Crime

Crime needs to be eradicated today. Ask yourself why is crime so rampant in our city under Jennings administration? First, crime is general nonviolent crimes such as burglary, car crimes, fraud and similar crimes; and violent crimes are typically murder, rape and muggings. Listen carefully when the incumbent tries to appease the residents so they feel more at ease when he deceives you by giving the illusion that crime is down, because violent crime is listed separately and is on the rise. Crime happens in a city because of two people, the incumbent mayor and the chief of police. These two work hand in hand, and in any city you live in where there is crime, you now know who to blame. That is why you need to know the viewpoints of the candidates that are running for any office, because it will give you insight on the road they will lead you down. Thousands of residents need to and want to get off of the road Jennings has us on by electing a new mayor, especially when Jennings has repeatedly told us, he is staying the course and not changing and is continuing on that course saying he is moving Albany forward. Albany cannot move forward until the issues that anger the residents are addressed and eradicated. Jennings is saying that he is looking past the problems, stepping over them by moving forward. There must be some political or personal gain for him in doing so, because no rational thinking person would continue on that path. This is how things work as shocking as it is, you need to look at the fact that crime and hospitals go hand in hand. Hospitals are in the business of making money, and it shows by their expansions and bonds for parking garages to allow even more people. The point is that violent crime has a positive affect on racial tension, which can lead to stabbings, shootings, and even death. That same violent crime has a positive affect on hospital overcrowding because at some point, everyone will need medical attention ASAP. Violent crime affects everyone and especially the retired due to hospital overcrowding, due to violent crimes. You, parents and retired residents are losing out, especially if you have to come by ambulance, causing longer wait times for you and you end up waiting in the hallways when they get to the hospitals because rooms are taken. We need to have either more ambulances to cover every senario with the one ambulance company, or my plans that the city needs to purchase their own ambulances that can be dispatched out at the same time with the fire/ems crew or police call; it will save time and more importantly, it will save the lives of all our residents, plus save money by not contracting out for that service. We also have community policing issues, which is suppose to encourage the police to work with the community and to integrate more with and understand the needs of the community and is typically used in areas with ethnic minorities. Ellis says we need community policing out once side of his mouth, and the other side is saying that we need the residents and officers to build trust with each other. Well then, since there are currently trust issues with a large percentage of residents with police, this should tell him that community policing is not currently working, and that he needs to come up with a plan B, which he has none; and now is not the time for him to become nostalgic because they had it when he was young. Based on where he says he lived, those areas had something which is known as neighbhorhood police, which is something totally different, and many other areas in the city never had neighbohood policing, so don't confuse the two. Community policing may work in certain areas, where the residents do not fear retaliation and would typically talk to an officer anyway, but not in all areas especially when residents are fearful of retaliation for snitching which is not currently working, which is the current mode of operation of Jennings and company. I would focus more money on more direct methods to cut crime. Studies have shown that community policing when done in higher crime areas, has caused an increase in non-violent and violent crimes. We need to have the "beat cop" officers back on the streets, more patrol cars/officers working around the clock to protect our city's borders as well as inside the city, we need a city budget that allocates sufficient monies for overtime of patrolling officers, and not just for detail work officers who may be working at the Pepsi Arena. We need more police dogs in higher crime areas patroling with the "beat cop" officers as well. The crime is having a negative impact on our city's earnings, so if we reduce the crime we increase our money usage for other things saving the residents money. We also have the issue of internet crimes that are on the rise with computer viruses that no longer simply break the target computer, but hide themselves and steal the users private information until detected, often to steal bank passwords or commit identity fraud, or by hijacking that computer and using it to perform further crime that's difficult to trace back to the original source. Many of us here have experienced problems when our banks notified us of a problem and needed to get new debit cards. This is a growing area of concern that needs more focus, and I will provide for that with my plans as well. We ultimately need to establish order and a state of safety and protection for all our residents, and a new mayor and chief of police is the only way this will happen. Tuffey only recently stepped down, but the problems are still here. We are all connected to each other one way or another and so are the issues in our city. You cannot say anymore that it doesn't affect me, its not in my neighborhood, because it does affect you. That is why I ask you for your write-in vote on November 3rd. If we don't start seeing things differently, we will never truly see what is happening. As Abraham Lincoln once said, "Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets." Please come on out to vote on November 3rd to change your city to the better.