News-Miner Editorial
Property crimes
Case is a good example of public involvement
Published Monday, May 5, 2008
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Stumble It!For years, we have heard local police and troopers talk about public involvement as the only real means of curbing property crimes if we continue to refuse to budget for more police officers.
The example of a University of Alaska Fairbanks student, her friends and family who took steps that led to the arrests of Jason Bradley Brisson, 31, and Brenda Audry Rodgers, 41 — who are accused of property crimes spanning several weeks, and areas from Anchorage to Fairbanks — is an excellent example of citizens helping police without endangering themselves. It’s also a great example of having the courage to stand up and share the story with the public.
The woman didn’t use the CrimeStoppers program and isn’t eligible for the $1,000 reward the program was offering, but she certainly deserves some recognition.
The crimes with which Brisson and Rodgers have been charged stand as an example of how important it can be to have enough police to effectively address property crimes. The many “small” crimes they have been connected to certainly add up.
The same day this citizen sleuthing was reported, Fairbanks Chief of Police Dan Hoffman announced in a community perspective column that the department recently promoted a detective to partner with a patrol investigator and form a dedicated two-person Property Crimes Unit.
His announcement was part of a column encouraging people to get involved with Neighborhood Watch and an announcement that the new property crimes team will be helping to form a Business Watch program as well.
We can’t expect police to respond to every broken-out car window and missing laptop, iPod or purse, but the example of what this group of family and friends accomplished serves as a great example of what community members can do when they work in concert with police. Our eyes, ears and community spirit can go a long way through programs like Neighborhood Watch.
Anyone interested in forming a Neighborhood Watch can call Volunteers In Policing Programs Coordinator Lorna Weese at 450-6518.
Community Discussion
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I understand why the crime rate is so high. There are no laws for a few things in the Borough.
I have problems with the downstairs tenant and no one seems to care, from the land lord to the law.
And they wonder why there are property crimes.
Maybe the FPD could get help with property crimes from the North Pole, University, and the Airport Police Departments. They are always more than happy to help out when it comes to traffic enforcement.
If you catch someone stealing your property, issue some summary punishment yourself. There isn't a jury in town that would convict you.
wife228, what are you talking about? What kind of problems? Are they along the lines of staying up late making noise or are they cooking meth? You're right that no on cares about the former, although the latter is cause for concern.
I don't get the correlation between your tenant and property crimes. Could you please expound?
The police have no duty or means to prevent a crime or protect citizens. By law their only duty is to respond once a crime has been committed. We have more police now than ever and property crimes are happening more and more. It is our responsibility to take precautions to protect our property and families, not the police.
"Protect and serve" is now "Write more tickets to raise revenue."
I am curious what our current law is concerning protection of life and property. Does anyone out there have the way to dig that out and put it up here?
sosorry, I did some research some time back because of burglary while I was building my home. You will want to confirm this, but I found that in Alaska you may defend your property even if you are not in immediate danger. Some states require you to do nothing if you are not in danger. In Alaska (and a few other states) you may defend your property even if there is no threate of physical harm.
We may have more officers than ever, but in an practice emergency response, I was told that the community has 21 - 29 officers available in the entire area at a given time. That really is not that many, and they have to prioritize what they give their attention to. I do agree, though, that maybe more of that focus could be on property crimes and less on traffic violations!
hmmm - 21 to 29 at a given time....
and to think i saw three in a mile-and-a-half stretch working 'traffic enforcement' last Saturday night round-about 3am....
maybe they should prioritize differently
- or maybe we should realize that property enforcement isn't as sexy as stopping people randomly to see if they have had a drink in the weeeee hours
From reading newspapers around the country I get the overall impession that there is a current philosophy in place in many police departments that increased traffic enforcement has an added kicker
of increased access to criminals. Doesn't seem such a great philosophy when seeing someone being pulled over while you are leaving the scene where your car was just broken into and robbed and you could not get a live police response. Or when you are driving home from the grocery store on a quiet evening minding your own business and get shaken down like a criminal for having a light out on your licence plate.
The answer is not removing law enforcement from the streets. I don't have a problem being pulled over if my tail light is out--I don't drink and drive--Those who do get less than what they deserve.
I'm not sure what the answer is. We have limited funding and community members who don't want to pay taxes. We also have an economy that is eating us alive, so those of us who would pay taxes simply cannot afford to.
Inchworm, not sure where you got your numbers, but there is no way that can be correct, although it must vary significantly based on the time of the day. For example, during business hours on a weekday, there must be a lot more available because you can count the chiefs, assistant chiefs, detectives and their supervisors, wildlife troopers and their supervisors, etc. But at night, no way! Rough estimate on my part: UAFPD 2-3, NPPD 1-2, FPD 4-6, AST 4-6, Airport 2-3. No way does that add up to 19-21, and that is covering the entire borough. And as you said in your post, those higher numbers during the day include those who can respond in an emergency, not those actually taking calls and investigating property crimes. As I said in another post, the departments do not have the resources to investigate property crimes, because that is the way we the taxpayers want it, so they have to prioritize. The officers are making these stops and arrests because they are trying to make the community safe, not because they are trying to make money. No matter how much property someone loses, it does not make up for the life or health that could be lost when there is a crime against a person (including a violent crash involving alcohol.) That is why the departments focus so much more on people crimes (and DUI enforcement) than property crimes. If they were in it for the money, how do you explain the hundreds and hundreds of domestic violence arrests made in this community each year. There's certainly no money in those, but cops are making them because they are trying to "serve & protect."
