Category: Another Viewpoint, Commentary/Editorial || By \"John\"

A reader writes regarding "Community Meeting Tonight Targets Street Violence" (July 11):

Oh, so in the past four years when police have claimed they've "clamped down" and enforced the curfew, they haven't actually been doing it? Color me surprised.

Last summer, it was no big deal to see (and hear, from a block away) a group of a dozen or more people walking down the middle (yes, the middle) of Grandview Avenue at 2 a.m. Good to see that they're making another yearly announcement about their responsibilities. Should there be a celebration? An awards ceremony?

Want to effect change? Arrest them and send them to jail.

In the last four years that I lived in McKeesport, I was told on a yearly basis by both the police force and former Mayor Brewster that they were aware of the specific houses in my neighborhood which engaged in drug activity, and they were aware of the people who were responsible. I was also given a story about how their hands were somehow "tied" and they weren't able to arrest them, primarily because "the criminals have police scanners now, and everyone runs before we arrive because they know we're coming."

Really.

I guess this makes it okay. I suppose "they have scanners" is the end of the discussion, and no one should investigate other ways of apprehending a known criminal in a known location.

One would think that it would be easy enough to catch someone in the act if they parked a squad car down the street and had an officer watch for illegal activity.

One would also be wrong, because the handful of times I saw a squad car parked in my neighborhood, the office inside was reading a magazine, oblivious to the activity around him.

All that being said, I don't really have a horse in this race, as I've moved out of town, and into a much safer neighborhood with a much more effective (and helpful) police force, and where the people take pride in their community.

"John" (name withheld)