What's the call? . . . 911

[Dakota]

Sounds like your local police need a new slogan. May I suggest...

"To protect (our backsides) and serve (BS)"

[JPRempe]

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags. If a man was raping a woman, but none of the police were around to see it, do they then let the alleged rapist go?

What a bunch of tools!

[greymule]

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags.

I figure the police don't like what happened any more than I do, but I suspect they know from experience that arresting the punk (or even the attackers) would be futile. I also suspect that they want to avoid causing trouble for their superiors, since it's practically a certainty that local activists would turn the incident into a political football.

Nobody dead. Leave well enough alone and hope it goes away. It's depressing, though, that the system has come to this.

[Dakota]

My suggested slogan fits better than even I anticipated!

[NCASAUmp]

This is one more reason why I carry my cell in my bag (not ball bag) to the field. Not only can I get the latest dopplar radar images over my area, I also know that at least one person can call 911 in case of emergency. Fortunately, I've only needed 911 services twice in 15 years (once for a nosebleed that would not stop or slow after a half hour, and another time when two players went after a fly ball and collided).

[Chess Ref]

Originally Posted by greymule

Sounds like your local police department are a bunch of no nut dirtbags.

I figure the police don't like what happened any more than I do, but I suspect they know from experience that arresting the punk (or even the attackers) would be futile. I also suspect that they want to avoid causing trouble for their superiors, since it's practically a certainty that local activists would turn the incident into a political football.

Nobody dead. Leave well enough alone and hope it goes away. It's depressing, though, that the system has come to this.

RANT ON
Well at least nobody dead in front of them. Some of the attitudes expressed concern me. Around here not arresting a hitter would be cause for uproar. putting aside the ages of those involved, this is a classic old school approach to domestic violence.

Wow not cause problems for their superiors, ugh are they guardians of justice , our streets and the american way or Dick Cheney's admin ?

having grown up around men and women in LE my expectations are so much HIGHER than some of the stuff greymule wrote about.

RANT OFF

[greymule]

I learned some more this evening by stopping by another field and talking both to the ump and to several of the players, who turn out to be guys I know. I also stopped by the park where the incident occurred.

1. The attackers did not get out of a car, as I had first been told. Some parked in a nearby lot, while some arrived on foot. They gathered out of sight and, on a signal from the grandmother, charged the field with a crude sort of precision, like a planned prison riot. There were about 20 attackers, but only about 8—the juveniles—did the actual fighting, while the older people watched. (I am told this is common, since juveniles are virtually immune from prosecution in New Jersey.)
2. The grandmother coordinated the attack. She entered the park first, identified the player who had led the supposed unprovoked assault on her grandson, then gave the signal to the people in the distance.
3. The attackers jumped the outfield fence and also entered through a gate. They entered the dugout and dragged the player out onto the field to beat him.
4. The guys I know are on the opposing team, and they were in the field at the time the attack began. They were dumbfounded that the victim's teammates didn't take immediate action. Apparently the team being attacked is a bunch of mild-mannered guys who couldn't immediately absorb what was happening to their buddy.
5. The guys on the opposing team soon charged the attackers and started beating on them. The guy who was bloodied told me it was a blindside punch, not a knife, that cut him. He has a black eye; the cut is healing.
6. At the arrival of a single police car, the attackers fled, but as they left, they warned the team they were fighting—the guys I know—that there would be retribution, that their fight was with the other team and these guys would pay for butting into their "business."
7. The cop exited the car and chased one attacker for a bit but then gave up. Then the players and the cop argued over the fact that the cop seemed to be doing nothing about the attack.
8. The cop is in some kind of mild trouble because he violated "regulations" by exiting his vehicle before backup arrived.
9. The team that has now been threatened has had all its remaining games moved to another field.
10. According to one person, the attackers are all members of a nationally known gang.
11. The police say that since they didn't see the attack, they can't make any arrests. It is up to the player who was attacked to press charges, line up witnesses, etc. Supposedly the player intends to pursue this avenue, but some are doubtful that he will follow through after he learns what doing so entails.
12. Before tonight's first game at the field where the incident occurred, the gang was forming in the schoolyard across the street. However, they dispersed when several police officers, with at least one dog, arrived.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by greymule

11. The police say that since they didn't see the attack, they can't make any arrests. It is up to the player who was attacked to press charges, line up witnesses, etc.

The only explanation I can come up with for this BS from the police is they are on the payroll of the gang.

Police can't investigate, find witnesses, etc., unless they WITNESS the crime??? If this was true, virtually no crime would EVER be investigated. What BS. Somebody ought to complain to the state AG about this crooked police dept.

[BoomerSooner]

I do know that the issue with the police being unable to make arrests in certain situations is real. It has something to do with what type of crime it is (i.e. misdemeanor vs. felony). For example, you can witness someone run a red light, but the police can't issue a citation unless they witnessed it. This is an example that my best friend's father-in-law (a police officier) gave me. I don't think that assalt and battery constitutes one of those types of crimes, although it may vary from state to state.

As far as my stance on using a bat in defense that some critized, I don't want to have to use a bat, but if necessary I would. If they weren't using deadly weapons then my use of a bat wouldn't be easily defended. Also, I'm not going to actively pursue a fight with someone with a knife even if I have a bat, hence my distance defence. I'm not Chuck Norris, so even with a bat, I'm avoiding anyone with a knife that might want to stick it in me.