Kevin says: Nero Fiddles while Newark New Jersey Burns

Nero fiddles while Rome burns, Newark is turning into a city of God

But who is Nero

Over the course of the past few days the whispering campaign has started

The layoff of police officers in Newark, has started the gossips and fear mongers

Tongue wagging.

I was talking to a friend who owns a alarm shop, and he said that he is getting more and more business

He told me that this city thugs…………. have begun testing the response time of the Newark police department

They have been pushing doors hard enough to set off the alarm

Then standing in the background they try to see how long it takes for the Police

To show up

This is a tech used though out the ages

But law enforcement responds with patrol techs that include

Being systematically unsystematic.

Therefore, they had better watch their asses

Having said that

Their they are

Teasing

Testing,

Tasting

At least

This is the gossip

I have had several people advise me

Not to walk around at night like

I used too

I hear rumors of three deaths a day,

Shooting, shooting

Of course this didn’t start with the police layoffs

The mood was set months ago by

No jobs, no programs no care

Whose fault is it?

Not the Cops,

Not the Mayors

not The governor

Rodney’s             …..

Lord knows it not the President Obama

Its not about fault, anyway

Its about bad economic times and a inner city

Impact well beyond the rest of the country

Anyway

I have felt the chill in the air….. long before it got cold

The have seen

The look of uncertainty on the faces of the working poor

For over a year

The violence of inaction

On the faces of business folks

Sitting idly by while no customers come in

To purchase or to order

I have seen it in the faces of family and friends

A despair

A desperation and longing

 

for  some happy days

Or ………………..just some good days

I refused to believe that a few laid off cops

Caused this up surge in crime

It’s the holidays

Christmas is a brutal time for any city

A formative time for crime

A constant cause of stomach aches for me

Depression for others

And most of all a time of robberies

I didn’t believe that laying off some cops

Would change a city this fast

But it has

It’s a pr war and the city is losing

Once people stop feeling safe,

Ok once people start feeling even less safe

Its lost already

More people retreat t inside and less eyes on watching

On the outside

I have a advantage

People don’t pay attention to old people like me

Unless they look closely

And see my dead eyed stare

As they figure out that I am too not only old

Too mean to play with

Anyway

While

Walking to the bus stop today

I walk to ferry street by the way

Today their were more people on the street

It was crowded on the street and barren in the stores

As I was walking

Some thing told me…………………. to turn my head

And just as I did

Two young guys riding double on a bike

All dressed in black

Whizzed past me

I mean Evel Knievel fast

As they did

They extended their arms and as they got near a street vender

A stall set up by the curb selling winter wears

Glove and hat s scarps and more

Where was I

Mean both of these guys flying past on this bike

Snatched a arm full of gloves, hats and belts

They didn’t slow down,

They didn’t hesitate

They didn’t miss a beat

The storeowner ran out of the coffer shop, located no more

Than ten feet away

But it happened so fast

Their was nothing to do………..but sigh

I mean it was like……………..watching one of those Japanese movies

Where assassins riding on motorcycles, Spray machine gun fire at their subject

And keep on trucking

It happened too fast to react

The shop owner and me, just looked at each other,

As we bent down to pick up and clean up the carnage

Nothing was said

Two old men looking at each other

Silently

I felt like we were both veterans of Normandy

Not a word was said

It didn’t have to be

I continued on and got on the number one bus

Which is lately has been coming much slower

The bus was crowded

The traffic was horrible

But it was warm

Suddenly the whole bus turned their heads to the left

I looked just out side my window

And saw that their was a crowd of kids fighting

Now I am talking about a Portuguese kid fighting a Latino kid

I mean these kids were no more than 10 years old, with a group of about 15 kids watching

The girls were the loudest egging the boys one

Well those two boys squared off and hooked the shit out of each other

My fellow occupants of the bus looked on quietly, reverently

No one said a word,

Except for one old black woman……………………who said

“That’s a damn shame”

We looked on as the kids  fled running in a pack, and almost knocking over

A group of Old Portuguese ladies walking gingerly further down on Ferry Street

Man I thought that in their minds

This must be a land that time should have forgot

Onward bus, every where I looked

People were walking just a little slower

I got to school and was glad for the respite

Then I remembered the police lay off

And thought to myself that some thing is going on bigger than

Just that

This must be happening on a lot of corners in America

It isn’t just a Newark problem

But a national problem

And it started to snow a bit

And I said to myself

This might help

Folks don’t like the cold

Technorati Tags: kevin blythe sampson,city of newark,newark new jersey,ferry st,ironbond,crime,newark police,layoffs,cory booker,obama

