Citizens of Americus and Sumter County, I and many others attended the District 1 and 2 (Nelson and Juanita) Neighborhood Watch Meeting last night. Our new police chief, Brian Carney, was introduced. It was a pleasure listening to his no-nonsense approach to policing our town. He assured the citizens (and the council) that he was not a political animal and he would not be playing political games. He would be assessing our police force and he would report those findings, good bad or ugly, to the council in hopes that the council will vote in ways that will improve the police force. I asked the new Chief to give his thoughts on two subjects with regard to the police force: de-escalation and fourth amendment rights. Chief Carney gave a very good answer. He said that with regard to 4th Amdt issues, his officers are post-trained and are supposed to know 4th Amdt procedures. If his assessment of the office shows that he has officers who are forgetting the 4th amendment rights enjoyed by United States Citizens, he would address that. With regard to de-escalation, he agrees that the officers are required to exercise de-escalation techniques whenever possible, however, he stated that officers are human and they do get upset. He admitted that, although the majority of our officers are above reproach, there are some who are just there for the paycheck. He stated that, over time, he would weed out the less than perfect officers and would highlight and add to the ranks of the good ones. Nelson Brown and Juanita Wilson spent a lot of time talking about how appreciative they were of the citizen turn out, and they took the time to take questions from the many citizens in attendance. One citizen asked questions about how and why city residents are taxed -- apparently we city residents pay just as much county tax as county residents do? To be quite honest, Im still not sure I understand this one, folks, so Id sure be grateful for anyone who can help me grasp this. Why exactly do the people in the city pay both city taxes AND county taxes? Also, while the introduction to Police Chief Carney was wonderful, and while Nelson and Juanita were gracious as ever, several attendees were disappointed because they thought that this was going to be a neighborhood watch meeting where people gathered with their law enforcement to learn how to keep their neighborhoods safe from crime, and instead, it was more of a general conversation about the councils lack of training and inability to get along. Nelson Brown expressed great concern that the council-members were not trained properly, and that even though there were monies budgeted for training in years past (apparently no more), most of the council simply did not avail themselves of the opportunities to learn how to do their job. Nelson also again emphasized that he was elected to represent the people in his district and of Americus in general. He states that as a public servant it is his obligation and privilege to listen to the concerns of those he represents. He stated (again) that any city council person who interferes with a citizens ability to address the council does not represent the citizens. One thing was stated with great emphasis: If Police Chief Brian Carney is to be successful in his job of making Americus a safe and pleasant place to live, then we as citizens have to do our part. We have to work with law enforcement, not against it. Nelson Brown discussed the recent murders in general terms (he was careful not to ascribe facts to the situation, as we simply dont know enough yet to assert anything as proven). Nelson looked out over the audience and said something to the effect of (remember, the acoustics in the Rees Park Auditorium are terrible, so I may have the words slightly wrong, but the meaning was clear): Someone knows something. The neighbors of the houses where these crimes occured know something. If you know something, come forward with the information. If you are afraid to come forward publicly, come forward anonymously. But, if the citizens of Americus want protection from the criminals who roam our streets, then the citizens of Americus are going to have to help the police catch and prosecute those criminals. Thank you Nelson and Juanita, and thank you Police Chief Carney, for speaking to your citizens last night.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 14:21:55 +0000
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