This is a common thing I hear from residents all over Sioux Falls, not just lower income neighborhoods;
Sandy thinks more should and could be done.
“As a recent transplant to South Dakota from Nebraska, I’m deeply disappointed by the apparent lack of initiative from local law enforcement in addressing the issues plaguing this area. Listening to police briefings only raises more concerns. Every response seems to be, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I’ll have to look into that.’ I’m tired of the vague answers. I want clear solutions and a solid plan of action. Enough is enough. It’s time for real accountability and results. Sioux Falls deserves better.”
I warned several councilors and the media that once those scanners go silent all pertinent and relative information coming from the SFPD will end. Trust me, it wasn’t that great before the scanners went silent, but it is 10x worse now. Take Dunham Park incident for instance referenced in the above article. The next day at the briefing the police seemed to know very little, which seemed odd to me because every place I went to someone had a different version of the story.
This is the OTHER problem with closed government. If you don’t tell the public what is going on they will make up their own version of the story. Years ago when the directors didn’t run away from me like I was on fire, one walked up to me after a meeting quite irate and says, “That post you did today about the zoning issue was completely off base and wrong.” I said, “Oh, okay, I can update and correct it. Can you give me the proper information and documentation?” They just grunted and walked away.
Disinformation is worse then NO information. Rumors and gossip gets circulated because you can’t be honest with the public. And it is just NOT the SFPD it is most city departments being led by a militant closed government administration that WORKS at keeping information from the public.
The best way to solve a crime is to get everyone on board with the investigation. Tell us what you know and whey you know it. You never know, a random ‘Sandy’ might just help you solve your crimes. Common sense Chief Thum, Common F’ing sense!