Recently, I came across an interesting debate among a few north College Park residents on the subject of police responsiveness as crimes happen in the area.
The debate started when a neighbor living on the Lackawanna Street heard a loud noise what she thought a gun shot. The noise was so loud that she said she had to take cover behind the walls inside her house. Fortunately, it was later found that the there wasn’t actually any gunshot – the loud noise was caused by a baseball hit on a car glass shield.
The police was called by the neighbor and they did come on time. However, the residents found it extremely frustrating to find the details of what actually happened. It took her about a week for the police get back to her and inform her details of the incident. Police told her that there wasn’t any gunshot after all, someone broke a car window that caused a gunshot like sound.
True the resident found it relieving that there wasn’t any serious crime like gunshot in the neighborhood, but she still had to go through the trauma of a ‘gunshot’ incident in her neighborhood.
Could a city operated police force be a remedy for this resident’s frustration? Many think it possibly could. according to these residents, a city owned police would’ve been a lot more transparent in terms of its accountability on the work they do. If previous experiences are any guide, residents have generally found most City officials fairly responsive whenever they’re asked to provide details of a city related incident. They think such level of responsiveness will very well apply to a police force that they will claim their own.