Comdr Don Johnson (not that Don Johnson) is ready to kick ass and take names in the third police district.
“We’re not going to allow anything to go on around here,” Johnson assured Silver Spring’s citizens advisory board Monday night. “We’ve invested too much for something to go wrong now.”
The 22-year veteran takes the wheel at a time when understaffing and cop suspensions have taxed the Silver Spring station.
Fifty cops work the third district, which runs from Eastern Avenue to the Howard County line. At least seven have been suspended under allegations that they billed a security firm for moonlighting while on the clock with the county.
However, Johnson said the suspensions had no impact on the beat. Officers from other stations have been reassigned temporarily to Silver Spring to fill the gaps, he explained.
“We’re operating about one or two officers below where we were before,” Johnson said. “As far as patrol goes, we haven’t lost anything.”
Johnson also announced that five to seven rookie cops would be joining the third district in July, when the latest police academy class graduates.
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Glad to hear this. We CAN”T afford even the one gang fight or stabbing — or even just a reputation for being a plac where women are hassled, panhandling is out of control or whatever — to spoil the good thing we have going.
However, I’m sure that a “get-tough” stance by the police will be staunchly opposed by people who are “strict-constructionists” about the 1st Amendment — I’ve heard many say, over the years,that they would vigorously fight any efforts to limit behavior of any kind short of actual violence (and we all know that some acts short of violence can be just as damaging to SS’s reputation and well-being). There’s always been a belief among a substantial share of the SS population that limiting loitering or foul language will only lead to curbs on our liberal traditions by the “gestapo.” I’ll be interested to see how those folks react to this comment from the police.
But again, I say, “amen.”
Let’s keep in my that cops on the street are not the only way to control crime. Keeping buildings, parks, lighting in good shape goes a long way. Another important factor is local residents always being on the look out for things that don’t look or sound right. This is our community, let’s take care of it!
I’m going to optimistically understand Mr. Johnson’s statement, “we’re not going to let anything go on around here” to mean, “we;re not going to let anything unlawful go on around here.”
On the topic of loitering, does Montgomery County have a definition of the term and does anyone know what it is? I would hope that the county has or could craft a definition that allows the police to target lawbreakers while protecting the right of people to congregate.
After losing a Supreme Court case on the matter, (Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41 (1999)) the City of Chicago adopted the following definition of loitering: “remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities. ” Their prior definition of loitering was “remain(ing) in any one place with no apparent purpose.” (FYI, Wikipedia is my source of this information).