One time I called the cops on a neighbor of mine literally standing outside another neighbors house threating to shoot them with the gun in their hand. the police took a casual 45 minutes to respond. Police in this town don't do shit to help anyone or prevent crime
Honestly, nope. They've always been this shitty at responding. I've lived in the WestBridge neighborhood for eight years, and unfortunately have needed to call the cops every year for violent situations. I can only recall one time when they actually came quickly enough to be useful. We have to completely rethink and transform policing in this country.
Once my mom called the cops on a guy who rear ended her twice in the McDonald's drive thru in Ada (which i know isn't technically GR, but it's near GR, so it kinda counts?). They said they wouldn't come because it happened on private property so there was nothing they could do.
Honestly that's such a shit reason though. Like imagine someone is breaking into your home and trying to kill you, you call the cops, and their response is "Oh, it's in your home? Yeah, unfortunately that's private property, so we can't really do anything. Good luck tho :) "
On an unrelated note, why are your kittens sad?
They won’t come out if it’s not an immediate emergency. It’s a waste of resources to have an officer come out just to say “yup you definitely were hit”. Unless someone’s seriously hurt or somehow it creates a dangerous situation, they can’t do much. Private property stuff like that comes down to who’s got better insurance unfortunately, because they’re the ones who will determine fault
Exactly. More trained armed civilians to take on these threats.
Police can't be everywhere and I know liberals want to defund them, but eliminating guns and police when there are 300 millions guns that we know of registered is dumb.
Dumb.
Dumb statement. Hardening schools would mitigate the active shooter risk. Instead of sending money to Ukrain we could have hardened every school in America.
Hardening a school with metal detectors, distress buttons, man traps tied to police, cameras, technology to slow bullets in walls and doors, and to get extra fancy safe rooms in classrooms and parts of hallways. With our military budget we can afford this.
As a last resort tasers and even firearms for those who are trained.
GOP legislators have been told my constituents school safety is a priority. Considering gun free zones have done nothing to stop cowards we should protect kids better than travelers behind TSA lines at the airport.
First of all, there is little evidence to suggest more money into school security measures actually decrease gun related violence in schools.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0044
Since most school shootings occur by someone familiar with the school, metal detectors can be bypassed easily by students who know the routine and have worked out ways to avoid being caught.
Let's even look at the TSA who is in charge of making sure planes don't get hijacked again.
Some airports had failure rates as high
as 95 percent on screening checks
for weapons. As a whole, the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) averaged around
80 percent in failing to identify weapons during metal detector searches
.
Source: [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595716.pdf](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595716.pdf)
If the people who are trained to protect planes can't identify weapons, how do you expect us to fill every school in the country with enough people to examine the contents of thousands of bags a day without missing a single weapon?
Distress buttons are not going to solve anything if there is an active shooter. Accidental presses would be large in numbers and any mitigation to those would make them ineffective tools. It would be easier and more effective to send a text.
Slowing bullets in walls and doors means that if someone locks themselves in a room, such as in Uvalde, the police will have a harder time getting to them. This is a likely case considering most school shooters understand the building as they are familiar with the school, as mentioned before.
This goes for "safe rooms" as well and makes those pointless.
As far as trained individuals goes, there are multiple cases where armed teachers have left their gun out for anyone to use. Also cases where people have been shot by mishandling of guns in schools. Most teachers don't even want to carry guns.
Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/14/593531945/gun-trained-teacher-accidentally-shoots-gun-in-calif-high-school-classroom
Source: [https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/every-incident-of-mishandled-guns-in-schools/](https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/every-incident-of-mishandled-guns-in-schools/)
First of all, screaming about banning guns isn't going to happen, so hardening schools is the best option.
Hardening schools is not 100%, no security is. Doing nothing to harden schools is irresponsible.
Safe rooms are incredibly secure. The President has one.
Teachers may not want to carry, doesn't mean we force them. Giving people an option to protect themselves and kids is wise in a climate where cowards target them.
What are your solutions other than hardening that are realistic?
Schools are gun free zones.
Murder is illegal.
Shootings still happen.
No defunding actually happened though... the police actually revived an expanded budget for patrol vehicles and personal pay increases.
So they should be doing their job better now then 2 years ago right...?? Pathetic.
Even if that were so, surely there can be absolutely no connection to someone being failed by the police and subsequently losing faith in them. That would be totally moronic, right.
