3 posts tagged “savannah-chatham police”
Mark your calendars!
January 15th!
THURSDAY! THURSDAY! THURSDAY!
It’s a SUPER POWER SHOWDOWN at Savannah City Hall as the DARK OVERLORD OF LAW ENFORCEMENT takes on BIG BOSS MAN MICHAEL BROWN!
That is how the City should advertise the upcoming Council Workshop when the electeds can finally find out why their police chief seem to speak with forked tongue.
They have asked for the face time in order to clear up a few recent unexpected moves like closing two police precincts without advance notice or public input, contradictory public statements about police staffing and budget, diverting resources to send 100 officers to Washington D.C. for the upcoming inauguration and cutting off unfettered media access to police reports.
What will be interesting to watch at this meeting will be the delicate dance Berkow and Brown engage in. The men have a grudging respect for one another but Berkow may have crossed the line by involving Mary Ellen Sprague in his push for more money in the 09 budget.
Meanwhile, true to form, the newspaper seems to be rolling over for the Chief.
Sooooo, what will be the SMN’s big stick to take on the growing power of Darth Berkow?
I’m sure he is shaking in his shiny little jackboots.
In case you haven’t been following the latest Police Power Grab, Darth has decided that he will only let the media types see crime reports that they specifically ask to see. Meaning if a crime happens and no one tells the media, no one will be the wiser.
As I predicted, the Savannah Morning News has responded with a milquetoast of an editorial and has now apparently run to the state for mediation.
In case you don’t know the rules, here’s what is supposed to happen under The State of Georgia’s “Sunshine Law” :
“The public has a right to see, inspect and copy all “public records.”
Now for the past several years the Savannah/Chatham Police actually embraced the true spirit of the law when it had that great big clipboard of all police reports sitting on the desk at Habersham Street. The public could easily see, inspect and copy.
Now the clipboard is gone, there is absolutely no way for a reporter to inspect all the crime reports each day and yet our Dark Overlord of the Law claims to be following the state regs.
Let’s see….
Is he following this part of the law?
Georgia Code: 50-18-70
(b) All public records of an agency as defined in subsection (a) of this Code section, except those which by order of a court of this state or by law are prohibited or specifically exempted from being open to inspection by the general public, shall be open for a personal inspection by any citizen of this state at a reasonable time and place; and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.
No, because in the case of police reports, all public records are not open for personal inspection at any time or place.
“But,” the Berkow backers say, “there are exemptions”
Indeed , but none that help the Chief’s case.
Georgia Code: 50-18-72 (exemptions)
(4) Records of law enforcement, prosecution, or regulatory agencies in any pending investigation or prosecution of criminal or unlawful activity, other than initial police arrest reports and initial incident reports; provided, however, that an investigation or prosecution shall no longer be deemed to be ending when all direct litigation involving said investigation and prosecution has become final or otherwise terminated;
Did you catch that? “Other than initial police arrest reports and initial incident reports” so the very reports that Berkow has locked down are exempted from the exemptions and therefore must be open to inspection.
This is not just a battle of media vs. police. It is not just Bloggers Against Berkow. This is a basic right of all people to know what is up with the agency that has all the guns.
If you fail to fight against that black velvet clad hand closing on your throat, you will soon find you have no voice at all.
Again with misinformation printed as facts and surprise! surprise! no challenge, correction or admission from SMN editors?
This is in the LTTE:
“It is my understanding the chief reports to one person: Savannah's City Manager Michael Brown. If this is the Savannah-Chatham MPD, why isn't the county manager also involved in supervision?”
“No wonder the residents in unincorporated Chatham County have seen the presence of the police diminish, since one person can move them around at his whim”
The writer doesn't want CNT to come under the control of the City of Savannah because she believes City Manager Michael Brown is soooo petty that he would use it to fight drugs only in the city and leave the county to rot.
Come on, really?
First
and foremost, the merger agreement does NOT give the county equal
footing in policing. City
residents pay MORE per person than their County Cousins.
Chatham paid $17,824,653 for police coverage in 2007 while City taxpayers made up the rest of the $61,185,810 annual budget.
Chatham Folk - 72,000
City Folk – 135,000
Chatham
Folk pay approx $247 each for Police service
City Folk pay approx $321 each for Police service
The writer claims a diminished police presence in the county which is hard to believe considering that they've enjoyed a 31% decrease in crime in unincorporated Chatham County since the police merger in 2003.
And unless Russ Abolt is secretly a Green Lantern or something, he aint no crime fighter. The merger casts the County Manager in an advisory role only.
Face it, if you live in the unincorporated areas you are a customer of the City of Savannah's protection services. You pay a fee and get a cop whenever you call. Chatham County hires the city’s police department to patrol their territory much as you might hire Brinks or some other private security outfit to patrol your cul-de-sac or the mall.
You do not get to call the shots. If you don't like that, tough t*ttie cause that is the agreement your elected officials signed back in 2003.
As for CNT it belongs to the merged department meaning it is under the control of Darth Berkow.
The language is quite clear:"The MPD chief will assume responsibility for the administration and oversight of the CNT which will be a separate division of the MPD."
It's okay to be stupid, but do you have to broadcast it?
"Vox populi, vox bardus"
These ones from Saturday got me all bloggy:
"Regarding the low election turnout, some elementary teachers were in faculty meetings and were not released to go vote. We didn't have a choice and were not allowed the option."
Wow! That was a hell of a long meeting. Jeez, you met for 8 hours a day for a whole week before the election and then 12 hours on election day? You guys must be exhausted.
Sarcasm to English Translation: With early voting for five full days and 7am to 7pm voting on election day there are very few time-related excuses left for not voting. This person is stupid and lazy.
UH.. WHAT THE F**K?
"Congratulations Chief Berkow and staff on your first year anniversary, for a job well done. We welcome you and hope you have many more years in Savannah."
Okay, he is a very personable guy. I like him and I hear he is good with the ladies (wink, wink) but lets take those really, really dark, rouge colored glasses off for just a second.
At the end of October, Violent Crime was up in the Downtown Precinct 26% year over year, 13% in the Central Precinct.
I point out those two because they represent the bulk of violent crimes in the city.
Overall, including traditionally low crime areas of Unincorporated Chatham County, the city/county is looking at a 9% increase in violent crime since Berkow took over.
There is also the police officer shortage first reported in July and not getting much better any time soon according to the numbers kept in the desktops at city hall.
He likes to play it down, but it seems to me a shortage of 90-100 officers would keep him from doing much of the community policing type things that made his former boss a crime fighting icon in New York.
I like how he's reorganized things so far. I also think he is running rings around the press, which you gotta give the man props for. Uh.. his officers killed two guys and beat up an old man and you've heard little about it.
I just don't think we should get all wet and wistful about his first twelve months.
