Last updated on 2015.05.11
Rapid City Police Chief Steve Allender had a rough weekend. Coordinating 1,100 storm-related calls within city limits during last weekend's blizzard and trying to provide vital services on streets blocked not just with snow but with vehicles stranded by people who were surprised they got stuck after the city advised no travel will wear on any guy.
Chief Allender thus deserves to lower the verbal boom on the malcontents grousing about government and criticizing city workers (many of whom couldn't get home during the storm and thus stayed at their posts to serve the public):
To the handful of citizens criticizing the work of these dedicated servants – it’s hard to make you understand what an intense situation this was, because you weren’t out on a snowmobile delivering oxygen as the wind and snow pummeled you at 70 miles per hour. You didn’t shelter a stranded citizen in a patrol car for 14 hours while waiting to be rescued. You didn’t trudge though waist-high snow drifts for blocks to answer a medical call when the plow couldn’t get through to the victim’s street. You weren’t working a 24-hour shift at the hospital or fire department or police department because reinforcements couldn’t get in to relieve you. You weren’t the dispatcher trying to explain to irate citizens why first responders couldn’t go check on someone without a medical emergency – or why we couldn’t come knock the snow off a satellite dish for you [Steve Allender, "The Ungratitude of the Normally Apathetic," chiefsview, 2013.10.09].
Chief Allender captures perfectly with his post title the mindset of the complainers. They don't pay attention to what government does until they face an emergency... and then they feel entitled to complain.
Let 'em gripe, Chief. You understand, as should the rest of us, the vital role government plays in doing the hard, dangerous, life-saving work that no one else can. Thank you, Chief. Carry on.
Last night on The Ed Show. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/45755822/ns/msnbc-the_ed_show/vp/53248700#53248700
No farm bill to protect ranchers, government agencies closed, and the snow storm. How the tea party screwed over South Dakota.
Gosh, the RC Police had to do something besides hide behind bridges with radar to catch speeders who missed seeing the 6 inch by 2 foot limit sign.
The police chief might be wondering about why the streets weren't open sooner. He might also mention all the Rapid City residents who had to shovel snow off the streets to get to driveways. Pull broken trees off streets and driveways so emergency personnel could get to hospitals, etc.
Doug. the o'le classic police/radar gripe! Last I checked, the police chief is not the boss or does he have "jurisdiction" over the street department if you want to be technical since that is what your comment is about. But I'll move on.... I will give kudos to the EMS, Fire and Police for all the extra work and service they provided and likely received little thank you for. It always amazing there are those people that don't like law enforcement..... doesn't matter what the circumstance are, to them LE is always bad, wrong. To them I say come back to reality and get over the fact you once were arrested for doing something illegal and appreciate the service they give to defend you and protect you even if you call them names and hate them.
[CAH: Got a real name, "Amazed"? Check your e-mail.]
Well, amazed, it is not the old radar speed gripe. It is a combination of police exploiting poor signing to jack up fines. I don't have anything against good law enforcement and don't usually call any of them names, and have not been arrested, so that part of your crap is a strawman argument. I have worked in highway traffic safety and know that some officers are some of the nicest and able people you will meet and others are little better psychologically than the worst of the thugs they should be chasing.
The police chief is whining because he is not getting enough kudos for the work they have done. It is a bit unseemly.
We have had experiences with Rapid City Police doing nothing about one of our vehicles being shot up. My son was also hassled by them claiming he had driven somebody off the road with a vehicle that was jacked up at the time waiting for parts and while he himself was on the other side of Rapid City. We talked to the mayor and he said griping to the police would be counter-effective, they would just be more likely to vindictively hassle us in the future.
Rapid City is easier to drive in than is Sioux Falls, but signing there has been rated as terrible which is doubly bad with all the tourists. The police should be aware of the signing problems and do what they can to get them improved instead of using them as part of speed traps.
Speeding is greatly exaggerated as a traffic problem. When traffic enforcement people can't figure out what was the problem at a crash, they write "speeding" as a contributing factor. This skews traffic enforcement away from drunken driving, tailgating, abd creeping past stop signs ignorant of the geometry which may be much more of an actual problem than minor speeding.
Police and traffic enforcement can not do anything better for their image than actually helping people without bitching about all the work they had to do and without having a negative view of all the people they are hired to serve rather than hassle for nothing..