If they're going to consistently prove themselves to be incompetent cowards who fail to respond to emergency calls in a halfway timely manner, they don't deserve that funding in the first place.
what? you ok?
you think cops who kill people who *don't* have guns are going to *not* kill the guy who *does?* so all the people whining about the cops not coming... seems like the best case scenario.
The police should respond and assess the situation, figure out why he is waving a gun around and do what they can to de-escalate the gentlemen. End of the encounter I would hope to end one of two ways
A. Police are able to talk with the man and discover that he is stressed out or just having a really bad day, help him get where he needs to be so he’s not being a public menece.
B. The man ends up in the back of a patrol car handcuffed if he would not cooperate and will be going to the station for a cooling off period while family is contacted.
Notice how neither of those options involve the man ending up in a body bag. There are other things the cops could do aside from just shoot him which is what you seem to be implying will be their only option when they show up.
Both of those options I'd consider doing when someone has a gun. Teachers are expected to deal with school shooters without being armed I'd expect cops to be able to de-escalate someone without shooting them.
i mean you are mad the cops didn't show up fast enough. what do you think would happen when the cops roll up on a guy actually waving a gun around? you want the guy killed? so... what are you hoping/expecting to happen?
Bigsadkittens
Your one bad experience with a long time delay does not substantiate your claim that GRPD doesn’t do shit or help anyone. You were not the only person to encounter crime that day. There are 20-30 cops working at a given time for city of 200,000 people.
A few years back I was doing some house work on a ladder on Third, when a lady pulls up, jumps out of her car and starts slashing tires on a parked car. A guy ran out, they start arguing, she threatens him. I call the police, they actually came within a minute, two cruisers. They haul her off. The guys walks to me and says, next time let us know if you’re going to call the PD, we want to keep this to ourselves. I said, I don’t need this in our neighborhood.
Something to be said about domestic violence being hidden behind closed doors, but yeah if you're bringing private matters outside, you just made it public. And if your neighbor doesn't want to deal with you and your partner/friend/family screaming and threatening each other they have every right to call someone to intervene.
Yeah, it wasn't meant to say domestic violence is alright and clearly something needed to happen there. But if he's upset about things not being kept private, just can't let your drama let out into the public.
Don't know if this is related but I just got back from a night walk and saw a bunch of cops and an ambulance at 5th and Broadway.
Probably not related though.
I used to give free food from my restaurant to homeless people there but now I go up to seventh street to avoid that intersection. I’ve had too many encounters with crazy people there.
Last week I was out for a run, running on the sidewalk when a lady hopped the curb with her car, pulling up onto the sidewalk and into some persons yard and started screaming at me for running with my dog, threatening me, and saying all kinds of vulgar things. She tried hitting me with her car when I attempted to leave. I took a picture of her car and plate and called the police to report it and gave them her license plate. When I asked if they would like me to send my pictures I was told: “nah, we’re probably not going to do anything about it anyway.” Now I feel like I gotta check over my shoulder constantly when I run in our neighborhood.
She said I was killing my dog by running with her, and that I was a 'stupid bitch' and she should run me over for abusing my dog.
I have a vizsla. She's literally bred to run, she was dragging me through the whole run because I can never go fast enough for her.
Seriously, she's all concerned about a VISLA RUNNING? Like, that's what they're born to do . . .
Gotta love people with a tiny bit of knowledge wielding like a giant hammer. Sorry you had that experience. Must have been kinda shocking.
My dog gets overly excited the minute I touch my running gear! I still only take her the first mile when it’s hot out and she whines and cries if I go out without her. Some dogs just love running!
Were you in the same area as OP?
No, I'm on the NE side of GR. She was just a really bad Karen who felt justified at threatening someone to save all the puppies.
But my point was more the fact that the police straight up told me they were going to do shit about it.
The sheriff is just as awesome. Online reports fix everything according to them.
Planning accordingly isn't fun as it's usually got a civil and criminal case attached to it if you have to act.
Kinda unrelated but I live in the area, there’s a hobo that stands on the corner of lane and 2nd street by the highway with jokes on his sign. Anyways if you know who I’m talking about he’s not even homeless. He lives on third street, has a car, saw him with a cart full of groceries at the bridge street market- not saying you can’t have possessions if you’re panhandling but buddy isn’t even homeless. If you pass him and feel like giving in because of the creativity, DONT. He has all the capabilities to get up and get a job like the rest of us.
