[Scan-DC] Residents blamed a new encrypted police radio for lack of "transparency."

Fri May 5 12:22:01 EDT 2017

Alan

Good day.  The police traffic has been encrypted since they moved to the NJ 700 MHz system for communication.

Talk Group is 4567

Terry 

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 5, 2017, at 2:01 AM, Alan Henney <alan at henney.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Here is an interesting article regarding recent police encryption in Millville, NJ (Cumberland Co.).
> 
> RR actually shows minimal encryption on this system, or did I miss something?
> 
> http://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=7021
> 
> 
> The Daily Journal (Vineland, New Jersey)
> 
> NEWS; Pg. A3
> 
> Brawl becomes issue at meeting
> 
> By, Joseph P. Smith, Staff Writer
> May 4, 2017 Thursday 
>   1 Edition
> 
> April 26 incident was hot topic at City Commission
> 
> MILLVILLE - City Commission was an emotional roller coaster Tuesday night, starting with feel-good police promotion and hiring ceremonies but ending with tearful, angry venting over street violence that's inflicted a national black eye on Millville.
> 
> Arrests have been made and more are promised in the April 26 incident at South 4th Street and Garrison Avenue. Its many low points, as seen on multiple videos posted on social media, include a crowd of women and men kicking and punching a woman who they'd knocked to the street. One resident was mortified when she heard that news of the melee was publicized in Chicago media.
> 
> The angry words waited until the public comment period at the end of the meeting. Besides the street melee, residents also criticized what they viewed as a blackout of public information about crime. Residents blamed a new encrypted police radio system and infrequent public reports on shooting incidents for what they called a lack of "transparency."
> 
> More police needed
> 
> Mayor Michael Santiago, who also is public safety director, asked residents not "to give up" because the commission and police will not.
> 
> "Do we need more officers?" asked Santiago, who is a retired Millville police sergeant. "Absolutely. How many more? Give us as many as you want. We'll take them."
> 
> Santiago, though, said more police won't solve all the problems.
> 
> "It's us," he said. "I think Commissioner (Joseph) Sooy brought the word up 'respect.' We've got to respect each other ... Most of those people were Bridgeton people. And I hate to say that. They weren't from our city. They came here to have a problem. But our police department did an outstanding job. I saw the records."
> 
> Police Chief Jody Farabella acknowledged that residents "are hurting" but said some information in circulation about that night is not correct. He expressed pride in the response of officers to the incident last Wednesday and the hours of disorderly conduct incidents that preceded it.
> 
> "The response time was a minute to 2 minutes every time the police were called," Farabella said. "Several arrests have been made from this. Several more arrests will be coming from this event."
> 
> However, Farabella said, police can't control people's actions or predict outbreaks. Some people who saw it and recorded video actually did try to help police, he said.
> 
> "And we want to thank some people that actually YouTubed it," the chief said. "But there were some people trying to egg it on. You have a communication device in your hand? Why don't you hit 9-1-1? Call the police. And that's what we saw a little bit of."
> 
> Residents: City falling apart
> 
> Christine Makosky, owner of Phenom Factory, an indoor sports facility on South 8th Street, told commissioners she'd chosen to open a business here against advice to head to North Jersey or Maryland. Mostly, she said, she was moved to come because of concerns about kids.
> 
> "Our city is falling apart," Makosky said. "Facts. It has been. We've been begging for help. People have come up with ideas. Nobody's really taking it seriously enough. I don't know why and I don't know how to fix it."
> 
> Makosky talked earlier in the day with Santiago.
> 
> "I know, if I was in your seat, I would be doing more and I told you this today on the phone," Makosky said. "I would be begging anybody in this state that would listen to me for help. You have lost control of the city.
> 
> "It didn't start with you, and I'm not blaming you," she said. "I'm not blaming anybody. But it has to change today. Yesterday. Last week, when we made the news and I had customers call me to say they're not coming to the fitness class today because they're scared to drive through Millville."
> 
> Kim Carty, a city school board member, said Makosky is "the first one" to help with projects to improve the city.
> 
> "We've made some good steps toward progress," Carty said. "But we're losing ... There is a significant loss of trust in the police department and, where that trust has eroded, 'street justice' is going to fill the role. And we've already seen that happen."
> 
> Carty said that, according to statistics she has seen, Millville has a crime rate higher than the city of Camden.
> 
> A call for leadership and transparency
> 
> We need your leadership," she said. "I'm tired of hearing 'the chief can't (talk)' because the prosecutor says he can't talk or the mayor says he can't talk," she said. "Enough. We need a comprehensive plan. We need to continue to strengthen those community boundaries and relationships where we've done a good job, and we need to figure out where we haven't."
> 
> "Mayor, I know you've heard the complaints of the people," said Steve Harris, pastor of Restoration House. "You know what needs to be done with the police and so forth. But you can't control people. I want to make that clear. It is going to take a group effort in our community to come together to start to change the mindset. I don't care what color you are."
> 
> Harris said pastors are trying to "bring hope," but he wants the City Commission to come out with a "vision plan" for the city over the next decade. "Because the older generations are dying off that stayed here for a long time," he said.
