Jerry Blake
Ralph Goin
Eric King
Mike Perry
Harry Trujillo
Mary Lou Montes Zijderveld
                             

08/25/03  So scary -- and it's weeks from Halloween!

	Oh, My God!  We are No. 1 in the Country for crime, and our Chief of Police makes not very veiled innuendos of street	Paul Woodfield: Here's an idea to chew on.      If the city council can't take effective control of the police force and reduce crime, maybe we need to follow LA and Pittsburgh and turn the DPD over to the Feds.     They can decide who to promote and fire, how much staffing is required, supervise internal affairs, do background checks, etc.     As much as I favor local control vs federal, the Feds at least aren't mired in local politics.     Something to think about.
riots if he's fired because he's the most incompetent law enforcement official in Texas, possibly the whole country.  Bolton's aggressive passive stance is reminiscent of his sending street thugs to harass Laura Miller and her family when she merely inquired about which "high-ranking officer" assisted Old Al accommodations to Nick Rizos in exchange for a measly $7,700.

For much of the Summer, I have been tutoring my neighbor's son who did not do so well in the 8th grade last year.  To improve his reading skills and vocabulary, we have been reading stories from the DMN and discussing them.  Sunday, we read and discussed the DMN story on the meetings between Chief TB and Mayor Miller.

Frank dialogue, no detail in crime talk between Miller, Bolton 11:12 PM CDT on Friday, 8/22/03 By COLLEEN McCAIN NELSON

Third meeting called productive; chief again cites force's success Dallas Mayor Laura Miller and Police Chief Terrell Bolton offered few specifics but plenty of optimism Friday after a closed-door meeting aimed at combating crime. . . . Chief Bolton said the 2 ?-hour session was productive.  "We got some things accomplished," he said. . . . highest crime rate among the nation's largest cities for the sixth year in a row prompted the mayor to call for weekly meetings with the chief  . . . City Council member Elba Garcia  . . .  Friday's discussion was "a real eye-opener," she said,   . . . "We really didn't know what's going on in the trenches and what are the problems that they're facing that make their jobs hard," Dr. Garcia said.  . . . The chief's most vocal supporters on the council have suggested that the weekly meetings are not a good use of police officials' time. The mayor disagreed. . . . Several black ministers have spoken at the council meetings, praising the chief's leadership and warning of brewing racial unrest.    And council member James Fantroy has said that race riots would erupt if Chief Bolton were fired.    The chief said he understood why some in the community had questions.    "When you've had the kind of success that we've had, and you get the kind of criticism we've had, I think there's a cause for concern about what are the motives here," the chief said.  . . . "we've had some of the best years we've ever had in reducing per-capita crime," he said.    "It causes a lot of suspicion, particularly in the African-American community." . . . "Divine participation" played a role in his hiring, the chief said, and God will help determine when his tenure ends.

As we read 3 or 4 paragraphs, my neighbor explains what he just read to me in his own words.  It helps him focus on comprehension, rather than only printed words and pronunciation.  When he read the paragraph in blue above, he asked "How can he say we've had success if Dallas is No. 1 in the nation in crime?"  If a 13 year can pick up on how ludicrous it is for Bolton to claim any success with our embarrassing national standing, how does the Chief have the nerve to make such a statement.

Bigger question:  Why did the reporter not challenge that statement and make him defend his assertion?  What numbers does he have to refute the FBI ratings?

Let's look at several comments in Ms. Nelson's report:

Name one, except Bolton's still on the payroll.  That's proof the meetings are a waste of the Mayor's time.

If they are getting their information from Bolton, they still don't know what goes on in the trenches because he and most of his commanders are completely disconnected from street cops, the guys on the front line.

Bolton and his gang's lack of field experience, poor management skills and non-existent leadership actually impede the officers trying to protect us.   Anything he told the council in their "session" would be hearsay because he made his move up the power ladder on the milk and cookies circuit.  

Don't forget Bolton is the likely "high-ranking police officer who assisted Old Al by ordering NW police personnel to "lay off" enforcement in sex clubs on NW Highway at Bachman.

Bring 'em on.  As Jim Schutze says in

Protection Racket; John Wiley Price has Bolton's back, and we all suffer for it By Jim Schutze Published August 7, 2003

. . . Bolton has taken his instruction from Price. Repeatedly, whenever his leadership has been challenged, Bolton has suggested there will be racial unrest in the streets if he loses his job. I don't think so. I don't remember any big riots in history where people took to the streets to save the police chief's job. "We won't ever go away/Until the chief gets double contributions to his 401(k)!" Doesn't resonate somehow. I guess you could do a riot like that, but I think you'd have to pay the rioters Actors Guild scale.

