Brainerd neighbors left with unanswered questions after crime meeting

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February 27, 2009

Brainerd neighbors left with unanswered questions after crime meeting

The Hilltop Neighborhood Association hosted a large crowd of Brainerd residents Thursday night at the Brainerd Baptist Annex on Austin St. City officials, including Mayor Ron Littlefield, 6th District City Council member Carol Berz, and Police Chief Freeman Cooper, spoke to citizens' concerns about a rash of recent break-ins and the perception of a slow response by the newly consolidated 911 Center.

Most area media outlets were on hand, and I'll provide links to their coverage at the end of this post. Thanks to available wireless Internet in the building, I was able to update my personal Twitter account as the meeting transpired. (In the future, I may do live-twittering of this nature from the blog account @TnTicket, but I currently have more followers on @joelance.)

Here is an unintentionally abridged (what up, TweetScan?) list of the updates, known as "tweets." The full archive can be found by browsing through my account on the web, although there the updates are in reverse chronological order.

	joelance : Huge turnout at Hilltop Neighborhood Assn emergency meeting on recent crimes. Trey Commander has a Google map up showing break-ins in Feb.
	joelance : Councilwoman Berz is speaking now, since the mayor is delayed.
	joelance : Berz:"The idea that we [are] not safe is abominable to me."
	joelance : Scott Parker, NA president, introduces Police Chief Freeman Cooper.
	joelance : Seven members of the CPD brass, with one on the way, standing up front.
	joelance : Cooper: slight increase in overall crime rate in 2008; violent crime, except homicides, down in 2008
	joelance : Chief Cooper: Nashville has 3 times the rate of property crimes as 'Nooga; Memphis about 5 times the rate
	joelance : Gratitude pause: thanks to the BX for having free WiFi. It's so much easier to do this on a laptop than on a phone.
	joelance : Cooper is reciting stats from 2008 on service calls and arrests. Now opening up for questions.
	joelance : Question: (comment, really) we just ask that if we call 911, the police show up
	joelance : Cooper: Remember that 911 has consolidated many jurisdictions. Clerks are unfamiliar with streets.
	joelance : Question: what makes criminals pick certain houses? Cooper: if I could answer that, we'd solve Burglary.
	joelance : Littlefield: over 40 years, crimes have risen in times of economic downturn.
	joelance : Question: shift change resulted in 50-minute delay 8 mos ago. Last week, same house was broken into
	joelance : Chief Cooper: shift change is overlapped so that the whole force isn't changing at once (though numbers are reduced)
	joelance : Cooper: downtown renovation has nothing to do with crime in any particular area. Criminal groups are organized, and hit multiple areas.
	joelance : Cooper: reporting a break-in doesn't increase your likelihood of being a victim
	joelance : Now the homeowner at the center of this story asks, if the problem is with 911, what is being done about that?
	joelance : Question: it sounds like we're saying 911 isn't organized, police aren't organized, but the criminals are. Mayor, did you say "expect it?"
	joelance : RTN gets called out for not being here by both questioner and Mayor
	joelance : "RTN" = WGOW talk radio host Robert T Nash, if you didn't get that
	joelance : questions are heating up. Parker is urging audience to focus questions, not tell so many personal stories, due to time
	joelance : the crowd doesn't seem satisfied with answers thus far, and time is running out. Room is reserved until 8.
	joelance : Lots of questions/chatter about pawnshops and recovery of stolen items.
	joelance : Cooper: "come ride with us. Get involved in Citizens Police Academy." Learn about what the officers go through
	joelance : Time running out. Parker asks how residents can ask their outstanding questions. Littlefield: next N'hood Assn mtg. Cooper: CPIC meeting.