10.22.2003
1:58 p.m.
Boring stuff and debates
First of all...
HI to whoever is reading me from WMU!!! Is that you, Paco? If not, who are you?
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It's nuts at work today. It's like a Monday in terms of the amount of phone messages we've been getting. And I'm not sure, but I think the files that are sitting on the counter between our desk waiting to be done are multiplying. They might be mating, but I'm not sure.
Okay, it's either that, or the file clerk is getting really sneaky about bringing them in.
One of the two.
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Just to warn you before you read any further: I'm going to be boring today. I don't have much to say. And I don't really have much time to say it in.
I'm working, talking to photographers about scheduling shoots through March of 2004 already, waiting until the few auctions that I'm watching on eBay are JUST ABOUT to close before I bid on them... It's a really exciting day.
Actually, Philosophy wasn't that bad. We had our third group's debate today, and the topic was "Overpolicing in Kalamazoo." I wanted to make a point, but we ran out of time. So, I'll write it here.
(Please stop saying "Oh GOD." It'll be interesting. Really.)
The group who was FOR heavy police presence in the "student ghetto" threw out facts like the crime rate has dropped ("Well, except for murder," said one great thinker...), the number of citations for drunk driving and the like have increased, and everything is just safer.
I was going to say, "Now, maybe I'm just bitter because I was tear-gassed in the Lafayette Riots in 2001, but here's my thing. Perhaps the number of citations have gone up because there are about 10 or 15 police units crusing around the "student ghetto" on any certain Friday or Saturday night. The fact that they're essentially LYING IN WAIT for someone to do something might have a tiny bit to do with the increase in citations.
"Perhaps it's also their desperation to cite ANYONE for ANYTHING. During the Lafayette Block Party, I was standing on a friend of a friend's lawn near the street with a girl I had met at the bar a week or so before. We were just hanging out, checking out the scene, holding our individual six packs. (No, I'm not a lush.) A cop walked up to me and said 'I'm going to write you a ticket for open intoxication.'
I said, 'No you're not. First of all, the bottles that are open are empty, and the ones that are full are still closed. Secondly, I am not standing on the street. I am on private property. You cannot ticket me.'
He looked pissed off and walked away.
If they're THAT desperate, of course they're going to get a shitload of citations.
"The thing that also worries me is the fact that if 85% of the on-duty police force is crusing around the student ghetto, just looking for trouble, what happens when an actual crime is committed in another area? If everyone and their mother wasn't waiting for students to be naughty, crimes that could have been prevented with mere police presence are being committed in other areas. Right?
"All these reasons, plus the fact that we (the taxpayers) are paying them for the however many thousands of hours of overtime for them to just hang out in certain areas, waiting for something to happen makes me think that they are in fact OVERpolicing. Is the expense worth whatever perceived benefit there is? I hardly think so."
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Jeez, and to think I already wrote and presented my debate about tuition. Looks like I picked the wrong group to be in!
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Ugh. The files are mating again. Back to work!
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