How come Our Downtown Betters haven't figured this out yet?  Why are they so afraid of a local rumble to clean house?  After all, how much worse can we look since we have been No. 1 in crime nationwide for 6 years?  

My only concern would be for Bolton to AGAIN order DPD officers to lay off enforcement of wrong doers and let the rioters run amuck.  Look what he did to help Al Lipscomb.  Look at what he allowed to happen at Laura Miller's house to shut her up.  I know DPD officers would ignore any non-enforcement orders from Bolton and his gang of commentators and control any street violence.  

Since when are Whites and Hispanics no longer part of "the community"?  I am sick to death of the racist mentality of so-called Black leadership in this town.  Most of the so-called Black leaders are just a bunch of greedy old men trying to hang on to their fading power and celebrity status.  Bolton is backed by that crowd and those who profit from the current power structure.  It is particularly unsettling when our "top cop" resorts to threats of street violence if he is appropriately fired.  He should be fired for publicly suggesting riots would be the consequence of his dismissal.

Bolton is completely delusional.  Divine intervention in his job path?  If there was any spiritual association with Bolton being Chief of Police it would be his pact with the Devil.  Having someone like Bolton as Chief and the potential for 8 council crooks to vote for a CONFESSED AND CONVICTED BRIBE-TAKER to be on the Police Review Board may well indicate that God has turned his face away from Dallas.

Don't just stop with Schutze, two DMN columnists are actually calling for Bolton to go:

Is not-so-good good enough for Dallas? 12:16 PM CDT on Friday, 08/22/03 By JACQUIELYNN FLOYD

Terrell Bolton isn't a bad guy or an embarrassment or a disgrace to the badge.  . . .  But he's not a very good police chief, and it's about time for Dallas to decide whether not-very-good is good enough.    Four years on the job should be enough for somebody to hit their stride, and Chief Bolton ? who formally assumed the Dallas Police Department's top job in October 1999 ? has been consistent enough in his management style for us to assume that what we've gotten so far is what we can expect in the future. . . .  Chief Bolton has repeatedly pointed the finger of blame elsewhere, or, worse, allowed his defenders to accuse critics of working to "sabotage" Dallas' first African-American police chief. . . . effective tactic in that there's no faster way to shut people up. . . .striking similarity in the chief's initial responses to troubling revelations:    Chief Bolton "declined to comment for this article"; "declined interview requests"; "speaking through subordinates, declined to comment"; "was out of town and unavailable for comment"; "did not respond to requests for interviews"; "was on his way out of town and unavailable for comment." . . .

Then there's: 

Chief Bolton gracious, but he must prove me wrong 11:16 PM CDT on Friday, 8/22/03 By JACQUIELYNN FLOYD

A lot of people have responded to a column I wrote Thursday about Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton. One call that I returned with more than a little foreboding was from Chief Bolton himself. . . .  As we talked, I made a pledge to Chief Bolton: Prove I'm wrong, I told him, and I'll eat my words.  . . .  I stand by my admittedly general, non-expert assessment that the chief's four years in office have been plagued by problems, bad publicity and interdepartmental warfare. I believe the record indicates that Chief Bolton has been too slow to react to bad news and too defensive when he has. . . .  " he said. "[But] I have a lot of faith I'm going to still be your chief on October one."    Based on my non-scientific assessment ? e-mails and phone calls ? he still has an uphill climb. . . .  One particularly sobering message . . .   "Dallas has been compromising on a lot of things. They have 'lowered the bar' of quality of life in the city," he said. "Dallas is not as nice a place to live or visit, and that's sad." . . .   I fielded a few painful calls of the type I dreaded, of people who are convinced that my criticism of Chief Bolton's performance is rooted in hostility toward African-Americans. . . .