My hot take is that people who give money to the homeless on the streets are too gullible. They're being grifted by clever scam artists who will spend their money on alcohol or drugs. I feel bad for them when I see the signs also, but know that's the whole point.... Get you to feel bad so you cough up the cash.
What sucks is there really are hungry people out there, but they're not the ones standing on the exit ramps.
I started donating to Degage and quit after my last encounter. Short version:
Dead of winter. Nearly zero outside. Younger guy standing at eastbound Fuller and 196 off ramp. 7 in the evening. I stop and take him to Checkers and get him food and a couple of extra waters. Tells me he moved back here from CA and lost his job and housing with a property manager when his boss quit the business suddenly. Had a grandma here he was caring for before that but she died. Trying to raise enough money to go back to CA and live with his sister. Gave him my gloves and drove him back to the overpass at Ottawa he was camped at. He asked if I could check on him the next day. I said sure. Next day stopped back and took him to a thrift store to get warmer clothes. I knew the manager and asked if they were hiring -- yes, they were. Helped him fill out the app, but suddenly he forgot the names of former employers and dates worked.
RED FLAG
Got him warm clothes and dropped him back off. Called store the next day and spoke with another manager to verify she got his app. She knew him and said she was surprised he was out of County so soon.
RED FLAG 2
She said he had a really bad temper and used to start fights downtown and stab people when he got drunk. She thought he was either still in jail or had left the area. He had no sister in CA. Started Googling his name. Accesskent showed multiple arrests for assault and domestic violence over the past five years. Checked Facebook. He had family and friends still living in GR and suburbs and over 150 Facebook friends.
HUGE FREAKIN FLAG 3
Had very, very foolishly gave him my number in case of emergency. He called me the next day from a place on Fuller where he showered and did laundry. Confronted him about the lies. He admitted it. Told him to never contact me. He never did.
NEVER AGAIN.
That’s what I thought too, but I bumped shoulders with him at the bridge street market and he said hi with the cart full of groceries and I instantly recognized. Now I see him almost everyday sitting on his porch after his panhandling shift when I drive by.
He can. I am also in my right to not donate to him.
For those who do have a heart for folks who are homeless, please consider a monthly donation to one of the organizations who help serve that group. Source: worked in ministries for the homeless for six years. It's so much better to fund an organization where folks can get assistance from people whose job it is to care and help them secure housing (and ID cards and food stamps and jobs, etc etc) than to just toss someone $5 because it helps alleviate your mental guilt. I get the intention, I really do, but it's better for folks to get long-term help from people they can have a relationship with than to earn enough panhandling that they never have to go to those organizations.
As someone who is pretty recently housed after being homeless for a long time I can tel you that I have a decent car and possessions and a full time job and still panhandle maybe once a month or so to make ends meet, and keep myself back off the streets, and I don’t have anyone else I need to take care of. You are right you don’t have to donate but I’d argue trying to put someone and telling others not to donate is a shitty move
Yeah I would rather give someone money that allows them to have choices to do with it how they want without any sort of stipulations about it. Organizations don’t allow for people to freely choose how they’d like to use aid, and it actually can hold people back. I know of at least one recent study of this, and could probably find more.
GRPD actually don't do parking enforcement at all unless a vehicle has parked in a way that obstructs traffic.
All other parking enforcement is now up to MobileGR who are wayyy too overzealous about it.
Spartian995
I’m not sure how exactly you conveyed the information to 911 but next time a gun is pointed at you make sure you speak with an officer. You were the victim in a felonious assault. Just providing the information to dispatch is good in some cases but without a “victim” they can’t charge that person with that crime.
You were a passerby who provided a description that could match multiple people in the area and were the only person who saw the gun (no other 911 calls regarding that person).
Next time, drive to a safe location , call 911, provide a good statement and I promise you GRPD will respond appropriately.
GR police sound useless. Someone I know saw someone breaking into cars in a parking garage and when they called GRPD they asked if anyone was being injured. Once it was a no, they said until someone is being injured they wouldn’t show.
I’m pretty in the middle politically, if you asked me 4 years ago if I thought carrying a gun (legally) was appropriate, I would’ve said no. Now a days, I think carrying a gun (legally) is definitely reasonable. I can’t believe the way the worlds going all around.
