4 Responses to “a shooting and an arrest”

1. posted by Scott S. at August 18, 2008 1:53 am :
   

   The residents and business owners of Shockoe Bottom have been told many times over “there are more police in Shockoe Bottom than any other part of the city on Friday and Saturday night”.

   Residents living in the immediate area must show a valid ID to get past the 5 or more police cruisers which block the intersection of 18th and Main Streets, that is, if officers are actually with their vehicles and not in one of the local restaurants eating an hours long dinner or gaffing off their duties for a smoke break in a dark corner.

   What happened Saturday night is a prime example of what us residents see all the time. Though there are tons of police officers here each night, they are always in one of two places, always in a large group, either eating or looking at the visitors in mini skirts. I know that at 1:45am, just 15 minutes prior to the shootings, there were at least 4 officers standing outside Tiki Bobs talking to each other. The shootings were 1/2 block from that location.

   Its really sad to see our uniformed protection cant stick to their assigned jobs while on the clock. Maybe if the force in place had more senior officers here as well, all the young ones would do the job they were sworn in to do.

   Does anyone else agree that a police presence means more than having a bunch of horny frat boys walking around with a badge and a gun?

   Really, WAKE UP RICHMOND POLICE!

2. posted by Sara T. at August 19, 2008 1:26 pm :
   

   Yes… we do indeed see an increased police presence in our neighborhood over the weekends (excluding Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays when we also have problems), but that in and of itself seems to be all they have to offer- an elevated body count and nothing more. They don’t typically actually do much of anything except huddle around each other and roll their eyes at the fact that residents of this community react badly to the behavior of those who come to visit.

   I have personally been told by RPD that if I do not like my environment I should seek to move elsewhere, and with regards to complaints levied against some of the less than responsible “night club” owners clearly operating outside of lawful boundaries, I am commonly advised that: “well it’s a night club- there is nothing we can do”. Their general attitudes towards our area is horrible, they see us as a pain to deal with rather than an opportunity to engage in any real policing. Meanwhile the entrance to my door gets used as a urinal, people freely engage in lewd acts in the middle of the street with car stereos blasting after 2am, there is vomit all over our sidewalks, and 3 people get shot right around the corner from my house.

   Do I think the police could have prevented this shooting? Maybe not- sometimes people are going to do what they want no matter what the consequence, and I would like to point out that the uniformed response was extremely rapid… but what I think could be improved upon is the police/public relationship. When the department has no vested interest in participating in the defense of Shockoe Bottom, in turn that generates a negative perception among those who patronize it. This perception is one that includes little to no fear or respect, and thus the idea that treating our community like a red headed step child becomes more than OK- it seems to be expected.

   What should they do you ask? Well how about their jobs! Walk around for the love of Pete- it’s only a few blocks that need to be covered. Get that trusty ticket book out and grab a pen- urinating, drunk in public, vomiting (that might go under expectorating in public- remember someone has to clean it up with tax dollars), loitering, public sex acts, car stereos that can be heard a mile away, drunk driving, parking in no parking zones, creating disturbances at 2am just to name a few… I mean last time I checked those were all violations of the law. Stroke a few and hand them out- word spreads like wild fire in Richmond, people would think twice about doing some of these things if they stood to pay for it.

   It is pretty rare that policing here in the commonwealth involves guns, glory, and death defying feats of heroism, police work more often than not is mundane and boring and tedious, still it must be done.
   I love my neighborhood, and I don’t feel like I should have to justify that every time I ask for the police to intervene on my behalf so I can have relative peace/safety in and around my home.
   How about if you don’t like the annoying side of police work you go get another job- I’m not moving!

3. posted by Dave F at August 21, 2008 4:24 pm :
   

   Sara T you should move! I agree the police don’t do a whole lot, but Robocop is not coming to town. The presence of police is better than no police. This town is pretty much owned by VCU, the disposable income of these students is what pays for the puke to get cleaned up, our tax dollars simply supplement that chunk of money. The 21+ students wait in line at Have a nice day or Tiki Bobs in masses and drop money like they dont have student loans to worry about or car payments, or morgages. If they are written a ticket that just means they have to pay a fine, that will spread like wildfire, and what will that teach them? If I have the money to pay for it I can do anything(Sorry OJ). Why dont we care about the residents of the south side of Richmond that die all the time from stray bullets. Beacause they are not pumping as much money into the Richmond we all know, Cary town, Uptown, The Slip, The Bottom, and the West End and consider that Richmond, when those areas cater to only 30% of the populus of Richmond. Just be happy we don’t live on the south side, and yes the VCU kids are back in town they are young, drunk, and make very poor choices thats how we all learned. One dumb punk pulls out a gun shoots randomly into a crowd, you never had a kid that ate glue, or peed on an electic fence, or played russian roulette with this fathers revolver? People will always make poor choices, just be thankful he did not get away with it.

4. posted by River District News » police seeking Jahmi Quran-Lewis Griffin for 8/17 assault - Richmond, Virginia at August 25, 2008 5:29 pm :
   

   [...] The Richmond Police Department has warrants on file for Jahmi Quran-Lewis Griffin. He is wanted for two counts of malicious wounding and two counts of use of a firearm during a felony, and is considered armed and dangerous. The incident occurred on August 17th in the area of North 18th and Grace Streets. [...]

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