The Age of Ignorance Continues

An entry two days in a row, I must actually have time on my hands. LOL. I guess I am a little more inspired to write lately.

Well today's entry is about the ignorance of SOME people on a side of Montgomery that does see more than its fair share of the criminal element that makes up the population in this city. Montgomery's West Side does unfortunately carry the distinction of being the "bad" side of town. It is predominately black.

The Montgomery Police Department, under the leadership of Chief Art Baylor, a personal friend of mine, has helped changed the face of the Montgomery Police Department. Forget the old days of the Civil Rights Movement; the arrest of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr.; or the allowing of a white mob to beat Freedom Riders at the Greyhound bust station - this is a modern department that is doing what they can to make my and family and I safe. Chief Baylor has tried to make the department more proactive instead of reactive; been an outspoken critic of the court system that puts criminals back on the streets with slaps on the wrists or bail to commit more crimes; and give the department more respectability that it has had under previous leadership.

Yesterday, in an attempt to curb the crime in the west side area, the police has put up a "Taking Back Our Neighborhoods" operation and command post (as they have done in two other parts of town) to get a handle on the criminal element. This is the third such operation. The first day - let me repeat that FIRST DAY - there were 27 arrests (including 6 felony arrests); about 300 citations written; confiscated marijuana and cocaine; and recovered a stolen car. I call that a pretty good damn day.

The last operation, last year in another part of town (Ridgecrest) which sort of "borders" the east and west side of the city, yielded the following results: 153 felony arrests; 509 misdemeanor arrests; 2502 bench warrants; 5771 citations; 3098 field interviews; and implemented 3 apartment watch and 1 neighborhood watch programs.

Now the real reason I am writing this is due to the ignorance of some people that feel that this operation is unfair targeting of a race of people. Where on my side of town, you tend to have more residential burglaries (which are bad); on the West side, you tend have more murders, shootings, out in the open drug issues, prostitution, and assaults. On the interview below, a lady feels that she was targeted due to her vehicle because it was a Crown Victoria. If she truly believed that, then I would think she would drive something else. That is just plain IGNORANT! I would venture to guess that she has that vehicle because EVERYONE else has one. Which goes to my belief of not trying to be like everyone else - be an original. I admit that I could be way off base with that statement about her though.

It speaks of the mentality that has been ingrained in people's mind of the police being the bad guy. No matter how much you want to "f$%# the police", who is the first person you call when something bad is or has happened to you? THE DAMN POLICE!



I have run through many a checkpoint here in Montgomery and everyone I have encountered has been professional but then I have my $hit in order - license, insurance, registration, pistol permit, etc. Maybe the ones that complain the most are the ones that don't take care of business to prevent "harassment" by the police. If you have no license, don't get behind the wheel of a car; if you do not have insurance or registration, leave the car in the driveway; if you carry a concealed weapon, get a damn permit and if you are a felony, don't freakin' have a weapon at all.

All I can say is don't allow the rhetoric of some who "poison" the minds about how things have not changed or being left behind into your life. You make your own path, don't rely on someone clearing the way for you.

A little bit of irony, one of the streets involved in this police operation is Rosa L. Parks Avenue here in Montgomery. Imagine that!