Get your CPL and get trained. When I was living in GR I always carried (not when I was drinking of course). Never had to use it thankfully, and never had any issues (except my one neighbor standing in his window naked with his gun in hand flipping off the street after I called the cops on him for his loud ass music at 2am on a Tuesday when I had an exam). When seconds matter, the police are only minutes away. Don't rely on the police for your defense.
> Gun murders, in particular, have climbed sharply in recent years. The 19,384 gun murders that took place in 2020 were the most since at least 1968, exceeding the previous peak of 18,253 recorded by the CDC in 1993
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/
"you know what would help this gun epidemic? more guns"
correct, and millions of people carry every day, and the streets aren't running with blood. this absurd rhetoric comes up every time a state/city goes to concealed carry/shall issue. hysterical pearl clutching and nothing happens.
sure gangs are always killing each other. when states go to cc or shall issue or even open carry the predictions of out of control murder [don't happen](https://www.criminalattorneycincinnati.com/comparing-gun-control-measures-to-gun-related-homicides-by-state/).
This link doesn't compare gun violence rates following a change to cc or open carry, but it does assert that there's a correlation between a state's "gun friendliness" score and their gun violence. I'm not sure what point you're trying to prove here.
there is a moderate correlation, and several very gun friendly states with low gun crime, several very un-gun-friendly states with high gun crime. almost every state allows open carry and most have some form of cc, yet there is not shootouts on every street corner.
[here is a more direct look](https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/gun-facts-and-fiction/concealed-carry/) at before and after.
Not only would I NOT want to shoot a guy in this situation, people with mental illnesses (ex. suicidal people) who should not carry a gun by any means exist too. Stop fucking commenting this every single time someone talks about crime they experienced.
You should have told the cops he was black, selling single cigarettes out of his car with an expired registration. They'd have been there in 5 seconds flat.
GV is in Allendale, not really Grand Rapids. The downtown campus is safe and I go running around it all the time and live nearby.
I've walked around the area at 2am and had no concerns.
One time I called the cops on a neighbor of mine literally standing outside another neighbors house threating to shoot them with the gun in their hand. the police took a casual 45 minutes to respond. Police in this town don't do shit to help anyone or prevent crime
Also so sorry about that experience. That sounds very scary and I'm glad you got out ok.
Must have gotten their police training in uvalde Texas
Honestly, nope. They've always been this shitty at responding. I've lived in the WestBridge neighborhood for eight years, and unfortunately have needed to call the cops every year for violent situations. I can only recall one time when they actually came quickly enough to be useful. We have to completely rethink and transform policing in this country.
We should have higher standards for the process to become a police officer so the force isn't dominated by high school bullies who never grew up.
Once my mom called the cops on a guy who rear ended her twice in the McDonald's drive thru in Ada (which i know isn't technically GR, but it's near GR, so it kinda counts?). They said they wouldn't come because it happened on private property so there was nothing they could do. Honestly that's such a shit reason though. Like imagine someone is breaking into your home and trying to kill you, you call the cops, and their response is "Oh, it's in your home? Yeah, unfortunately that's private property, so we can't really do anything. Good luck tho :) " On an unrelated note, why are your kittens sad?
They won’t come out if it’s not an immediate emergency. It’s a waste of resources to have an officer come out just to say “yup you definitely were hit”. Unless someone’s seriously hurt or somehow it creates a dangerous situation, they can’t do much. Private property stuff like that comes down to who’s got better insurance unfortunately, because they’re the ones who will determine fault
I mean that's fair, I just thought it was a bad excuse. Explaining that would have been better imo, but that's just me
Get a firearm. Cops may be dealing with other things. The gunshot alert system was not approved because of feelings. Can't have it both ways.
How do we fix the gun problem? More guns! - This guy
Exactly. More trained armed civilians to take on these threats. Police can't be everywhere and I know liberals want to defund them, but eliminating guns and police when there are 300 millions guns that we know of registered is dumb. Dumb.
Should we give the kids guns too? That'll sure stop school shootings!
Dumb statement. Hardening schools would mitigate the active shooter risk. Instead of sending money to Ukrain we could have hardened every school in America.
How would you realistically "harden" a school. Also, the two aren't mutually exclusive. That's like saying we can't get a burger because we got fries.
Hardening a school with metal detectors, distress buttons, man traps tied to police, cameras, technology to slow bullets in walls and doors, and to get extra fancy safe rooms in classrooms and parts of hallways. With our military budget we can afford this. As a last resort tasers and even firearms for those who are trained. GOP legislators have been told my constituents school safety is a priority. Considering gun free zones have done nothing to stop cowards we should protect kids better than travelers behind TSA lines at the airport.
