How do you feel about the AA police?  Aside from this silly business
of hiring more traffic control officers to raise city revenues from
traffic violations, I think they do a pretty good job.

32 responses total.

If they haven't already, they plan on opening a station in the Fox
Village shopping center.  Can't beat the rent--they're paying only 
$1/year.

I wish I could get rent like that.

I hate all Pigs 'cause thats the Fad these days.

Really?  I thought that was a '60s thing.  :)

Can't say I've ever had any problems with the Ann Arbor police, or
much direct contact at all for that matter, but recently I've noticed
an increased visible presence in the community.  When I walk or drive
around town these days, I seem to see more police cars than any time
I can remember, and I've lived in the Ann Arbor area for 30 years.
Is the police force significantly larger than it's been in the past?

All the AA police I've dealt with have been very nice to me. And I think
I'll never be able to break the stupid habit of saying "Thank You" when
I'm given a ticket. It's just so automatic to say "thank you" when some-
one gives you something.

I'm not sure that they are any better than cops anywhere.  I can never forget:
"There are criminals on both sides of the law."  Remember, law enforcement is a
business, just like any other.  The have to make money. They will stop at
nothing to do that.

Re #4:  Well, just like bellbottoms, evrything from the '60's makes it's
comeback.  Hating Pigs came back before the bellbottoms, though.

This big police presence seems to me to be overkill.  It seems rare these days
if I go more than four blocks without seeing a police car.  I think the idea
behind this was to get the police out in to the community (Community Oriented
Policing) so that they would know the people in the neighborhood they are
patrolling, thus creating more trust.  In theory, this would work wonderfully,
but since they almost never get out of their cars, unless there is a problem,
or a traffic violation, that doesn't actually happen.  There is a difference
between knowing the police who are patrolling your neighborhood, and knowing
what color the police car that drives around the neighborhood is.

I've talked to proponets of the re-instating beat-cops who say this is one 
major improvment it would make: the cops and the people would know each other.
Makes sense to me.

Even without beat-cops, I know most of the people on the Ann Arbor Police
force.Another Improvement it might make, people would think twice about
breaking the law in this city.

It really isn't as much the breaking of "the law" as it is the
"making of the law" that is such a pisser. Right now you have to

Someone pick up the phone while you were typing?

This response has been erased.

Sneak attack on your bank account. 

The CHS parking lot is permit only on week days during the school year, with
aggressive ticketing, because we don't even have enough spaces for all our
students who want to drive to school, let alone other people.  During the
summer, I noticed that meters are in operation all day.  I've certainly
noticed ticketing going on in other city lots in the neighborhood during the
school year, so I would imagine that they would enforce the meters in the CHS
lot during the summer.  Still, it is only ten bucks.  During the school year,
when I was occasionally using two hour spaces all day (seven hours), I figured
that even if I got a ticket every three days, it would still be cheaper then
using the meters.

the cops are becoming an increasing problem at shows and parties. I went to a
party just last night and there were two incidents with cops. And another show
I went to got broke up by the cops.  A community center that we are trying to 
establish will have to be done so many things so that the cops wont break it
up. and they'll probably still break it up. like the lab.

Can you give us a little more detail.  What was happening at the party?
Do you feel the police actions were unjustified?  Why?

        Even though I'm normally very supportiave of people being able to
do what they want to without police interference, living in North Burns
Park I know that the noise ordinance is very necessary to preserve the
peace of the neighbors.  There are two fraternaties accross the street
from my house, and two more down the street, and their parties can get
very out of hand at times.  I don't generally hear the noise, since my
room is on the side of the house and well shielded, but my parents have
real problems with the noise since their bedroom is at the front of the
house.  In the last couple of years, since the police started enforcing
the noise ordinance and giving tickets to frats that had noisy parties,
the noise problem has decreased significantly.  It is now to the point
where there are maybe two or three noisy parties a year, and it quiets
down very quickly after they get the idea that noisy parties will not be
tollerated.  Before teh ordinance was enforced, however,noise was a huge
problem.  It was impossible to sleep in the front bedrooms ofour house on
the weekends during much of the year.  As much as it must suck to have
your party busted, it probably means that you have given the neigbors
significant cause to call the police.

What's the word on the serial rapist/cum murder that's here in Ann Arbor?