> 
> Marietta Clendaniel, a Cedar Street resident, also was concerned with the lost ability of residents to use police scanners to be aware of problem areas and avoid them. The spread of gunshot incidents, very often never solved, has spread to her neighborhood.
> 
> Two weeks ago, Clendaniel said, she woke up to two detectives at her door because of shots fired at Carlton House apartments. "No. It didn't happen on 2nd Street. No. It wasn't in the Third Ward. This happened in the nicest side of town right on Cedar Street.
> 
> "Nothing was ever put in the newspaper," she said. "I looked. So, I'm not even sure how many of the neighbors know that something like that occurred in their neighborhood. Shouldn't the public be notified of something like that? Shouldn't we know? Transparency."
> 
> Clendaniel mentioned that news of the street brawl had made it to Chicago, a city with a major crime problem. "I was in shock," she said.
> 
> "Some of these commissioners have said that we have the potential to be known as a world class city," she said. "But we're known, all right."
> 
> Main Street resident Marissa Ranello said she'd moved from New York City and would like to stay and maybe open a business. "This isn't what I pictured," she said.
> 
> "I don't want to pick - and I'm not exaggerating - 12 needles off my front lawn since December," she said. "My kid can't play in the park because there are needles sticking up out of the cedar chips and laying on the playground where the rubber mats are."
> 
> We can't give up on people
> 
> The director of the SHINE youth program at First United Methodist Church deplored impulses "to write people off" if they are renters living in the Third Ward or Center City.
> 
> Shaun Connors said 103 children are enrolled in SHINE, a peak since it started. Assistance includes food, recreation and community projects.
> 
> "And it seems to me we just want to dismiss and (say) 'let the animals kill each other, 'look what the savages have done to this community,'" Connors said. "We're focusing too much on this and wanted to take something back that is from years gone by. We have to discover what our new Millville is going to look like. And it's going to have many colors and many shades, and we have to accept and embrace that."
> 
> Connors spoke of a need to have jobs that pay enough for people to live on what they are paid.
> 
> Ninth Street resident Alex Soto called the city's recent exposure to other parts of the state and country "embarrassing," and not just with the street brawl. Even a documentary on baseball player Mike Trout showed rundown parts of the city and was a "slap in the face" to him.
> 
> Soto said taxpayers will have to accept higher taxes if that's what is needed to deal with crime.
> 
> Farabella said the police budget could not afford body cameras or the ShotSpotter system to locate gunfire that some residents are demanding. The department, however, has placed license plate reading systems around the city to identify vehicles connected to crimes.
> 
> As far as the radio system, Farabella said, there was no effort to buy a system that would cut out civilian scanners. Vineland uses the same system, Bridgeton just adopted it, and the New Jersey State Police use it, he said.
> 
> Need for community involvement
> 
> The Rev. Jonathan Merki, pastor of Millville Church of the Nazarene and also a police chaplain, followed Farabella to the podium.
> 
> "Don't you love democracy?" said Merki, who gave the invocation to open the meeting. "I do. I grew up where it wasn't, and I'm grateful for what we have. And I thank you (commissioners) sitting up there so quietly and listening to all of us."
> 
> Merki said he wonders what would be accomplished if everyone got involved, referring to programs like SHINE and Play Streets. Commissioner David Ennis set an example with his efforts as a pastor to clean up Center City neighborhoods, he added.
> 
> "We have an amazing group of officers," Merki said. "You should watch how they interact with the public. I went on a ride-along today. It's incredible for me to watch a 25-year-old interact with people in a crisis moment in a powerful way, in a dignified way. It happens."
> 
> Ennis picked up on comments from Connors about "writing off" some residents.
> 
> "Young lady, I commend you for how eloquently you spoke that," Ennis said. "You can't write people off as if they're nothing. Because it's only by the grace of God that I'm not a drug addict ... You know what drugs do? It takes you to a world where there's no pain. The reason why people are doing it is because they look at Millville and they say, 'I may as well give up and find an escape route.'"
> 
> Call for respect
> 
> Commissioner Sooy asked residents to contact state legislators, first about the bail reform law that's been in effect since January. The law did away with monetary bail in favor of deciding more broadly whether a defendant should be jailed or freed until their trial.
> 
> "Now I see somebody shaking their head," Sooy said as he started his remarks. "OK. Great. But if you think locking somebody up and letting them right back out is going to solve your problem, it's not. There are some of you that think everybody in the world can be saved. Everybody in the world can't be saved unless they want to be saved.
> 
> "Now you saw it during the video of that fight," he added. "You saw people that had no respect for each other. No respect for law and order. No respect for anything."
> 
> Sooy also bashed Trenton for encouraging distribution of needles to illegal drug users. Some residents said discarded needles are as common as weeds in some areas of the city.
> 
> Joseph P. Smith; (856) 563-5252; jsmith at gannettnj.com
> ______________________________________________________________
> Scan-DC mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/scan-dc
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html