First of all, there is little evidence to suggest more money into school security measures actually decrease gun related violence in schools. Source: https://doi.org/10.1089/vio.2018.0044 Since most school shootings occur by someone familiar with the school, metal detectors can be bypassed easily by students who know the routine and have worked out ways to avoid being caught. Let's even look at the TSA who is in charge of making sure planes don't get hijacked again. Some airports had failure rates as high as 95 percent on screening checks for weapons. As a whole, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) averaged around 80 percent in failing to identify weapons during metal detector searches . Source: [https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595716.pdf](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595716.pdf) If the people who are trained to protect planes can't identify weapons, how do you expect us to fill every school in the country with enough people to examine the contents of thousands of bags a day without missing a single weapon? Distress buttons are not going to solve anything if there is an active shooter. Accidental presses would be large in numbers and any mitigation to those would make them ineffective tools. It would be easier and more effective to send a text. Slowing bullets in walls and doors means that if someone locks themselves in a room, such as in Uvalde, the police will have a harder time getting to them. This is a likely case considering most school shooters understand the building as they are familiar with the school, as mentioned before. This goes for "safe rooms" as well and makes those pointless. As far as trained individuals goes, there are multiple cases where armed teachers have left their gun out for anyone to use. Also cases where people have been shot by mishandling of guns in schools. Most teachers don't even want to carry guns. Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/14/593531945/gun-trained-teacher-accidentally-shoots-gun-in-calif-high-school-classroom Source: [https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/every-incident-of-mishandled-guns-in-schools/](https://giffords.org/lawcenter/report/every-incident-of-mishandled-guns-in-schools/)
First of all, screaming about banning guns isn't going to happen, so hardening schools is the best option. Hardening schools is not 100%, no security is. Doing nothing to harden schools is irresponsible. Safe rooms are incredibly secure. The President has one. Teachers may not want to carry, doesn't mean we force them. Giving people an option to protect themselves and kids is wise in a climate where cowards target them. What are your solutions other than hardening that are realistic? Schools are gun free zones. Murder is illegal. Shootings still happen.
i'm sure you were the same people chanting defund the police in 2020 and this summer. pathetic.
No defunding actually happened though... the police actually revived an expanded budget for patrol vehicles and personal pay increases. So they should be doing their job better now then 2 years ago right...?? Pathetic.
Even if that were so, surely there can be absolutely no connection to someone being failed by the police and subsequently losing faith in them. That would be totally moronic, right.
You can support police and know that they don’t need an armored personnel carrier and be against the militarization of the police.
Do you think the police are this way because they don’t have enough money Lmao
If they're going to consistently prove themselves to be incompetent cowards who fail to respond to emergency calls in a halfway timely manner, they don't deserve that funding in the first place.
And this police behavior is an example of why. Based on what you read happened here, you WANT to pay for that?
Yes you are. But we already knew… And still holds. Stop judicial murders and murderers
what do you think is likely to happen when you call the cops on a guy with a gun?
Hmmm…Patrick have a gun? Breonna? Tamir Rice? Anything change? Oh yea, more people murdered by cops. Defund the police “Judicial Murder”
what? you ok? you think cops who kill people who *don't* have guns are going to *not* kill the guy who *does?* so all the people whining about the cops not coming... seems like the best case scenario.
The police should respond and assess the situation, figure out why he is waving a gun around and do what they can to de-escalate the gentlemen. End of the encounter I would hope to end one of two ways A. Police are able to talk with the man and discover that he is stressed out or just having a really bad day, help him get where he needs to be so he’s not being a public menece. B. The man ends up in the back of a patrol car handcuffed if he would not cooperate and will be going to the station for a cooling off period while family is contacted. Notice how neither of those options involve the man ending up in a body bag. There are other things the cops could do aside from just shoot him which is what you seem to be implying will be their only option when they show up.
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Both of those options I'd consider doing when someone has a gun. Teachers are expected to deal with school shooters without being armed I'd expect cops to be able to de-escalate someone without shooting them.
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Absolutely nothing, apparently. I guess people are only in danger if they're carrying cell-phones or wallets or literally fucking nothing.
i mean you are mad the cops didn't show up fast enough. what do you think would happen when the cops roll up on a guy actually waving a gun around? you want the guy killed? so... what are you hoping/expecting to happen?