Chicago gangs to top cop: You're not playing fair

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Jim Allen, a member of the Vice Lords, second left, speaks at a news conference, joined by several current and former gang members, including from left, Reginald Akkeem Barry Sr., Allen, Mark Carter, and Walter 'Gator" Bradley, right. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) - Several current and ex-gang members lashed out at Chicago's police chief on Thursday, calling his so-called "gang summit" initiative to crack down on crime a wasted effort that will have little effect on the streets of the county's third largest city.
After calling a news conference outside a park district building, gang members complained to assembled TV cameras about the ultimatum police Superintendent Jody Weis gave them at a recent meeting - that if gangs resort to violence, police will go after their leaders.
In response, they offered their own message to police: You're not playing fair.
"Is it possible for one person to micromanage a group?" Vice Lords gang member Jim Allen asked reporters, wearing a black baseball cap with the words, "Mess with the Best, Die like the Rest." ''We will not be responsible for anyone's actions but our own."
Weis is facing mounting criticism for holding the unpublicized Aug. 17 meeting with reputed gang leaders, even though several police departments across the country have relied on similar approaches for decades to help reduce crime.
Some reputed members of gangs like the Four Corner Hustlers and the Traveling Vice Lords said they were surprised to see Weis there after being told by their parole officers to show up. Many were visibly angry, with some even leaving the meeting, which was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The police chief has defended the initiative with the support of Mayor Richard M. Daley and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who likened the tactic to his office holding parolee forums to warn people leaving prison that they'll be watched.
Weis told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his message was simple: "If you should resort to violence, we'll sharpen our focus on you and really, really make your lives uncomfortable. You have the ability to influence people within your sphere. You guys are in the position to stop the killing."
Weis said prosecutors at the Aug. 17 meeting threatened attendees that they could be charged under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act if killings were traced back to gangs with members attending the meeting. The federal law, commonly known as RICO, provides stiffer penalties for acts performed as part of a criminal organization such as the Mafia.
At Thursday's unlikely media event, activist Mark Carter criticized Daley and the police department, asking how gang leaders could be asked to take responsibility for their subordinates when city government leaders don't take responsibility for alleged misdeeds by their employees.
"Is the mayor going to be held accountable for the corruption that takes place under his watch?" he said at the news conference. "And the biggest gang in the city of Chicago is the Chicago police department."
Thursday's media event was attended by some participants who described themselves as current gang members, though others said they left gangs and are now community activists devoted to stopping violent crime.
Activist Wallace Bradley said the recent emphasis on gang leaders by police is misplaced, and instead, the focus of resources should be on saving those who want to improve their lives.
"Those of us assembled here, we go out and speak to 10 people and say, 'Don't do this,'" Bradley said. "If there are two who say they won't listen, we thank God for the eight who do."
But experts say Weis' tactic of meeting with gang leaders - whether formally with top administrators or at the neighborhood level - is just part of good police work.
At least 50 jurisdictions nationwide use the approach. In Cincinnati, Chief Tom Streicher Jr. attends similar meetings, and the Los Angeles Police Department has started using the approach.
Among the pioneers was the Boston Police Department. In the early 1990s when the city's murder rate hovered around 150 a year, the department launched Operation Ceasefire, which continues today.
Parolees and other alleged criminals attend meetings with prosecutors where they're warned of consequences and given jobs information. Police say it has helped cut Boston's homicide rate. Last year the department reported 49.
Still, criticism in Chicago has continued. Gov. Pat Quinn said that he didn't think meeting with gang leaders was "the way to go," and suggested, instead, that police should focus on going after guns on the streets.
Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti said Weis shouldn't have been there with reputed gangsters, saying his presence at the meeting "made them equal."
Some of the scrutiny could simply be because it was Weis' idea.
Since he took over in 2008, the department has been wary of Weis, a career FBI agent who continues to be seen as an outsider by many rank and file officers.
Weis noted the program hasn't incurred big costs and that if it doesn't work, the department will drop it. He said he thinks his presence at the meeting made it more meaningful and that attendees were chosen because of their influence.
Overall, Chicago's homicide rate has mirrored national trends and dropped significantly since the 1990s. It fell from a high of 943 in 1992 to 460 last year and has held steady in recent years.
But if residents and police need evidence that the city remains a dangerous place for officers - four officers were killed in the line of duty this year - they found it Wednesday morning. Two plainclothes officers were shot and wounded while serving a warrant on the city's South Side.
Weis said the next step is to determine if recent crimes can be traced to gangs at the meeting.
"I don't view it as the panacea to stop all crimes," he told the AP. "It certainly seemed like a worthwhile effort, even to try."
Associated Press Writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.