"Perfect Storm" for Flint

A few days ago the Genesee County Jail was well over capacity forcing County Sheriff Robert Pickell to declare an "emergency" and seek relief from the courts. Many inmates, nearing the end of their jail terms, were released early in order to return the number of inmates to the jail's capacity of 580 inmates.

Now, just a few days later, the county jail population is at 662. The city jail, which opens occasionally and on an unannounced basis, is a contributor to the number of inmates in the county jail. How? Well, it seems that for some reason people arrested and placed in the city jail can stay there for only 72 hours. At which point they must either be released or transferred to the county jail.

When the mayor of Flint was told that the city jail operation was a contributing factor to the county jail over crowding problem his retort was "That's their problem". What a brilliant response!

Instead of saying "I realize that is a problem. Lets sit down and work together to develop a way to fix it." the mayor simply says "That's their problem"! This, unfortunately, is indicative of the way the leader of the City of Flint approaches the issue of crime and violence in the city. Little wonder that Flint is the third most violent city in the United States.

And now for a little "icing on this cake". A recent county wide vote has determined that Genesee County property owners will now provide funding for free health care for county residents who have no health care plan. I wonder if the proposed funding had been provided by a county wide sales tax or income tax would the proposal have passed. I doubt it! The property owners seem to have become a "bottomless pit" for money.

With about 30% of the property owners now having trouble paying their taxes it appears that the well is beginning to run dry. But I digress. Now back to the point.

Well, now that the county is providing free health care I see Flint becoming a "Mecca" for those without health care. People will be flocking here from other areas to take advantage of this extraordinary "freebie"!

Michigan's governor, in a cost cutting move, has recently decided to close several of the state's prisons and release several thousand prison inmates. Now imagine yourself as a prison inmate just having received your "get out of jail free card". You have no job, no income and NO HEALTH CARE. Where are you going to go? Well let me think about it for about 2 seconds...I know...Genesee County! There I can be taken care of by the property owners who will provide me with free health care.

This is the "perfect storm" that Flint does not need! Over crowded jails with more criminals being drawn to the area by free health care. It is unfortunate that the health care vote can't be repealed and the funding redirected to building a larger city and/or county jail.

City Spokesman Responds to Officer's Opinion

Below is an editorial/opinion response by the City of Flint written in The Flint Journal Monday, March 12, 2007. This article is in response to an opinion written by Officer Randolph Tolbert concerning one man patrols. An earlier post and Officer Tolbert's article can be viewed by clicking here.

Which opinion has the most credibility? Well, I have a long held belief that if you want to know the most about any job ask the man or woman actually performing that job. Officer Tolbert has 21 years of experience in many areas of law enforcement. Mr. Conroy has no law enforcement experience that I am aware of. This situation lends much more credence to the opinion of Officer Tolbert.

The studies referenced by Mr. Conroy seem, at first glance, to be persuasive. However, remember that the decision to go to one-man patrols was made in such haste that on the first night of implementation there were not enough vehicles. This indicates that there obviously was no time taken to review the national studies in San Diego and Houston.

I also find it very interesting that Mr. Conroy responded to Officer Tolbert's article rather than the Acting Chief-of-Police. I wonder why that is.....

One-officer cars safe, working

National studies in San Diego and Houston indicate that one-­officer police cars are safe for police officers. However, it is incumbent on the individual police officers to ensure they uti­lize their training and experience to employ proper safety precau­tions. This will increase their safe­ty and the safety of the citizens.

In the six months that the Flint Police Department has utilized one-officer patrols for police offi­cers that have graduated from the police department field training program, we find that response time for 911 calls has been quicker. There is also a significant increase in the number of patrol units on the street at any one time. Another benefit of one-officer patrol cars is that the department does not have two officers tied up on calls where only one officer is needed, such as calls for minor crimes where there is no perpetrator present.

The public should also know that in the entire history of the flint Police Department, one-­officer patrol units have been deployed; the Flint Police Depart­ment has just increased their usage. Before the current adminis­tration, the police fleet did not have the vehicles necessary to deploy one-officer patrol units. With prop­er fleet management, the current administration has been able to purchase 65 new patrol units. The newly purchased vehicles triple the amount of police coverage possi­ble, allowing the police department to more adequately provide police service to our community. We value our officers, however, they must take responsibility for utilizing their training to ensure they pro­tect their safety and the safety of the citizens of Flint.

Joe Conroy Flint governmental
operations director

City of Flint Website

The City of Flint website appears to be undergoing a very nice upgrade as compared to my last web visit sometime ago.

Just about anything you want to know about Flint and Flint's city government can be found there. Some areas are still under construction but, overall, the site is well designed and very easy to navigate. Kudos to whoever designed the site!