I don't know the "word" besides whats been in the newspapers, but I
think it unconscionable that the police kept the information about
the prior serial rapes quiet while they were "pursuing the case". 
Complete openness about those events might have led to greater
neighborhood caution, and perhaps prevented the rape-murder. 

        But how safe is it possible to be.  From what I've heard about
this guy it sounds like he walks up behind women in broad daylight and
attacks them.  It sounds like the only really safe thing for women in  Ann
Arbor to do now would be to never leave their houses, but how long is
anybody going to want to keep that up for?  I would imagine that after
considering that, or trying it for a while, many women would decide that
as horrible as being raped or even killed by this guy is, dealing with a
*very* slight chance of it might be preferable to being a constant
prisoner of their own fear.

Positive action is vastly better than avoidance. If the police had
alerted everyone at the first sign of serial rapist out there, the
rapist might have changed his habits (or even skeddadled), and more

people would have armed themselves with mace/pepper, and been more
on the alert. *Now* people are arming themselves: earlier would have
been better. 

        But in this case mace or pepper spray, or any other weapon, for
that matter, would not have done anything.  He attacked the victim from
behind, and the police don't think she ever knew anything was happening. 
People arming themselves to deal with this guy are buying themselves a
false sense of security.

Getting back on topic...  I've always been impressed by the behavior of
police here in Ann Arbor.  Compared to other places in Michigan (where the
police can be downright red-necked), they're cool.  I have to agree with
TS Taylor's (interrupted) statement that the laws are the problem, not the 
cops.  Some of he speed regulations are ridiculous (hard to follow, I guess,
would be a good way to put it).  And the parking situation is getting worse 
again...  It's easier to notice bad laws when they are more rigourously 
enforced...

        The laws are the real problem, but there is still a judgement call
involved in whether to enforce a law.  How much over the speed limit do
you pull somebody over for, for example?  And then there are some laws
that just don't get enforced, and shouldn't.  You would never find the
police arresting somebody for breaking the cohabitation law.
        On the subject of speed limits, it is rather obvious that many of
the limits in Ann Arbor are nothing more than revenue enhancers.  We might
as well call it the "speeders' tax" instead, except that getting taxed
won't make your insurance go up and getting a ticket will.  From what I've
heard (and I may be completely off in this) one of the big reasons for the
switch from white to blace police cars a few years ago was to make the
speed traps harder to see.

#s 19 to 23 were on the topic: the Ann Arbor Police, and their failure
to notify the public of a known threat to the public safety.

Moving right along. The rapist case has now been resolved. So, let me
see if we can get this started again. Since that last post by rcurl
we have been through the media assault engendered by the infamous
double murder and football-hero trial in Los Angeles. The question
was "How do you feel about the Ann Arbor Police?"  Perhaps this
could be revised to a discussion of police in general? I really
wonder what it is like to be a cop on the beat.  I should tell you
I am biased in favor of the police in general, from experience, not
from philosophical principles.  Going, going . . . 

I didn't do it...

I have a lot more respect for the Ann Arbor Police than the LA Police,
but that is because I strongly suspect that there are more Fuhrmans on the
LA force. Compare how the AA trial went versus the LA trial.
I don't explain this difference based on the defense legal teams, but rather
on the Police and Prosecutors offices. In AA they did their jobs well.

Ok, Rane! You got me on that one! Always when I least expect it! <LOL>
There is no excuse for Mark Furhman -- he should never have been 
allowed to work as a police officer. But, I am not at all sure
we who informally judge him and is ilk, really understand what
the police face everyday. Police deal with slimey people every day.
I has to affect the cop in a negative way. LA cops must face
some of the worst situations possible. The family that was shot
when they made a wrong turn into an alley controlled by a gang,
is one example. If we allow the cop's territory to include
places like that alley can we expect the individual police officers
to act like social workers when they go in there? 

There's also the issue that the AA case was handled by a public defender, if
I'm remembering correctly, while the LA case is being handled by a team of
several of the most expensive lawyers in the country, who can afford to drag
the trial out.  As excessive as the prosecutions  has been in the Simpson
case, it may be necessary in light of the excessive defense.

I have always had positive dealings with the AAPD, including some
potentially very delicate domestic dispute calls that I had the
misfortune to be involved in last year.  The officers who responded were
professional, calm and definitely defused potentially difficult
situations.

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