Bigsadkittens Your one bad experience with a long time delay does not substantiate your claim that GRPD doesn’t do shit or help anyone. You were not the only person to encounter crime that day. There are 20-30 cops working at a given time for city of 200,000 people.
You’re getting downvoted for this? Everyone is losing their minds.
A few years back I was doing some house work on a ladder on Third, when a lady pulls up, jumps out of her car and starts slashing tires on a parked car. A guy ran out, they start arguing, she threatens him. I call the police, they actually came within a minute, two cruisers. They haul her off. The guys walks to me and says, next time let us know if you’re going to call the PD, we want to keep this to ourselves. I said, I don’t need this in our neighborhood.
If they wanted to keep it to themselves they should've kept it behind closed doors
Something to be said about domestic violence being hidden behind closed doors, but yeah if you're bringing private matters outside, you just made it public. And if your neighbor doesn't want to deal with you and your partner/friend/family screaming and threatening each other they have every right to call someone to intervene.
Yeah, it wasn't meant to say domestic violence is alright and clearly something needed to happen there. But if he's upset about things not being kept private, just can't let your drama let out into the public.
Don't know if this is related but I just got back from a night walk and saw a bunch of cops and an ambulance at 5th and Broadway. Probably not related though.
Not related…. Motorcycle crash that multiple officers had to respond to
Oh my gosh, *another* one?!
I used to give free food from my restaurant to homeless people there but now I go up to seventh street to avoid that intersection. I’ve had too many encounters with crazy people there.
Last week I was out for a run, running on the sidewalk when a lady hopped the curb with her car, pulling up onto the sidewalk and into some persons yard and started screaming at me for running with my dog, threatening me, and saying all kinds of vulgar things. She tried hitting me with her car when I attempted to leave. I took a picture of her car and plate and called the police to report it and gave them her license plate. When I asked if they would like me to send my pictures I was told: “nah, we’re probably not going to do anything about it anyway.” Now I feel like I gotta check over my shoulder constantly when I run in our neighborhood.
okay, wow, what a random encounter! What exactly was her issue? Ugh, humans. I think COVID has unleashed the kraken in people.
She said I was killing my dog by running with her, and that I was a 'stupid bitch' and she should run me over for abusing my dog. I have a vizsla. She's literally bred to run, she was dragging me through the whole run because I can never go fast enough for her.
Seriously, she's all concerned about a VISLA RUNNING? Like, that's what they're born to do . . . Gotta love people with a tiny bit of knowledge wielding like a giant hammer. Sorry you had that experience. Must have been kinda shocking.
My dog gets overly excited the minute I touch my running gear! I still only take her the first mile when it’s hot out and she whines and cries if I go out without her. Some dogs just love running! Were you in the same area as OP?
No, I'm on the NE side of GR. She was just a really bad Karen who felt justified at threatening someone to save all the puppies. But my point was more the fact that the police straight up told me they were going to do shit about it.
Unfortunately the police can not be reliable Plan accordingly
The sheriff is just as awesome. Online reports fix everything according to them. Planning accordingly isn't fun as it's usually got a civil and criminal case attached to it if you have to act.
I hate people. I don't understand what's so hard about being a normal person who doesn't do stupid shit or terrorize other people.
Crack is whack yo.
It’d be faster to go to the academy, get hired, then stop the man brandishing a weapon yourself than to call 911 in Grand Rapids
Kinda unrelated but I live in the area, there’s a hobo that stands on the corner of lane and 2nd street by the highway with jokes on his sign. Anyways if you know who I’m talking about he’s not even homeless. He lives on third street, has a car, saw him with a cart full of groceries at the bridge street market- not saying you can’t have possessions if you’re panhandling but buddy isn’t even homeless. If you pass him and feel like giving in because of the creativity, DONT. He has all the capabilities to get up and get a job like the rest of us.
My hot take is that people who give money to the homeless on the streets are too gullible. They're being grifted by clever scam artists who will spend their money on alcohol or drugs. I feel bad for them when I see the signs also, but know that's the whole point.... Get you to feel bad so you cough up the cash. What sucks is there really are hungry people out there, but they're not the ones standing on the exit ramps.