Attention Coffee Lovers

The Good
Beans Café

I certainly don't want all my posts about Flint to be negative as there
are many positive aspects of the city. One of those is the Good Beans
Café, a coffee house located at 328 N. Grand Traverse.

This place has excellent coffee (made from Lavazza-Italy's best coffee)
and coffee drinks that are "priced right". It also has a warm and very
comfortable atmosphere that is genuine (unlike what I call the "fake
atmosphere" found at "fourbucks"). The staff is friendly, helpful and
knowledgeable. Check out their website by clicking here or stop in
and try an authentic Italian espresso or one of many other authentic
Italian coffee drinks.

"Good Beans" is the best coffee house that I have visited anywhere.
Just think, one of the best coffee houses in the country is located
right here in Flint!

Flint Police Officer Speaks Up

The following article appeared in the March 6, 2007 issue of The Flint Journal on the "Opinion Page". Having a son who is also a law enforcement officer (thankfully, NOT in Flint) I can, to some degree, empathize with Officer Tolbert's situation. The idea of having one-man cars for officers patrolling the third most dangerous city in the country seems ludicrous and dangerous.

The decision to have officers patrol in one man cars was probably NOT made by a person having thorough knowledge and experience in police work. In fact, if you recall, the decision was made in such haste and with so little forethought that on the first night of the one man patrols there were not enough vehicles for the officers to patrol as one man units!

This certainly is no way to help deter crime and, overall, is a decision that puts the officers of the Flint Police Department in danger as well as all the citizens of the city.

I certainly hope that Officer Tolbert is not reprimanded for making his informed opinion known to us.

One-man cars dangerous for Flint officers, public

As a 21-year veteran of the Flint Police Department who has worked plainclothes narcot­ics, the gang squad, and now uniformed patrol, I want to share my opinion about one­man cars.

Flint patrol officers are cur­rently assigned to one-man units in the third most violent city in the United States. The changes were announced in a press conference to the crimi­nal element of the city. Those assignments resulted in the following incidents, in my opin­ion:

• A lone officer responded on New Year's Eve to a shots-fired and weapons call. Being a one­man unit is indirectly respon­sible for that officer shooting a citizen.

• I was dispatched to a fight between two adult brothers as a one-man car. One brother decided that he wanted to fight me. As he later explained to me, "You had no backup." I spent the rest of my working shift at Hurley Medical Center Emer­gency Room having him treated at taxpayer expense because, in his words, he wanted to "try me."

• Two days later I was sent to a city residence as a one-man unit. A woman had climbed out of her window to escape her husband, who had beaten her and pointed a .40-caliber semi­automatic handgun at her. As I showed up, the husband escaped from the rear of the home. I was unable to watch four sides of the house. I pursued this suspect on my 40-years-plus legs in sub­zero temperatures. I sit at home using sick time and recovering from a sinus infection because, without a partner, I was unable to see the rear of the house and thus prevent this felony suspect from escaping into the neighbor­hood.

• African-American offi­cers have all been transferred throughout the department in retaliation for speaking to the City Council with their concerns about the community they have served longer than our current elected mayor.

There is fallout from other changes in the police depart­ment as well, such as an officer suspended by the mayor in viola­tion of the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the officers' union.

The mayor has shifted the focus of the Special Operations Bureau to prostitution stings instead of raiding drug houses, allowing street-level drug deal­ers to operate openly at inter­sections without fear of arrest. Prostitution stings are profitable - they generate impound and storage fees. Remember that the mayor said "Let's run this city like a business" during his cam­paign.

I want to thank the citizens of Flint for allowing a convicted felon (with all of his law enforce­ment experience) to run the Flint Police Department.

Randolph Tolbert

Flint

Flint Photos

Bottom Street Near Kearsley and Chevrolet

Big Al's Place on MLK

Mural Near MLK and Third Ave

Mural Near MLK and North Saginaw

Downtown Early on a Saturday Morning

Can Flint be Saved?

Unfortunately Flint has become one of the most violent and dangerous cities in the United States. If the city continues in this "elite" class for an extended period Flint will have a good likelihood of losing what few enticements remain to attract people to the city.

Those enticements include Kettering, U of M Flint, MCC and others. Why would parents want to continue to send their children to a college or university that is located in one of the most violent areas of the country? Unless the violence is stopped, and stopped soon, they won't.

When reading the local newspaper one gets the impression that the Flint City Government is treating the situation as "business as usual". It recently took 4 murders in less than a 24 hour period to get the city jail opened for just one weekend!

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to the control of crime. However, when you are part of the "management team" leading a city that finds itself in the extraordinary circumstance of being the second most violent city in the country than extraordinary measures may need to be taken to correct the situation.

Any constructive ideas on what the Flint City Government can do to turn around the present situation and make Flint a reasonably safe city that attracts new residents, businesses and students?