St. Louis City Leader Says Police Ineffective, Tells Residents to Get Armed

St. Louis City Leader Says Police Ineffective, Tells Residents to Get Armed

www.foxnews.com

ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis city leader frustrated with the police response to rising crime called Tuesday on residents to arm themselves to protect their lives and property.

Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe said police are ineffective, outnumbered or don't care about the increase in crime in his north St. Louis ward. St. Louis has had 157 homicides in 2008, 33 more than last year at this time.

"The community has to be ready to defend itself, because it's clear the economy is going to get worse, and criminals are getting more bold," Troupe, 72, said Tuesday.

Troupe said that when he and residents approached a district police commander last year, they were told "there was nothing he could do to protect us and the community ... that he didn't have the manpower."

Police did not immediately return requests for comment. Chief Dan Isom told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he understands Troupe's frustration but doesn't support citizens arming themselves.

Carrying guns, he said, is not a "recipe for a less violent community."

(visit the link for the full news article)

... so now we have city leaders advocating a 'self armed militia' community.

is it only me which sees something wrong with this? would love to find out if policing has really become so ineffective and things are really so bad in the community at large and wonder if there are ATS'rs from St Louis who can shed some light on this.

www.foxnews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Good. It is never good policy when only cops and criminals are armed. This same crap happens in Oakland all the time. I get Bay Area news all the time in Reno, and every night they always have breaking news on a shooting. They keep a tab too, 118 killed this year in Oakland alone. That is a very large number and essentially means that there is a small war going on in Oakland, when the economy gets a hell of alot worse and cops start getting laid off, expect that to become ALOT worse. Arming yourself is the only real way to protect yourself in a situation like that. Or bailout, but where would you go?

This man is only saying what some of us know, that the police are authoritarian, which means they are inflexible and cannot adapt to the situation as public servants. They are already seeing cuts which is how it starts anyway. None of this is a recipe for success and does NOT earn my trust, and it shouldn't for anyone else.

This is a post I wrote on the Greatest Minds of ATS thread in MELTDOWN.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is what is going to lead to the drastic rise in crime rates across the US most populated areas. Be sure to take a look at those images, this is going to get ugly whether we like it or not. It's not an us vs. the police thing. They will be in the same boat we're in before this is even close to over. This rise in crime to emergency levels coupled with lay-offs will lead to VERY slow response times and no-shows to emergency situations, let alone back-up to a routine non emergency field duty.

I have always said, when the cops and the robbers are the only ones armed the law-abiding suffer the consequences from both ends. This will happen. I can't give you an exact date or anything, but it will incrementally rear it's head, and before you know it it's the wild, wild west.

I live in St. Louis county (west of the city) and there's not much crime in my neighborhood. I don't even lock my car and only lock my front door when I'm going to bed. There are certain areas that are really bad though and you'd best be packing some heat. I generally just stay away from the bad areas. When I go downtown, it's just to work and back.

Cops can only do so much. They're never around when the crime is committed, so they're presence (or lack of) is hardly a deterrent. Hell, sometimes it's the cops you have to worry about.

reply to post by projectvxn


i agree that the citizens have to have some protection - atleast for peace of mind if nothing else - when the system fails. With the unemployment rate going up, its only logical that the crime rate will escalate.

even then aren't taxes there for establishing and maintaining the police force and other forms of emergency services. Here in australia, the police response time has gone up and there is an uproar in certain circles ... but to put things in perspective, the response time is average of between 6 - 12 Minutes.

This begs the question... where is the tax payer money going and why aren't the people of St Louise doing anything. about it.... that is apart from arming themselves to the hilt. Shouldn't this be a last resort of sorts????

Yes, but many cities in nearly every state are seeing massive budget shortfalls. Reno, Nevada, where I live, is cutting into the police and firefighters here. RPD will be announcing lay-offs soon same with the city RFD. Washoe county is also experiencing shortfalls, same with Clark County which maintains most of Las Vegas. California has a budget emergency as well. I'm not 100% on the rest of the states but those two are the ones I'm most exposed to when it comes to local news.

reply to post by 04326

This begs the question... where is the tax payer money going and why aren't the people of St Louise doing anything. about it.... that is apart from arming themselves to the hilt. Shouldn't this be a last resort of sorts????

Negative..this should be the first line of resort. This is just in case the local constabulary are ineffective. To arm ones self at the last minute when the constabulary are ineffective is futile. One should be prepared before hand.
I am not arguing for people themselves contributing to anarchy...not at all. I am simply saying that a people should never put total trust in their body politic....but be prepared to shoulder the burden themselves ...which is precisely where many large cities and communities are in fact going.
The long term and primary function of the body politic...over and over in history....has been to protect and promote the body politic..state, local, and federal..not the public protection and felicity. Only public education...meaning a television education...can dumb people down so far they lose sight of this history.

Politics is primarily a system of whoredom. The buying, selling, and trading of the souls of a gullible public. Remember...the body politic pays for public education...they will never teach you this line of thought. People should be smart enough to know this historical trend about politics...of whom the local constabulary are a integral part...an extension.

Self sufficiency is what they hate...more dependency on government to solve problems is what they love.

The best government a free people can ever have ...is the least government a free people can ever have. This means self sufficiency...a free people. It also means being responsible..for yourself...self sufficient...independent.

I do not believe this story got a lot of traction in most of the news media across this country. That area..St Louis/ Kansas City has been slowly boiling for years now..most of it being carefully kept out of the news media. Just like New Orleans until after Hurricane Katrina. It too was kept out of most of the news media...until it could not be kept hidden any longer..and then it was used to cause chaos and for "Victimization" purposes....translate that to mean political capital.

I find it ironic ..that New Orleans was bailed out ...under "Victimization " politics. Yet we want to balk about loans to the auto companies and or bank bailouts. How easily we can be put on the string by emotional "victimization."

Thanks,
Orangetom