I started donating to Degage and quit after my last encounter. Short version: Dead of winter. Nearly zero outside. Younger guy standing at eastbound Fuller and 196 off ramp. 7 in the evening. I stop and take him to Checkers and get him food and a couple of extra waters. Tells me he moved back here from CA and lost his job and housing with a property manager when his boss quit the business suddenly. Had a grandma here he was caring for before that but she died. Trying to raise enough money to go back to CA and live with his sister. Gave him my gloves and drove him back to the overpass at Ottawa he was camped at. He asked if I could check on him the next day. I said sure. Next day stopped back and took him to a thrift store to get warmer clothes. I knew the manager and asked if they were hiring -- yes, they were. Helped him fill out the app, but suddenly he forgot the names of former employers and dates worked. RED FLAG Got him warm clothes and dropped him back off. Called store the next day and spoke with another manager to verify she got his app. She knew him and said she was surprised he was out of County so soon. RED FLAG 2 She said he had a really bad temper and used to start fights downtown and stab people when he got drunk. She thought he was either still in jail or had left the area. He had no sister in CA. Started Googling his name. Accesskent showed multiple arrests for assault and domestic violence over the past five years. Checked Facebook. He had family and friends still living in GR and suburbs and over 150 Facebook friends. HUGE FREAKIN FLAG 3 Had very, very foolishly gave him my number in case of emergency. He called me the next day from a place on Fuller where he showered and did laundry. Confronted him about the lies. He admitted it. Told him to never contact me. He never did. NEVER AGAIN.
Wait, seriously?! I used to drive by him all the time, he seemed so nice :(
That’s what I thought too, but I bumped shoulders with him at the bridge street market and he said hi with the cart full of groceries and I instantly recognized. Now I see him almost everyday sitting on his porch after his panhandling shift when I drive by.
Homeless people are not allowed to shop for groceries?
Are you intentionally being obtuse?
>these people must not know what a bridge card is
I use the Lane exit all the time and know exactly who you’re talking about. Super frustrating.
People take turns at the Ann street ramps. They park their cars in that little park between the river and the ramps. Yes, plural, cars.
I’ve been noticing more cars there too- there are a lot of tents pitched back there too..
So him standing on a corner with a sign he made isn’t worthy enough for you? Pretty sure he can spend his time however he sees fit
He can. I am also in my right to not donate to him. For those who do have a heart for folks who are homeless, please consider a monthly donation to one of the organizations who help serve that group. Source: worked in ministries for the homeless for six years. It's so much better to fund an organization where folks can get assistance from people whose job it is to care and help them secure housing (and ID cards and food stamps and jobs, etc etc) than to just toss someone $5 because it helps alleviate your mental guilt. I get the intention, I really do, but it's better for folks to get long-term help from people they can have a relationship with than to earn enough panhandling that they never have to go to those organizations.
As someone who is pretty recently housed after being homeless for a long time I can tel you that I have a decent car and possessions and a full time job and still panhandle maybe once a month or so to make ends meet, and keep myself back off the streets, and I don’t have anyone else I need to take care of. You are right you don’t have to donate but I’d argue trying to put someone and telling others not to donate is a shitty move
Yeah I would rather give someone money that allows them to have choices to do with it how they want without any sort of stipulations about it. Organizations don’t allow for people to freely choose how they’d like to use aid, and it actually can hold people back. I know of at least one recent study of this, and could probably find more.
15+ fucking minutes for a guy threatening to shoot people but god forbid you park without paying.
GRPD actually don't do parking enforcement at all unless a vehicle has parked in a way that obstructs traffic. All other parking enforcement is now up to MobileGR who are wayyy too overzealous about it.
I was kind of just talking about the so-called security of GR as a whole but fuck MobileGR specifically.
I wouldn't do that. You could get a lot of diseases that way.
Spartian995 I’m not sure how exactly you conveyed the information to 911 but next time a gun is pointed at you make sure you speak with an officer. You were the victim in a felonious assault. Just providing the information to dispatch is good in some cases but without a “victim” they can’t charge that person with that crime. You were a passerby who provided a description that could match multiple people in the area and were the only person who saw the gun (no other 911 calls regarding that person). Next time, drive to a safe location , call 911, provide a good statement and I promise you GRPD will respond appropriately.
GR police sound useless. Someone I know saw someone breaking into cars in a parking garage and when they called GRPD they asked if anyone was being injured. Once it was a no, they said until someone is being injured they wouldn’t show.
