More On Human Nature...and Stuff...

The week is winding down, and coming along for the ride are some COLD conditions here in the Hooiserland.
Today's weather will be running pretty much in "reverse" of what we call normal.
The high today is whatever it is outside this morning, and I say that because temps will FALL throughout the day reaching the low 30s by late this afternoon. Tonight promises to bring rain and snow showers, and some folks are talking about slight accumulation.
So, if you have to get out today, make it EARLY...and the earlier, the better.
Now, with that behind us, let's see what else is going on around us.
*** First oit of the coal bin today is the answer to yesterday's WHO SAID THAT? quote:
"Most people don't believe that something will happen until it already has. That's not stupidity or weakness, that's just human nature."
This was spoken by Max Brooks, and if that name sounds just a wee bit familiar, it MIGHT be because he's the son of legendary comedian.author and producer MEL Brooks (yes, the Blazing Saddles Mel Brooks), OR...it could be that you remember him as the writer of World War Z - An Oral History of the Zombie Apocalypse (and the movie of the same name).

Here's his WIKI to fill in the gaps:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Brooks
He is the product of Mel and Anne Bancroft, and used to write for SNL between 2000-2001.
While "dad" delves into comedy, Max preferred horror stories, and has also done various voice-over works and has appeared on Sons of Guns in a "zombie-gun" episode.
Perhaps he can become the new(and better) Stephen King...who knows?
And now...for the REST of the story...
*** Fort Wayne's latest homicide victim was 34 year old Daniel W. Arnett (as mentioned yesterday), and there is a story about him in today's J-G.
Here's the link:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20131205/LOCAL07/312059929
Now, before you go and think that I'm "playing favorites", that's not going to be the case.
The headline reads that he "turned his life around"...sounds a lot like Jovon Harvey, the man killed back in early November this year.
He also "turned HIS life around", and all that got him was plenty of DEAD, too.
So WHY are THESE people getting offed?
We're talking former gang affiliations...NOT current ones, unless someone from their respective pasts has a really BIG chip on their shoulders and an ax to grind. And neither man was part of this "urban youth clique crowd" we're hearing about. Arnett was 34, and Harvey was 44.
Well, there was one thing both men had in common - they BOTH owned several RENTAL properties around the SE side.
And Arnett DID have a rap sheet, too.
=================
Daniel W. Arnett - male white - 6'5", 225 lbs
02D04-9604-CM-003588  Arnett, Daniel W 04/25/1996
Allen Superior Court 5 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
Decided DANGEROUS POSS OF FIREARM  
02D04-9607-DF-000432  Arnett, Daniel W 07/31/1996
Allen Superior Court 6 DF - CL D Felony or lesser charge
Decided INDICTMENT FOR CRIMINAL GANG ACTIVITY 
INDICTMENT FOR BATTERY  
02D04-9607-DF-000436  Arnett, Daniel W 07/31/1996
Allen Superior Court 6 DF - CL D Felony or lesser charge
Decided BATTERY  
02D04-9608-CM-006446  Arnett, Daniel W 08/02/1996
Allen Superior Court 4 CM - Criminal Misdemeanor
Decided CARRYING HANDGUN W/O LICENSE  
02D04-9804-MC-000626  Arnett, Daniel W 04/20/1998
Allen Superior Court 6 MC - Miscellaneous Criminal
Decided P.C. THEFT  
02D04-9804-DF-000310  Arnett, Daniel William 04/23/1998
Allen Superior Court 5 DF - CL D Felony or lesser charge
Decided THEFT  
02D04-0009-IF-016382  Arnett, Daniel W 09/26/2000
Allen Superior Court 6 IF - Infraction
Decided FAILURE WEAR SAFETY BELT  
02D04-0107-IF-012077  Arnett, Daniel W 07/20/2001
Allen Superior Court 4 IF - Infraction
Decided OPERATE WHILE SUSP (INF)  
02C01-0204-FD-000268  Arnett, Daniel William 04/25/2002
Allen Circuit Court FD - Class D Felony
Decided NONSUPPORT OF A DEPENDENT CHILD  
02D05-1308-IF-008189 000034650958 ARNETT, DANIEL W 08/29/2013
Allen Superior Court 5 IF - Infraction
Decided 9-21-3-7/IFC: Disregard Lighted Signal - Signals Exhibiting Colored Lights
====ADDRESSES====
1420 N HARRISON ST
  FORT WAYNE, IN 46808
5209 North Hills Drive
  Fort Wayne, IN 46825
1000 Old Brick Rd Apt 224
  Auburn, IN 46706
1542 Reed #K
  Fort Wayne, IN 46815
1401 Shawna Ave
  Auburn, IN 46706
3727 S Barr St
  Ft Wayne IN
3408 Yoder Rd
  Yoder, IN 46798
315 1/2 West Wiliams Street
  Ft Wayne IN
=======================
Damn, that boy SURE moved around, didn't he?
BTW, the house he was killed inside of was NOT where he lived, so that's got to tell you something.
He wasn't into the gang thing since the late 90s, though...just a few traffic violations and a non-support felony.
And yet, the past still has a way of catching up to these criminals.
We can only go by what family members "say" about them contrasted to public records and what THEY say.
Truly a study in human nature, is it not?
*** In a related story about these 44 homicides, we have this gem from WANE:
http://www.wane.com/news/crime/neighbors-have-mixed-opinions-after-homicide

SO, who's patrolling the REST of the SE?

Yes, the neighbors DO have "mixed" feelings about living on a street (of many down here) that has seen it's share of violence and death.
But there is one man (Joey Belcher) in the video that damn near breaks into chuckles over it...
We ARE talking about sh*t that can KILL you...DEAD, and these people treat it as "just another day in paradise"...It's nothing to smirk at.

