Academy of Local Politics

The City of Flint is looking for sponsors for surveillance cameras that will be mounted around the city to keep a watch out for crooks.

In exchange for cash, the city will plaster business names next to police logos on the pole-mounted camera boxes that sport a blue police light that flashes 24 hours a day.

I don't know how many times someone has described a "situation" with me and ask me what I think. I almost always reply, "I don't know because I haven't heard the other side of the story."

There is ALWAYS another side of a story. ALWAYS!

Seldom is the two sides of a story as different as this one from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Accused of misconduct and of violating one of the laws he was sworn to uphold, an allegedly bar-friendly St. Croix County police chief awaits his fate from a five-member panel.

Police Chief Ricci Prein, 51, the top cop in the Village of Roberts, is accused of searching inappropriate Web sites while on duty and, on at least three occasions, drinking in a village bar after business hours.

After more than 12 hours of testimony, the independent Police Review Board for the village of about 1,300 began deliberations Tuesday on five counts of misconduct that could result in Prein's suspension or firing.

The chief, who was placed on paid leave from his $46,000-a-year job, also is accused of acting unprofessionally toward his subordinate officers, members of the public and village board members.

"Each of these items, standing alone, would be grounds for dismissal," said Michael Brose, the village's attorney, addressing the panel. "No reasonable employer would employ him."

However, Roger Palek, an attorney with the Wisconsin Professional Police Association who represents Prein, said the investigation and resulting complaint were flawed and political in nature.

He compared the proceedings to a circus and said the most serious allegation — drinking after hours in a Main Street bar — had been addressed by the then-village president in a verbal reprimand and resulted in no charges being filed by the St. Croix County district attorney.

Prein said he was not drinking beer but rather root beer. He said he wasn't intoxicated but may have appeared so after being awake for nearly 30 hours and was only helping clean up the bar. 

Two sides to a story?

Officers also testified they saw Prein use his village computer to view pictures of nude and semi-nude women. A forensic computer analysis found Prein linked to sites that didn't appear pornographic but did show swimsuit models, some topless, more than 700 times between 2005 and 2008.

While Prein's wife testified that she had performed several of the searches when she was shopping for a swimsuit, Prein told the panel he should not have gone to the sites.

There is trouble in Cohasset, MA.  Kids are having fun. They are jumping off the bridge just as other kids in Cohasset have been doing for decades.

According to PatriotLedger.Com...

It’s summertime and the kids are jumpin’ and splashin’. Bridge jumping is a summer tradition on the South Shore – a tradition that local safety officials want to put an end to. “Once you’ve done it you have to do it again and again,” said Robert Christie, 18, of Rockland. “We could do it six days a week.”

While the jumpers say it’s fun, local police say there are dangers, and Cohasset Police Chief James Hussey wants to begin enforcing a town bylaw that prohibits bridge jumping.

Yup, I agree it. Bridge jumping can  be dangerous.

In July 2006, a 16-year-old girl struck her head on a metal support beam when she jumped from the Julian Street bridge in Humarock.

A couple of years earlier, a youth had to be taken to a hospital after jumping off the Marshfield Avenue bridge in Humarock and landing on a boat. In Cohasset, another jumper broke a leg hitting a boat.

But, they do take precautions.

Veteran jumpers give advice to novices, like where to jump to avoid rocks, to be careful jumping from the railing, which can be slippery, and to watch for boats.

Boats usually sound their horns if children are on the North River bridge, and jumpers watch out for each other, yelling “boat” when one approaches.

Bridge jumpers seem to be roughly 14 to 25, but last weekend, a 70 year old man with a bushy beard paddled up in a canoe and dove from the North River bridge.

Sounds like generational bonding to me.

 Every city should be so lucky to have such an activity.

I had earlier written about Pine Lawn, Mo purchasing two golf carts for the Police Department.

Golf carts aren't just for Police Departments however, they can be for anyone...some places... maybe?

 The debate is raging full force in parts of Indiana, according to IndyStar.Com.     

Nadine Urban gets more upset every time she looks at her parked golf cart outside her Boone County home.

Gas prices have topped $4 a gallon, and Urban, a retiree, would like to use it to run errands around Lebanon. She was able to do that after the town adopted a 2006 ordinance allowing golf carts on local streets.

But a ticket from a State Police trooper and a subsequent local court ruling forced Urban to park her electric cart -- and town officials to shelve their ordinance.

The problem: As more people drive carts off fairways and onto streets, local officials are left to sort out safety issues that aren't clearly addressed in state traffic laws.

I say...  let's start sorting these safety issues out. Huh?

It costs about 3 cents a mile to operate an electric cart, compared with about 37 cents for a car with gas at $4 a gallon.

If a bicycle can be on the road...if a horse and buggy can be on the road...is it too much for people to expect to be able to drive this energy efficient method of transportation to run errands around town?

I think not...How about you?

The newest in crime fighting? A golf cart?

It will be in Pine Lawn, MO.

The 13th Floor of Governing.Com alerted me to this story.

Pine Lawn aldermen voted 5-0 Monday night to support Chief Rickey Collins' idea to buy two battery-operated golf carts to improve community policing without a costly fill-up.

"It's basically about putting more police on the street to serve you better," Collins told residents and aldermen.

The chief says the carts will help the force engage in more "old school policing" of the town's streets. And there's another advantage, too:

He said the carts would bring "an element of surprise" in crime fighting.

I thought that was what pedal-powered bikes were for?