You need to be proactive and do something about the crime in your area. First, I would go to the Zone 5 Citizen's Public Safety Council which meets every 2nd, Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Union Project, 2nd I would educate myself about the police and and their policies 3rd, I would form Block Watches in every block to pay attention to some of the crime that is going on in your neighborhood and what to do when crime is happening and the steps to take. On a perfect day, everyone would have the police at their beck and call, but that is a fantasy. The police in Pittsburgh are understaffed, Zone 5 is the biggest Zone in Pittsburgh and the most volatile one. Maybe in the future it might be a good idea to split the Zone for better police presence. You can call Commander O'Connor 412.665.3607 or _Timothy.O'Connor@city.pittsburgh.pa.us_ (mailto:Timothy.O'Connor@city.pittsburgh.pa.us) and even though he is new to Zone 5, he has already shown that he is going to be open to the community. Also, there is a Community Relations Officer that deals with Community relations. His name is Michael Gay, his phone number is _412.665.3770 or Michael.Gay@city.pittsburh.pa.us_ (mailto:412.665.3770/Michael.Gay@city.pittsburh.pa.us) We, as communities need to support the police. I'm sure everyone has their own experiences with the police, but it is not a perfect system. In a message dated 7/25/2010 8:34:45 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, caj21@pitt.edu writes: In regards to response time involving Police and specifically Zone 5. A situation occurred involving my Mother and my nephew/her grandson. Her address is also service by Zone 5. On May 30th, my mother an elderly woman called me from her home, where my nephew lives on the 3rd floor and told me that she called the paramedics because she had fallen on the floor and could not get up or walk. My nephew-35 yrs old, who is a problem to begin with, refused to help my mother. I called him and he was very verbally abusive to me. I called 911 to inform them of the situation and that I would like police to meet me at her house because I did not know what was going with my nephew being in a rage and my mother on the floor. I informed the dispatcher that I did not want to go there until the police get there. I live about 5 minutes away from her house. The dispatcher told me to start for my Mother’s house. When I got to her address, the police weren’t there yet, but my nephew was… waiting for me at the front door. He ran out of her house to my car and whipped open my car door. He started screaming that the police were on the phone saying that a domestic was occurring at my Mother’s house. I don’t want to reveal the rest of what happened. But what I hope you got out of this is: 1. When the dispatcher told me to start for my Mother’s address, I got a false sense of security thinking that the police would be there, as I had requested for my own safety, and #2 why “in the world ” would the police call my Mother’s phone to confirm if a domestic was going on at that address. Did it never occur to them that the actor (perpetrator) would answer the phone?? What a horrible situation to be in. I haven’t felt the same about the police since. ____________________________________ From: neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com [mailto:neighborhood-bounces@highlandparkpa.com] On Behalf Of C D Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 9:21 PM To: Neighborhood@highlandparkpa.com Subject: Re: [Highland Park] Police response time I agree with Megan. A couple of years back, I called the Zone 5 station to report a guy who was furtively selling used electronics goods -- DVD players, microwaves, etc. -- at the Sunoco station on Penn and Negley in broad daylight. From the way the guy was acting (hiding the stuff under a black trenchcoat, looking around nervously), these items clearly were stolen. The watch commander at Zone 5 claimed there was nothing they could do, even though I saw this going on for several days running and provided a very detailed description of the suspect (who hung out at the station most days, panhandling). She claimed it would be "illegal" for police to even approach/question the guy. Granted, this was during the administration of the previous watch commander. But the bottom line is, the police around here seem very slow to respond except in a life-or-death situation. So please don't regard Zone 5's slow response time to this latest incident as a lack of concern about a gay-bashing. If it's any consolation (and I doubt it should be) straight person in that same situation also would've been left to wonder where the police were .... --- On Thu, 7/22/10, Megan Branning <meganbranning@yahoo.com> wrote: From: Megan Branning <meganbranning@yahoo.com> Subject: [Highland Park] Police response time To: Neighborhood@highlandparkpa.com Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 1:56 PM Let me start by saying that I am disgusted by the recent gay bashing incident in our neighborhood. I fully agree that the police need to patrol the area more, especially the corner of Stanton and Negley, which I've been wary of for years. The reason I am writing is to say that the slow response time may have had nothing to do with the nature of the incident. A couple of years ago, right on my own block, someone attempted to steal my purse. I called 911 right away, and the police did not arrive for an hour or two. The mugger was of course long gone. This does differ from the recent incident because I was not injured (but I am not sure the police knew that - the responding officer asked me if I wanted medical attention). I do not want to minimize the extremely serious crime that recently occurred. I just thought it worthwhile to point out that the slow police response is not isolated. Hopefully we can work with the police department to get some more patrols in our neighborhood. -----Inline Attachment Follows----- -- <_http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood_ (http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood) > -- <http://lists.highlandparkpa.com/mailman/listinfo/neighborhood>