Little Old Ladies, Laughing, and Lunch

March 28, 2016 — charity scam, law enforcement, police

not real dogs

About two years ago some friends and I were gathered at my house to taste homemade bitters. Bitters making is kind of complicated, yet once you make a batch it becomes easier.  Even though we only tested very small spoonfuls in fizzy water, the base for bitters is alcohol and some of us are pretty light weight when it comes to consumption of spirits.  We started to joke around and laugh a bit more than usual as the tasting progressed.  Our police chief at the time had been invited to the White House for lunch.  I joked that there was no way he would have the nerve to come to lunch with us in our neighborhood.  A few weeks after the bitters party Tucson Police Department joined our local Nextdoor private social media thread.  The chief introduced himself to the city on Nextdoor.  I could not resist the temptation to send him a direct message inviting him to come to lunch at my house and take a look at the evidence I had been trying to show TPD for years.  It was no surprise that he did not respond.  We knew he did not have the guts to come out here in person to face us or look at the evidence we wanted him to see.

We have a problem with response time here in our city.  Most are concerned with the lack of response to 911 calls, but here we we just trying to get a response after years of working to get some rule of law in our area.  We had been reporting the same crimes by the same people for years, but could not get any help stopping the crimes or the 24 traffic caused by the criminal operations.  We petitioned the mayor because he is a lawyer.  We thought he would recognize the need for law enforcement to stop traffic from crimes where we live.  He never answered after a couple of different petitions were sent to his attention, two years in a row.  It was disappointing to say the least.  I was called by a detective who blew off the reports of crimes.  The following year when we petitioned the mayor a Lieutenant on the force called to say inviting the public to drive through and donate to a charity scam is perfectly legal in a residential condo village, but I might be able to get some help from the IRS. I did file a report with the IRS, and followed up with more information when there was more activity, but I guess the case has not been pursued.

Finally after years of reporting this problem to the city in all different departments TPD dispatched a cop in person to assess the situation.   Later a mental health team was dispatched last week to assess my wellness level for wanting and expecting rule of law in midtown Tucson.  I passed the crazy test as a frustrated tax paying citizen who had been reporting the same crimes for years with no response from our city government.  I hope they will be as interested in finding justice as they have been in obstructing it for years.  Our neighborhood has been damaged by the constant flow of traffic.