a shotgun to take out one or possibly several doves.
My parents would have called the cops if it had happened again but the neighbor seemed to realize backyard hunting, especially with such a large weapon, was a bad idea.
I’m not entirely sure why your comment brought that event to mind except to say that even in some Tennessee neighborhoods hearing a gunshot is as unusual as it would be in a German one.
1 Like
I know the drug dealers in my neighborhood, have for the 10 years I’ve lived here. They are mostly chillin’ around some shitty apartments. They know I and my wife live on the street and say “Hi” to us when we run into them. We leave them be and they know we’re locals. The only issues were when some bottom feeder ones started getting into it with locals and then people started calling the cops on them (don’t threaten local folks or business employees).
6 Likes
We have strong gun control in my state, so it is pretty rare, even in the poorer neighborhoods. Not counting military bases, our gun ownership rate is only around 7%.
“Successful” drug dealers try to keep a low profile instead of pissing where they eat, so to speak.
5 Likes
Question for people will call the cops for violent crime. Do you think the cops will make the situation safer for anyone but the cops? If not, why take the nontrivial chance that they’re going to make the situation worse for you or someone you care about? If you’re thinking, I’m a SWM and have nothing to fear from cops, consider the Maryland Mayor who’s dogs were murdered in his own home by trigger-happy fuzz.
If I’m not going to call the Crips for help, why on Earth would I call a gang immune to prosecutions?
1 Like
There’s also Don’t stand so close to me.
An artistic portrayal of a character is not an endorsement of that character’s POV.
2 Likes
If my neighbor is beating on his wife, I don’t think she’s going to mind if the cops show up and arrest him and stop the beating.
Of course, if this is happening, half of the neighborhood will be out in the street by then too.
5 Likes
She may have as much to fear from the police as from him. Either may kill her. One is certain to get away with it.
Why aren’t they doing anything other than calling poorly trained thugs known for indiscriminately killing, injuring, robbing and framing law-abiding citizens?
I get it. We should have law enforcement that serves and protects. And if you seem to them to be a member of the dominant “culture” in America, you’ve probably got a pretty good chance they won’t turn on you like confused rabid dogs. But if you play Russian Roulette with a six-shooter loaded with one bullet, you have a one-in-six chance of not eating a bullet. Would you play even one round?
I suppose if there’s literally no other recourse and your life is in danger, that six shooter might be a sane choice. The choice still seems utterly insane.
To be clear. I don’t hate the idea of cops. I think American cops are a cure that is often worse than the disease which is crime.
1 Like
Cops rolling up is better than your neighbor beating on his wife. But I still have to ask why half the neighborhood is standing around doing nothing. Maybe part of how we got to the point where we let cops do whatever they want is by being unwilling to help each other.
2 Likes
You seem to be using me to ask rhetorical questions and make rhetorical points. There is no point in my responding further. Enjoy.
1 Like
Not my intention, but I have somewhat entrenched views about police abuse that make it difficult for me to be objective about it. I would like to know how we can get our country back to where calling the cops isn’t a gamble, especially for people who don’t look like us.
But I am sorry for climbing on my hobby horse and dragging you along. You’re a friend and deserve better treatment. It’s not as black and white as it I probably see it. Sincere good evening.
3 Likes
I think that would entirely depend on where you live and the situation, but in my case I wouldn’t worry about it. Things might go worse, but in the few cases I know of where cops have visited in my neighborhood for someone being violent they’ve taken away the violent people without killing them, dogs, or anyone else and made things better. YMMV.
1 Like
Edit: No I won’t. Didn’t work out too well for me last time. They weren’t interested.
Further Edit: Along with income and skin-tone, mental health is a factor in determining both your risk from the police and their willingness to listen to you when you’re a victim. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but they were profoundly unwilling to listen, leaving me in a ongoing potentially life-threatening situation.
So, unless I need a criminal clearance report or the like for Visa renewal purposes, I’ll take my chances on my own.
You and I both live in Austin. I think not all police departments have the same relationships with the people they’re responsible for protecting. Not that Austin Police Department are by any means without fault, but I’ve lived in places where the police were far far worse (LAPD was probably the worst). No Austin cops have tried to kill friends of mine, so that’s a start.
On a more general note, I found this article pretty insightful: “I’m a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing”, in the sense that I learned things about police racism that I didn’t know.
6 Likes
No problem and I understand where you’re coming from. It isn’t like folks around here generally ever want to interact with the police and for good reason.
3 Likes
Gender Identity is a factor too. My experiences in the UK is that the police wanted to help, but the CPS are known for dropping cases involving trans people unless they are the accused or have been murdered.
If the CPS keep dropping your cases then there isn’t much point in calling the police.
1 Like
Drug use as well.
In my late teens, I lived in a household of IV heroin users. In those circumstances, you’re essentially an outlaw, in the medieval sense of the term.
Inviting the police into your life was simply Not An Option…which had real negative consequences, as teenage junkies tend to be victims of crime (robbery, rape, assault) on a fairly regular basis.
3 Likes
