In Greensboro, on Friday, March 12, there were two shooting incidents that resulted in five people being shot, and two later died of their injuries.
In response to this, Councilmember Justin Outling, who is running for mayor, posted a video on his Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/JOutling/ where he begins, “Greensboro, I am sad and frustrated.”
Outling talks about the shootings on Friday and says, “No matter where you live, you have been impacted by the violence which has threatened our streets and threatened our city’s ability to attract new jobs, grow and thrive.”
Outling said, “There are two issues that demand immediate attention. One, we simply don’t have enough police officers on the street when they are needed.” He noted that because of vacancies in the Police Department, the police aren’t meeting their own coverage goals or response times and don’t have time for other important activities like community policing.
The second action that Outling said the city needs to take is, “We need to hire and retain the very best officers. Every year the department has officer turnover and there is a nearly one-year lead time on hiring and training.”
And Outling offered solutions. He said, “First the council should create and vote on a pay structure to better retain and hire police officers.”
Secondly, Outling said that the City Council needed to increase the number of authorized police officers so the department can get ahead of future vacancies and deal with the hiring lead time.
Outling also called for “Monthly council work sessions on crime calendared immediately so the council can work together, discuss and act.”
Outling added, “Now it’s important to understand that the mayor sets the agenda for work sessions, and in all of 2020, a year when there were a record number of homicides, there were only two work sessions on crime.”
Outling said that if the mayor would not schedule the work sessions then councilmembers needed to get together and work on the crime problem.
And he said he was committed to developing solutions that work, “specifically bringing forward a proposal on each of these points by April 6.”
The City Council has a work session on Tuesday, March 16 on new signage for Greensboro, specifically for the downtown area.
Better solutions than the obvious fully staffing and appropriate pay for a city our size are needed. Those are the bare requirements that have been neglected for years in favor of useless nonprofit funding and monuments to donors like the (now) empty performance art 100 million boondoggle.
Real change will only come when we grow our opportunities with real job growth, embrace where the crime is coming from and flood those areas with patrols instead of having every low crime neighborhood and Bryan Blvd patrolled for minorities with expired taxes, registrations, etc. Real change like forming and funding a gang unit. Real changel like reducing the overbearing number of ordinances so police aren’t measuring sound levels at every bar , aren’t enforcing sad and overreaching busking and panhandling ordinances, aren’t clearing out oublic parks at 11pm just so Centerpoint residents can have the view they desire, and quit trying to restrict rights of law abiding citizens by banning gun shows and running from in person comments from their citizens.
In addition moving all simple cannibus possession to the LLPP lowest level possible priority in order to free up time and resources fighting cartels and drugs that kill. Virginia is already voted and moving to full recreational cannibus by 2024. We can choose to police that or face real evil human traffickers and pushers that sell drugs that kill.
The police department already has a gang unit.
Talk is hot air-Action provides results! Our anti- police mayor and most councilwomen worry more about votes than they do about our cities increasing crime rate. People in a majority of our city would rather protect the criminal than work to catch, prosecute and/ or get rid of the problem. Look at the example on the north side of the city. It did not have to do with those who were white, wealthy or what ever other comment one would make, but had everything with a desire to locate, arrest and prosecute the perpetrator(s) for the crime that was committed. Nine of this could have been accomplished if it had not been for the due diligence of hard police work and the community working as one. Sure some do not trust the police. Would you rather continue with Drive- by shootings, drug overdoses, an increase in homicide(s) or work to resolve the problem(s) in your neighborhood. Our anti- police Mayor and city majority of the councilwomen have not provided the necessary resources to the police department to resolve any of these issues. They talk but take no action! The next family member unnecessarily lost could be yours. Communities Work together.
Outling loves James Hinson.
POLICE OFFICER STAFF TURNOVER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR REMUNERATION.
Have you been awake for the last year, Mr Outling? Law enforcement officers are discouraged, dismayed and depressed over their depiction in the media as racist bullies and bigots. They’re not leaving because they’re not paid enough.
But hey, if you think the answer is to throw more (taxpayer) money at the problem, why don’t you just come out and admit you’re a Democrat?
If I had a leak in my kitchen sink, you’d demolish my house and build a new one – at taxpayer expense.
And there is nothing to be done about people who are innately violent. If you gave them nukes it wouldn’t be a month before the Earth was incinerated. That’s just their nature.
Spot on!
A lot of truth in this. It is known that, worldwide, about one in seven human beings are dangerous. That is, they are capable of most anything if provoked. Or just mean.
Bullies only respond to one thing.
This makes sense to me. The only way to be a great city is to offer a safe city, both to residents and visitors and future residents.
Thanks for saying the truth Mr. Outling. Council needs to focus more on crime and stop tying the hands of the Police force. Let the Chief run the police department. Council uses the crime rates for talk and campaign but know nothing if enforcement. Their pleas on Zoom only cause rolling eyes. Our present mayor lives in a box. She sees only what she wants. She may make a popular statement and then go back into her box and do nothing. Let’s get a mayor like Outling that prioritizes the true needs with Crime being number one!
One more thing. Let’s really invest in crime first. Giving $900,000 to only 2 communities to fight crime is ridiculous. The GPD could use that to hire officers and fight crime everywhere in the City. Why do only two communities need all that money? What is the GOD role in those neighborhoods. That is money given to keep those Communities from threatening other communities or council members. Cut that program and hire some officers. How about patrolling my side of the City. We rarely ever see the police unless we call. Then they arrive too late. Crime isn’t just on the east side or the black communities.