And there's:

Police standards may be best tool to fight crime 01:46 PM CDT on Friday, 8/22/03 By RUBEN NAVARRETTE

. . .  Giuliani Partners, the public safety and crisis management consulting firm started by former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, to advise the city's police force on how best to fight crime,  . . . Dallas could use something like that.  . . .  It is estimated that nearly one in 10 Dallas residents will be a victim of crime this year. . . .  Still, a tool like Compstat is only as good as the people who use it. And nearly two years after the fake drug scandal made the Dallas Police Department a laughingstock, there are again serious questions about whether Dallas Police Chief Terrell Bolton is up to the task of running a department of nearly 3,000 officers. . . .  Why did Chief Bolton abruptly fire Mr. Evans less than 24 hours after reporters called the chief to comment on their findings? And does the real reason that Mr. Evans, who is African-American, was hired in the first place have anything to do with something that Chief Bolton likes to hold up as a chief accomplishment ? the hiring and promoting of more minority officers? . . .  The key is to not lower expectations for the sake of diversity. . . .  In 2000-2001, in testimony before the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, Chief Bolton criticized as unreasonable the idea of disqualifying from the police applicant pool anyone convicted of low-grade misdemeanors in the last 10 years. He said at the time that one mistake shouldn't deprive someone of the chance to serve and protect. . . .  This is no ordinary profession. There should be a higher moral standard involved in becoming a law enforcement officer than, say, another type of civil servant.  . . .  setting high standards starts at the top, and the Dallas city manager's office, which supervises the Police Department, and the Dallas City Council, which supervises the city manager, haven't set good examples. . . . It's time for Chief Bolton to be relieved of his command. That not more of them will say so publicly can be chalked up to their fear that dismissing Chief Bolton will re-ignite racial tensions and send black people protesting into the street. . .

Right on!  

It's increasingly clear this push for Al Lipscomb on the Police Review Board is part of a package of diversionary tactics to protect Bolton.  If 8 council crooks vote for Al Lipscomb to the PRB, he will use that obscure board as a vehicle to defend Bolton and promote himself.  If 8 council members have the courage to say NO TO A CONFESSED & CONVICTED BRIBE-TAKER ON THE POLICE REVIEW BOARD, Bolton's gang will scream it is part of a conspiracy to keep down Black leaders.

People should be screaming that the city's so-called Black Leaders have delivered such a duo to us.  Rather than back Robert Jackson who had some real commander experience (and one real bad experience with that disastrous Cowboy parade), they got behind a suck-up who spent most of his time on the milk and cookie tour of duty with Crime Watch groups.

The next few weeks are either going to confirm our worst suspicions about several on the council, or they are going to step up to the plate and do what's best for the team (Dallas) and not for their own statistics (political gain).  If the bases are loaded and a sacrifice bunt will insure a victory, the player who cares about the team and not his stats will get that runner home rather than his own glory.

Gary Griffith has already surprised many of us by advising he will not vote for a CONFESSED & CONVICTED BRIBE-TAKER TO THE POLICE REVIEW BOARD.   Cannot imagine why Lois Finkelman would support Al Lipscomb unless she sees nothing wrong with a councilman taking bribes.  It's the only explanation if FINKELMAN VOTES YES FOR LIPSCOMB.

We have a right to expect some courage from people on this City Council.  This Lipscomb vote will determine whether each council person ran for office for political or self-interest reasons or if they ran for office to serve Dallas citizens. 

So what if a handful of thugs "stage" a street riot?  Other cities have survived much worse.

 Here's a comment from someone on UndergroundCop.com:
 

BRING IT ON!!! Fine by me. Funny, all a riot ends up becoming is an excuse for the criminals (who start it in the first place) to loot. ...  When the smoke clears, we all can say, "Ain't our Chief the best?  Look, all his associate friends came and threw a party in our town for him, and we are still #1."

That's the bottom line.  We are No. 1 in crime NATIONWIDE.  We have an incompetent Chief of Police.  Al Lipscomb will use the PRB to protect Bolton.  Rather than being designated as a CONFESSED & CONVICTED BRIBE-TAKER who is out of jail on a technicality, he will be referred to Police Review Board Member Lipscomb.   Is that disgusting?

We need for our Mayor to rid herself of her "grand lady" persona she has developed.  We need Laura Miller to be herself and start taking names and kicking their rears out of there.  The bad guys are never going to like her, but they once feared (and probably respected) her.

If she can't make our City MisManager Ted Benavides do his job and fire Bolton and she doesn't have the votes on the council to fire Benavides, she should go to the public.  Without mincing words, she should identify the council members who side with Bolton and Benavides and give us her opinion as to their motives.  

Laura Miller is in for 4 years!  She can afford to get down and dirty for a couple of years and then play Annette Strauss after 2005.  

We don't want Al Lipscomb on the PRB.  We do want Ted Benavides and Terrell Bolton replaced.  We want the Mayor to use every legal trick up her sleeve to get it all done. 

If it takes a riot to clean up our town, let's rumble!