16 Responses to “Press Conference on Law Enforcement Initiative in Petersburg”

1. posted by brenda p at October 16, 2007 2:00 pm :
   

   A round of applause to our law enforcement! If I heard correctly at today’s news conference (I showed up a bit late, and it was hard to hear with a cold that will not go away, grrrrr), 39 people were arrested in Petersburg yesterday, of which nearly 25% or so will be prosecuted at the federal level. Most of the charges were drug related. During Q&A, I believe one man raised the question as to the possibility of arresting innocent children (? it was really hard from where I stood to hear that one), to which the response from one of the citizens was that if our children comport themselves as though they want to be like criminals, then they should expect to be treated like criminals — to send the message that criminal activity will not be condoned.

2. posted by brenda p at October 17, 2007 7:47 am :
   

   Here is audio coverage of the press conference from WRVA.

3. posted by christopher white at October 17, 2007 9:23 am :
   

   My concern is proportionality and the apparent double standard in the enforcement of justice. Having solid evidence of millions of dollars of medicare/medicaid fraud, patient deaths and other white collar crimes occuring in Petersburg, the AG and US Attorney triumphantly enter Petersburg to announce they arrested 39 young black males for dealing $5 and $10 bags of dope.

4. posted by Michael at October 17, 2007 11:29 am :
   

   Wait a minute. Ten of them are in an age range of 24-51 and face serious federal weapons & drug charges. A little more proportionality in the “spin” may be called for here.

5. posted by J.D. at October 17, 2007 11:54 am :
   

   “Christopher” has no idea what he is talking about when he refers to Operation Impact. He is incorrect about the gender and racial make-up. He is also incorrect about the amount of money spent on the ILLEGAL NARCOTICS and ILLEGAL WEAPONS. Thousands of manpower hours went into the operation knowing it would clean up the city. I’m sorry no one wants to hear you whine and cry “Christopher”. Don’t speak when you don’t know what you’re talking about. Until you put on a badge and gun and go into the world of crime and put your life on the line shut your face.

6. posted by christopher white at October 17, 2007 12:04 pm :
   

   I stand corrected, 10 hardened criminals and 29 young black males pushing $5 and $10 bags of dope. The fact remains that hundereds of thousands of dollars are being spent to catch and lock up the 29 black Petersburg youths, while the AG and US Atty have hard evidence in their possession of millions of dollars of medicare and medicare fraud, patient deaths and white collar crime in Petersburg and they do worse than nothing, they politicize the prosecutions. Having had NcNulty in the past as US Atty such actions are come as no surprise, perhaps this new US Atty will be a professional prosecutor rather that a political pawn.

7. posted by brenda p at October 17, 2007 1:59 pm :
   

   Anything that causes less gunshots to go off near our residences, businesses, and schools should be applauded. The above arrests are progress on that front. So perhaps there is also appetite for progress along other fronts. Fine. But don’t let that appetite detract from gains made no matter what bin they fall into.

   Again, big hat tip to those on the police and other depts that have put forward all the effort!

8. posted by christopher white at October 17, 2007 3:46 pm :
   

   No need for the vitriol JD, lets cut out the personal attacks and just stick to the facts. A couple years ago, Kilgore and McNulty also triumphantly entered Petersburg trumpeting to us how they were going save our city from crime with their prosecutions. The only folk prosecuted and jailed were young black men, folk without the funds for private attorneys or the funds to buy access to politicians, while the folk involved in the big money white collar crimes in Petersburg, involving potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds were given a free pass. Kilgore/McNulty/McDonald have in their possession reams of documentation concerning these various crimes and instead of enforcing the law without prejudice, chose to sic Judy Jagdman on the messenger, a protected federal witness, in the attempt to destroy his medical career and credbility with utterly false, defamatory accusations. After years of fighting Goliath, the messenger will be soon be vindicated and practicing medicine again. IMHO, those in government, in the US Atty and AGs office involved in this massive cover up need to be held accountable for their actions so that future US Attys and AGs will understand the limits of their power and do not succumb to the moral hazard of politicizing prosecutions for political gain.

