If you tell a child no and then allow them to do it anyway, what has that child just learned? The Police Department fought and won to have derby cruising on Broadway banned, then the powers that be decided to allow it. Good luck ever putting a stop to it now.
Was ?Cruising? a success this year? If you measure it in terms of no murders and less violent crime then it certainly was. The Metro Government announced that they would not allow any cruising on Broadway but that Broadway would be open to residents and people needing to access local businesses. The problem is that the Police Command staff didn't follow their own plan.
I would assume that the effort to appease too many people at once has left Chief White and co. in a quandary to do what is right and to do what is necessary vs. appeasement of agitators and fools.
Friday night undoubtedly Mother Nature was our biggest ally. The torrential downpour that soaked the area kept many would be cruisers away. Unfortunately because traffic was light, the command staff decided to keep Broadway open. Let me tell you what happened.
Friday night cold and rainy turned into the beautiful mid 70 degree weather of Saturday. Every miscreant that braved the rain of the previous night burned up their cell phones telling all their peeps that the Police weren't doing anything and that Broadway was open.When Officers showed up for roll call on Saturday, Broadway was already at a gridlock, the Officers, Sergeants and Lieutenants on the ground begged and pleaded for the command to implement the traffic plan before it got out of hand. For almost 5 hours the Police watched as the situation grew steadily worse. The collective minds in the puzzle palace finally decide to start diverting traffic late in the evening, but by then it was too late.
Some people think that it was o.k. to just let it go. Guess what? Next year it will be even worse because the cruisers were able to get away with it this year. Sure it was a success in terms of ?no killings?. Hell, the Mayor's Office didn't even have to downplay and lie about how many crimes were committed because I guess they were in manageable numbers. (If I hear Spokes-weenie Chad Carlton give one more press release as if he were out there again, I will puke!) What is manageable? Is it almost 200 arrests and 400 citations? Does this happen at any other Derby event? (I am loathe to call it that, but since it falls in the time frames of Derby I will.So after Col. Turner stood there and lied to the 400+ Officers and told them that there will be no cruising and that there will be nothing put up with as it was in the past. The talking heads in the corner Office proved once again that they will betray their own people to appease some local loudmouths. Fortunately the Officers that worked Friday and Saturday were not forced to work Sunday also. Sunday the problem is almost as bad except there is only a third of the amount of Officers to work the details.
The 5th Division Officers would like to thank the Mensa Club Member that decided to hold a ?car show? at the water tower on Sunday. Not only were there about 8000 cruisers in the area, but the scam artist running had the show had no security. He was charging as much as $80.00 to get into the show and how much of that will he file on his taxes next year. He told the news that he was ?Raising money to help underprivileged children get on the internet.? WTF? I am sure Metro Government Officials checked to see if he if he holds a state 501-3C or 501-3G license. I personally have never heard of the above charity. Like the guys selling the knock off merchandise at the vendor's markets in previous years this event was nothing more than a flim-flam artist preying on the African American Community.Lastly, I will close this rambling essay with the truth that Metro Government practices racial profiling. The Police are not involved, it is Metro Government. Not many people are aware that Shawnee and Chickasaw Parks are closed on weekends, parks in African American areas. Their perception is that 'those people? can't behave so the answer is to close off the parks. The people in that community have no other place to go so they go to Cox's park. About 5,000 people go there every Sunday and the park is jammed and traffic backs up. Frederick Olmstead would be spinning in his grave knowing that two of Louisville's most beautiful parks are closed every weekend. Alas, I do not have all the answers, but I think everyone that reads this should contact their Metro Council member and demand some answers.