It's a secret, there is a police checkpoint in both Claremont and Pomona this Friday from 6PM to 2AM. Location TBD.Speaking of the police, the not-so-distant rumble is back. Maybe I've been asleep, but didn't we have a couple of months without the helicopter buzzing around. I keep expecting to read about some major crime after seeing it dart north, south, east, and west. And yet again, today I'm left wanting. Any chance the Pomona PD could find someone within their ranks willing to do a comedic police blotter. Poor Wes Woods must be getting tired of regurgitating press releases.
Here's a novel idea, what about posting the Pomona PD press releases online?
Come on, toss the "information junkies" a fix.
On the brighter side for Pomona, anyone ever cruise the police department websites looking for crime info? Yeah, sit there in silence, I know deep down that I'm not the only one. If you're looking for official PD crime maps, here's how I'd rate the local cities:
LaVerne comes soooo close to having a decent site, but if you want to see data on a map, start cutting and pasting.
Claremont doesn't even try. They offer a couple of press releases but no crime summary or even monthly statistics to whet your appetite. Oh yeah, there isn't crime in Claremont! Silly me!
Montclair offers a stats page which is useful for year-to-year comparisons, but if you want anything but numbers, don't bother stoppin' there.
Upland is even worse than Claremont. Clicking on Upland's crime stats link brings up ....2008? No. .....2007? No. ......2006? No. The PD's cutting edge use of the web gives you 2005 data. I guess we should stop by in 2011.
Pomona trumps them all. The little, big city offers a zoomable city-wide map with crime icons ranging from grafitti and larceny to rape and homicide. My only complaint (yeah, I always have one) is that the data covers only seven days. Allowing us to specify the date range, now that would be useful! Oh, and tell me what the darn whirlybird is doing!
12 comments:
You know, the helicopters aren't always on the hunt for suspects, they also patrol. There are more than a couple dozen spots at the top of their patroling list. They check out gated communities, schools, parks, fields, dense apartment communities, Phillips Ranch, Ganesha Hills, the Fairplex, commercial areas, known areas with high crime, etc. They also skim through nice quiet nearly crime free neighborhoods from time to time. They have camera's on the helicopters that can zoom in really close and also infrared capability(not sure if our PD has infrared though) so they know that when they see a heat signature where it's not supposed to be, they should check it out. There isn't always a crime involved.
I think the reason why it shows only seven days is because they don't want a map covered in years worth of crimes. lol.
You may want to check SpotCrime.com.
Hey, right on -- I'm glad to hear that they are hovering over the gated communities. I've always been sorta suspicious of those places. :-)
BTW, the checkpoint was at Price and Holt tonight (next to the Chinese supermarket). I caught the discreetly placed warning sign on the sidewalk just east of East End and drove through Abbey Karesh to avoid it.
Anyone run into the checkpoint in Claremont? Food for thought: If a new pub is opening up in the Village expansion, should we expect (DUI?) checkpoints around the Village area? :)
Spotcrime.com has some great icons. It appears to lack some of the crime data, so I wonder how cooperative the cities are. My guess is that areas like Claremont don't want to advertise a crime problem via a map. I guess if the media isn't critical or the public isn't demanding, why bring on the unnecessary scrutiny. It would be interesting to compare North Pomona to Claremont, based on Claremont's annual crime data, I wonder how much difference we would see. Kudos to Chief Romero for giving us the data.
Helicopter flight time vs library hours? Tough call in the short-term vs long-term battle on crime, but arguing to cut the flight time might be committing political suicide, even if it might be a reasonable choice. ;)
Between the helicopter & sirens of all types this last weekend I felt like I lived in Beruit.
Mark
I'd really like the need for the helicopters to be justified. When I hear them the most, there is absolutely nothing in the paper the next day. It's like the empty lots full of weeds -- it makes the area seem under seige with crime, when the vast majority of the city is not. Most importantly, imo it does a number on the psyche of the community.
Ed- is there a breakdown of costs to operate the helicopters somewhere?
G of P
I agree, GOP. Last night was particularly noxious; I felt like we were back in our old Koreatown flat.
Personally, I love the helicopters. I really don't associate them with crime. I associate them with a job that is being done the way it should be. I also believe helicopters or any aircraft to be mysterious and fun and I just wish I was up there! I really don't have a problem with whom the craft belongs to or how it's appearance is perceived, as long as it's up there I am intrigued.
I guess I am just fond of technology, even if it may be intrusive in a sense. I know we have many quiet neighborhoods but sometimes I just don't feel connected to the city as a whole while being nestled in my corner of sprawl, so a helicopter kind of completes that connection between the city and my neighborhood for me, it makes for a more urban feel...which I like. When I see a helicopter, I feel more safe than I would without one around. I sometimes even wave at helicopters too...lol. It doesn't matter whether it's a police chopper, a news chopper, a private chopper...I usually always wave, even if I'm just in the backyard in my boxers and a tee taking something out to the recycle bin. lol. I know, TMI...but I'd just thought I'd share my positive take on helicopters.
What I'm more concerned with are the code enforcment trucks roaming the city. What are they actually enforcing? LOL! I'm sure they get SOME work in but most of the time I just see them driving around "looking" as if there are no obvious violations, which there no doubtably are in Pomona. haha. I'm not entirely familiar with ALL of the codes but I'm most definitely sure they overlook some pretty major violations as well as thousands of minor ones every day. lol. We should be more worried about them, aren't there more of them than copters?
While I bow to no one in my enthusiasm for aviation, even I have to sleep now and then! It seems like chopper is just tearing up the skies lately.
I'm kind of ashamed to admit it, but I actually called up the police info line, and they said that the chopper had been down for maintenance for awhile, and that's why it was away. So there's at least a partial answer.
GoP, I did a half-hearted effort a few years back to look at the helicopter expenditures in the budget and failed, but my failure may reflect more on my lack of diligence than a poorly documented expense.
K, thanks for checking. So helicopters aren't supposed to sputter during flight?
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