Yeah, we can call this a "WTF???" moment.
It's what I've said for a while...a DESENSITIZATION of people when it comes to violent crime (or crime in general).
That is a dangerous place to visit...you should NEVER get that :"comfortable" with such things as these.
And the story says that many people feel that if they bother no one, no one will bother THEM.

Well, that is BULLSH*T, and I feel sorry for those living THAT lie.
Criminals will "bother" you...even when you DON'T bother them. That's just how they operate...
They watch you...and wait...and then they act, usually when you're NOT expecting it, because you've gotten "comfy" with bothering no one and keeping to yourself.
Or, you can be the random house or person hit when a rolling shootout is taking place, like those houses that were struck by stray rounds along Lafayette St a while back.
So, keeping to yourself doesn't really work, for the most part.
Another neighbor on that street wasn't surprised about the shooting at 3804 Oliver St., because he knew there was illegal activity going on there...
((...rolls eyes...))
So WHY THE HELL didn't you REPORT it anonymously to the FWPD?
And IF you did, why didn't THEY act accordingly?

A "pre-arranged" promotion to be sure.

You see, you invariably wind up with MORE questions out of situations like this than answers, and that doesn't reflect well on the chief of police, when he should be the one overseeing these problems and doing something about them.
He's the top dog, and it's all happened on HIS watch.
I would call to task the Quadrant Deputy Chief as well, because this crap is falling between too many "cracks" , or being swept under too many rugs.
HALF of the city's homicides have occurred on the...(...all together, people...)...SOUTHEAST side, so what is that telling us about the methodology being used (to date) to diminish these deaths...and crime in general?
Can't be that much, otherwise we WOULD see crime dropping across the board, right?
We used to call that incompetence.
*** Next up, I remember a while back when Phil Marx had his place firebombed by drug-dealing gang members...and how he all but begged the department to install cameras to watch the area.
I also told our (then) quadrant captain that if the department wanted to put up surveillance cameras to watch certain houses, I would be more than willing to accommodate the narcotics division...never heard anything since.
We USED to have "plain wrappers" patrolling the alleys around here, or sitting and watching for specific activities.
Not anymore.
I haven't seen ANY FWPD cruisers around doing that these days.
I ONLY see them whenever there is a BOLO for a particular suspect that might have come to our area on foot or if police are looking for a perp vehicle.
Even THAT isn't near as frequent as it used to be.
Funny thing about that...the CRIMES in a 10-block radius around our "Fortress" have NOT diminished at all.
And the frequency of signal 113s (shots fired) has increased as well, with damn near DAILY and MULTIPLE occurrences.

York and Henry need THIS in their offices.

Just wait until the end of this month...New Year's Eve...when we get to partake in another "night in Kabul" with ALL the gunfire, that people think are just fireworks. Seeing a police cruiser on THAT night down here is harder to find than a decent retail store...or a safe neighborhood.

NO comment - typical.

Glynn (all for blacks only) Hines declined to comment on this latest homicide when asked by WANE...
We call that avoiding the issue by feigning frustration.
If he was REALLY concerned, he'd be out there every damn day, with other black leaders, calling for some sort of end to this. I guess since the victim wasn't black, it's not AS important to him.
More "good old boy" rhetorical nonsense.
*** If there is one thing I really detest, it's being lied to, and then having the liar compound THAT lie with another one, telling me all is right with the world.
After all the years behind me, I can say that I've had my share of liars, and have become good at outting them.
So, when I hear that neighborhoods are safe, and that crime is going down, when in fact I see and hear JUST the opposite, don't try and sell me any bridges in Manhattan, kapeesh?

Sure have MY doubts.

We have a sworn force of approximately 440 officers that are supposed to be conducting POLICE work in this city...or so I'm led to believe.
But, according to FWPD activity reports and the SPOT-CRIME website, I'm just not buying what's being sold.
And the police radio sure doesn't lie...
What I am seeing is a sworn force of (approx) 440 officers conducting INVESTIGATION work.
Granted, not ALL calls are "after the fact", but too many really are.
LUCK used to be something that was in the realm of investigation, and not regular policing.

Real policing is about being at the right place at the right time to see something going down, and being able to stop it before it escalates or before the perps get way Scot-free.
I hear SO many calls on the radio that have a "black male, one in custody" attached to them, and yet, with ALL these arrests, many of which DO occur on the SE side, WHY isn't my neighborhood a lot EMPTIER...LOL?
I mean, it should look like a frigging ghost town...one would think.
Like I say...more QUESTIONS than ANSWERS, right?
*** Last back to the barn today is this feeling that not much will get done as long as we have the current "crop" of command at both city hall and in the FWPD.
The police "capo" states that crime is cyclical, and while part of that IS true, there is much more to consider when it boils down to human nature.

Crime will go down when the opportunity to commit crime diminishes...not before.
As long as there is the "availability" to commit crime, it will be self-sustaining.
And as long as the criminals are not taken off the streets in greater numbers, crime will continue.
A PEOPLE problem...and not a gun problem, as it were.
As long as PEOPLE are not all held to the same level of ethical behavior, a stricter sense of morality, and personal responsibility and accountability within every community, crime will not abate.
You can create (which we already have) programs intended to help people become more aware of their TRUE potential, instead of opting for the "easy out", and yet it's the old adage of the horse and the water...you cannot make such people "drink" from a source they should know to be good for them.
The city should have been a lot more proactive (since 1997), and has not. Adding another layer of government to the mix is NOT helping the problems on the STREETS, when another office is created.
We need to ACT better...THINK better..and most certainly DO better, otherwise, we're all no better off than mere creatures of instinct and habit.
And there is no way we need settle for that, right?

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.