Tuesday, July 8, 2008

In need of a break

Our police officers could use a breather after another fun-filled Fourth of July weekend. I tend to think that the Fourth falling on a Thursday or Friday is (from a police standpoint) about the
worst. So, what did we do, other than chasing all those fireworks complaints? About 1,237 things, to be precise. Here's some exceprts:

36 ACCIDENTS
47 ASSAULTS
10 BURGLARIES
4 WEAPONS VIOLATIONS
16 CHILD ABUSE/NEGLECT CASES
60 ALCOHOL INCIDENTS
69 LARCENIES
21 MISSING PERSONS
23 NARCOTICS CASES
2 SEX CRIMES
37 VANDALISMS
39 MEDICAL EMERGENCIES

And on top of that, we handled one of the City's largest annual special events. That's a good amount of work over three days. And it's not done. Many of these cases will require on going follow-up work, additional report writing, and court appearances. In policing, the grind never ends. That's particularly true for a small police department like ours, where the workload falls upon a small number of police officers in comparison to our population.

14 comments:

Cedric Satterfield said...

queue the rehashes of how "Lincoln has too many cops....." . Good job, Tom. The wife, kids, and I went to Pfizer to watch the Oak Lake fireworks and we only waited about 20 minutes after it was over to leave-most of which was because of the gaggle of cars leaving Pfizers grass lot. Once we got to the street traffic was great. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Not to mention that the department is at forced minimum staffing on July 4th and allowed to be at minimum staffing on New Year's Eve, the two busiest days of the year.

Anonymous said...

I see you had a few calls in the 1400 block of Dakota last night. After a similar incident (brandished handgun by the uninvited party guests) the previous week, maybe there's a disorderly house of sorts. In any case, it's almost smelling like a powder keg of a problem over there. My sympathies to the other people that live around there, and best wishes to Capt. Woolman with this headache of a property.

Anonymous said...

You didn't have to take the job, so quit winning.

Anonymous said...

Why is a photo not available of the man that ran into the marsh on Wednesday morming?
It was with the 187 lbs of pot.

Anonymous said...

6:06 would probably say the same to combat troops. He's told us that he has a hard job too, heat, steam etc (in effect whining about it, hmm).

Oh well, some people just hate the police and that's that. Maybe it's resentment for an old bust or something. Maybe it's just anyone in a position of authority that they dislike, or anyone with higher pay (and it's not that high, an active duty 1st Lt. in the Army likely does better on the total compensation package).

If the police do A, they'll demand that they do B. If the do B, they'll demand A. If they do both A and B, they'll say that they should be doing C. The best thing to do with that sort is to keep treating them like everyone else, but beyond that, ignore them like a twittering bird or chirping squirrel.

Anonymous said...

Your right we didn't have to take the job, but only a few an do it so be grateful you have some of the best in Lincoln

Anonymous said...

I've always kind of thought that big "drinking" holidays (and for some folks, I suppose that's ALL holidays) that fall on a Monday with a 2-week payday the preceding Friday was kind of nightmare scenario, since folks may be inclined to take that paycheck straight to the liquor store to load up. So then, with three days of alcohol under their belts, that Monday night is guaranteed to be ugly. I guess some folks might layoff a bit knowing they have to show up to work on Tuesday, however.

Anonymous said...

6:06 said quit "winning" not whining. You have him all wrong. He meant LPD should start losing.

Anonymous said...

You must have needed a break chief. Nothing today from you on your blog.

Tom Casady said...

2:19-

Police Department's budget hearing with the City Council today--my wee hours this morning were spent tweaking the handouts. I'll try to figure something out tomorrow morning....

Anonymous said...

That's okay Chief. It's just that your blog is about all I can afford with the price of gas going the way it is. lol

Tango Juliet said...

I'm glad I don't live in Lincoln. It's getting big city symptoms. :(

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't there be things for the Chief to do, besides sitting on his chair in a nice office, blogging on the computer? And there are probably nine more in there playing solitaire and watching "craigslist" for possible solicitation. Too much time is being spent on frivolous activities! They seems to be inspired by attempts to "entrap" alleged protsitutes, and inviting men to the park!