Fairbanks gas, writing tickets does NOT raise revenue for the departments, the money goes into the general fund, and as any officer can tell you, money raised from tickets/fines has no bearing on a departments budget. I keep hearing this argument over and over, but there is no evidence whatsoever to support it.
Sosorry, here is what the state law says on justification for use of deadly force. http://touchngo.com/lglcntr/akstats/Stat...
Hope this was helpful.
Fairbanksgas: "It is our responsibility to take precautions to protect our property and families, not the police."
And not just our own property and families, but those of others, too -- right?
In the comment strings there seems to be a common perception that we're living some wild-wild-west, every-man-for-himself existence here, rather than living in a community, among friends and neighbors. I hope, Fairbanksgas, that you didn't mean to say that.
Paul If somebody comes into your work and points a gun at you, are you going to have time to call 911?
Instead of pointing a gun, he or she starts beating you up are you going to call 911 or defend yourself?
Do you think it's right to post during working hours?
Chelly--thanks for the info. I don't know the numbers on the police officers, but I do agree with you on the rest of your comments. For those people complaining about police issuing tickets--it sounds like you have a personal issue, because you have been pulled over for doing something wrong.
The police are doing what it takes to keep our community safe and the real threat to life and the easiest prevention is pulling people over for whatever reason.
Paul--no one is living in the wild wild west, but people should be more aware of our laws in Alaska (the theives). I know that I own a gun and would use it in the event I was forced to protect my family. I don't think I could take someones life over property theft---unless I was threatened. A lot of people are not like me and would use deadly force, which would be within their rights. It is not your right to protect your neighbors things.
Thanks Chelly, that is what I remember reading back in 2004 and I see that is when the website is current until. My attempts to sift through and find current status ended in failure. I wonder if today I blasted someone breaking into my car in downtown Fairbanks how many ways I would still be breaking the law. The way I read this the old make sure they are completely in your house business is expanded to everywhere it happens.
It seems to me that criminals should be deeply concerned about being wounded or worse in the commission of crime. Perhaps some case review on successful citizen prevention on a more regular basis along with some signage out there pointing our positive right to fight back in a big way. In addition a bit of everpresent affirmation everywhere that is nothing lower more despicable, repugnant, and downright scummier than people who commit crimes on other people.
There would sure be a lot more phone calls before just stopping on by.... smiles...
You dont have to take their life but a shot in the leg would be a good place to start.
The criminals that are constantly performing the property crimes are well educated. They know good and well that even if you see them getting away that a cop is not coming in a hurry. Its a sad sad deal for many as I have had so many friends have valuable uninsured property stolen from them never to be seen again. It hurts when folks are already struggling to afford things only to have some low life take it and then get no help from LE. I assure you that if a few of these small time thugs started getting checked in to the FMH ER with gun shot wounds many others would think twice about it, but right now its a win win for the bad guys...unless your a resilient 21 year old college kid!...grin
I believe police staffing in the interior was at it's highest in the pipeline days. There are not more police than ever, but rather, more people than ever per cop on shift.
Please, please research laws before using any deadly weapon. AND if you are asked why you used four bullets when you shot someone the standard answer is 3 was not enough and 5 was too many. Don't forget to lawyer up either. You may only protect your neigbor if you feel they are in fear of their life, and would protect themselves if they could.
An armed society is a polite society...but know the laws before taking action because ignorance is not a defense.
chelly, I believe the number given was ALL the officers in the area. The emergency response exercise focused on a shooter in a public place, and yes, the on-duty numbers were very low, but in an extreme emergency everyone would be called on duty. And actually, if you add up the higher end of all your estimates, it is 20.
If you look hard at the last two strings of thefts that ranged from Anchorage to Fairbanks I think you will see that both cases were closed due to traffic stops performed on the suspects.
Correction:
"The woman didn’t use the CrimeStoppers program and isn’t eligible for the $1,000 reward the program was offering, but she certainly deserves some recognition."
Using the CrimeStoppers 456-Clue is only one factor of many we consider here in Fairbanks.
While these two had yet had yet to gain the distinction of "Crime/Criminals" of the week as they had already done in Anch.; there is little doubt they would have in the coming weeks.
A thousand dollar reward has been authorized in this case to the parties involved with the apprehension of this pair. Brisson and Rodgers would probably have been caught sooner or later here or in the next town or city they moved on to but thanks to Amanda and her friends involvement; later is here and now. If convicted they will have plenty of time to contemplate the wisdom of moving their criminal operation to Fairbanks.
Thanks,
David Coleman,
Fairbanks CrimeStoppers BOD
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