9. posted by J.D. at October 17, 2007 4:04 pm :
   

   Again I’m not sure where “Christopher” buys his dope and gathers his intel but the facts are badly misrepresented. All persons involved were repeat offenders, many of them with a violent past. “Christopher” you have the wrong forum to express your issues. You should be thankful men and women like those involved in Operation Impact walk the beat. The detectives involved with this operation don’t work white collar crimes. There are special agents and detectives whose sole mission is that of what you described. Good luck.

10. posted by christopher white at October 17, 2007 4:18 pm :
    

    Yes JD, there are special agents who investigate white collar crime and those special agents did their job, a Petersburg grand jury even concluded that a crime was committed, and the politicians with law degrees, McNulty/Kilgore/McDonald not only made every effort to cover up the crimes for politics sake, they also tried to destroy an innocent man, the messenger. For these actions they need to be held publicly accountable.

11. posted by brenda p at October 17, 2007 9:40 pm :
    

    Hey Chris, please address your grievances related to non-Operation Impact to the appropriate parties. Airing such issues here on a forum where the community should be letting those involved in Operation Impact know that we *really* appreciate it is not appropriate — It’s like calling out Peter for being mad at Paul, just when Peter did something that happened to be worth a solid pat on the back. Don’t be bashing these guys for the faults of others.

12. posted by Chuck at October 18, 2007 7:40 am :
    

    I was a little surprised when I watched the news coverage yesterday morning and one resident was mildy annoyed (to say the least). He was making comments to the Chief of Police along the the lines of “Why was that army in my back yard!?!?!” Give me a break, why would you be upset about getting rid of a problem in your neighborhood unless you stood to lose something from them being gone??

    I’m sorry, if my next door neighbor was a drug dealer, I’d be out there serving that “army” of officers hot coffee while they waiting to nab his arse.

    I say WELL DONE! and look forward to more. Yes, I know they may be sort of small time but, I’m sure it sends a message….

13. posted by brenda p at October 18, 2007 5:52 pm :
    

    Hey Chuck, I sure hope the story on TV followed the above up with the comments of Akin Smith or a very articulate woman whose name I don’t know, persons among the majority present who applauded IO.

14. posted by CB at October 19, 2007 2:30 pm :
    

    I was surprised when a citizen of this city stood up at the press conference and begin to bash both the attourney general and the new police chief about this army of federal agents tasked with placing the youth of petersburg throughout country. First of all the majority of these children that he was speeking about ranged in ages from 25-50. Second of all the majority of these subjects were repeat offenders whom have no respect for the laws of the commonwealth.

15. posted by AkinSmith at October 19, 2007 3:22 pm :
    

    In the community, by and large, most people that I have talked with are glad that something is being done to combat the open air drug markets that plague our streets.

    We have arrested the young people before for being the dope dealers and gun users in the streets. They know the consequences for their behavior and they make the choice anyway. I am not bleeding in my heart for them, they know that the drugs they sell cause harm to the user. We can not and will not buy into this nonsense that it is just a $5 or $10 bag, that just wont fly. These are not innocent children, these are young folk who have made a decision to sell poison in the streets and to kill to control the territory in which they want to ply their trade. How can anybody condone or defend this behavior? You are enabling them with your “don’t snitch” attitude. You can’t snitch on the white collar crime but allow the blue collar crime to run free. It doesn’t make sense. We have to attack crime at all levels.

    I asked Dr. Lokesh if he wanted to bring the Attorney Generals Office to the table to list the grievances upon which he espoused and he told me no because it would do no good. Well then, why cofront the AG at a press conference where we are not only supporting the efforts of a new police chief but seeking to instill backbone in our community to stand together against the drug infestation, shooting and delinquency that exist with our young folk.

    We have young people in our community who play sports, study music, sing in choirs, display art, take field trips, and OBEY LAWS. What suggestions do you have for those who sell dope in the steets, rob and shoot citizens, assault and batter one another and continuously break laws? If you have a method, please share it before you so readily tear down the method currently in use.

16. posted by christopher white at November 6, 2007 6:22 pm :
    

    For those folks that are interested, the following link to the Concerned Citizens of Petersburg website has information on the big time white collar crimes in Petersburg that the AG and US Attorney choose to ignore on account of political expediancy.
    http://www.concop.org/

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