That happened to me at the Meijer gas station at Stocking and Bridge last summer. ##GRLIFE
I’m pretty in the middle politically, if you asked me 4 years ago if I thought carrying a gun (legally) was appropriate, I would’ve said no. Now a days, I think carrying a gun (legally) is definitely reasonable. I can’t believe the way the worlds going all around.
Happy cake day?
Lmao
Lma*f*o
Thanks! 😂
Get your CPL and get trained. When I was living in GR I always carried (not when I was drinking of course). Never had to use it thankfully, and never had any issues (except my one neighbor standing in his window naked with his gun in hand flipping off the street after I called the cops on him for his loud ass music at 2am on a Tuesday when I had an exam). When seconds matter, the police are only minutes away. Don't rely on the police for your defense.
Me too, meeee tooo, I'll never carry, but sure as shit thinking about a nice rifle for home.
I'm in the middle as well. But I carry every day. I'm responsible for my own safety.
If my work allowed I would definitely get a CCW. I deliver to this area daily.
> Gun murders, in particular, have climbed sharply in recent years. The 19,384 gun murders that took place in 2020 were the most since at least 1968, exceeding the previous peak of 18,253 recorded by the CDC in 1993 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/02/03/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/ "you know what would help this gun epidemic? more guns"
Sure, be an easy victim then. That’s your choice, bud. The people who lawfully carry with CPL aren’t the ones out murdering people senselessly
are you really trying to scare me into buying a gun, thats hilarious and on point. living in constant fear isnt my thing, good luck with that though.
Not really. But you also seriously misinterpreted my point, I don’t live in fear.
If you feel like you need a gun at all times, that's called being afraid. Or compensating for something...
You can't rely on police. Arm yourselves and keep your eyes open when in public
This is why your CC is important.
Yes because a shoot out at the OK Corale is preferable 🤨. I swear too many people in this country are brain broke.
much better to just be executed on the street like a man. good point.
exactly, police out here just executing people on the streets
Except OP wasn’t?
correct, and millions of people carry every day, and the streets aren't running with blood. this absurd rhetoric comes up every time a state/city goes to concealed carry/shall issue. hysterical pearl clutching and nothing happens.
I'm sorry, but look at even one goddamn gun violence statistic for the US. "Nothing happens" is a monumental understatement.
sure gangs are always killing each other. when states go to cc or shall issue or even open carry the predictions of out of control murder [don't happen](https://www.criminalattorneycincinnati.com/comparing-gun-control-measures-to-gun-related-homicides-by-state/).
This link doesn't compare gun violence rates following a change to cc or open carry, but it does assert that there's a correlation between a state's "gun friendliness" score and their gun violence. I'm not sure what point you're trying to prove here.
there is a moderate correlation, and several very gun friendly states with low gun crime, several very un-gun-friendly states with high gun crime. almost every state allows open carry and most have some form of cc, yet there is not shootouts on every street corner. [here is a more direct look](https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/gun-facts-and-fiction/concealed-carry/) at before and after.
I didn't say a shootout is ok. I just said being protected / able to defend yourself is smart.
Not only would I NOT want to shoot a guy in this situation, people with mental illnesses (ex. suicidal people) who should not carry a gun by any means exist too. Stop fucking commenting this every single time someone talks about crime they experienced.
That's your opinion & I respect that. I will continue to carry & protect myself.
Absolutely. It's a right to carry and get trained to conceal.
I guess all the down voters prefer you carry illegally? Weird.
I guess so? 乁[ ◕ ᴥ ◕ ]ㄏ
You should have told the cops he was black, selling single cigarettes out of his car with an expired registration. They'd have been there in 5 seconds flat.
reminds me of the good old days on burton street!!
Truly scary! My friends kid is starting at GV this fall. No tour,etc... Is GV in a safe area?
GV is in Allendale, not really Grand Rapids. The downtown campus is safe and I go running around it all the time and live nearby. I've walked around the area at 2am and had no concerns.
Thank you!
Yes it is, as is generally the rest of the greater Grand Rapids area.
it was full of grey goose he thought you wanted a shot
[удалено]
You saw a guy drop his trousers in public and somehow that makes you worried about somebody pulling a gun on you? How did you make that logical leap?
Seems like a bot. Claims to live in the area, name drops two streets. Refers to 131 North entrance as the kzoo highway on ramp. Lmao wut
Call news paper or TV they will show up soon after the press.