Comments on: Keepin’ it Kleen: An honest conversation about crime

By: Paul Hackerson

Paul Hackerson — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:29:57 +0000

First the past 6 years I have been on a soap box regarding the crime in Rockford. Weed & Seed? I don’t see any substantial change. Hug A Thug? What happened to that?
You do not need to be a Criminalogist to understand the common deanominator of Rockford’s Crime. #1 Guns. #2 Mobility.
The Rockford Police have no faith in support from their Command structure, so they are not going to push the envelope. I would start with a new Chief who throws his full support behind the field Officers. I would then direct them to stop every car they can with drivers (regardless of race) between the ages of 14 and 25. Push Pretext Stop to Reasonable Suspicion to Probably Cause to Searching the Vehicle, to arrest for licensing issues, weapons or dope,to Inventory Search to Impoundment. I would advertise our efforts and let everyone of Gang Banger age know that if you are driving dirty, our plan is to get to you before you get to your crime scene.

By: John

John — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 12:00:34 +0000

I think you’re on the right track, too. My concern is with Eppersons attitude. A major cause of crime is drug trafficking. In fact, most of our crime is related one way or the other to drugs.

There is much the Police can do. they simply choose not to.

How about some undercover ops. to root out the black market firearms trade? Lets take illegal guns out of the hands of felons.

How about a real penal system? Forget that crap about rehabilitation, history proves it does not work! Apparently, once a criminal, always a criminal.

How about a job corp? Instead of wasting money on ridiculus river walks, or pouring money into a dieing downtown, lets give kids a job cleaning up…there is enough trash on our streets to keep them busy the rest of the summer.

By: Paul Gorski

Paul Gorski — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 05:02:48 +0000

Quite frankly that’s a wimpy answer. We’re all in a position to affect public policy, you just need to work a little harder. Changing the State’s Attorney won’t change a thing. We need to pick up more criminals and prosecute them faster, and that’s more a function of the bottleneck in our court system. We need night court at least a couple night’s a week to help process the backlog.

By: Michael Kleen

Michael Kleen — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:03:40 +0000

If I had won my primary race back in March, I might be in a position to affect policy change. But alas, I am merely a humble writer. I will suggest that voters replace the current State’s Attorney in November, that would be a good start.

By: Paul Gorski

Paul Gorski — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 02:02:01 +0000

Not sure how to take Mr. Vaultonbur’s comments, but you don’t have to be bright, right, or have a track record of success to be an elected official, you just need to be more popular than your opposition. And today, money buys popularity.

All I can say is that Mr. Kleen begins to lay out the framework for one strategy to fight crime. But to be successful you have to go all in, stay focused on that one topic, not get distracted. Mr. Kleen makes some suggestions, so if wants to see them realized, he needs to take the lead.

By: Thomas L. Vaultonbur

Thomas L. Vaultonbur — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:35:53 +0000

These are good suggestions, and according to them Jesus Correa should be the rightful mayor of Rockford, because he’s the only person I know who organizes anything like neighborhood cleanups or shows of civic unity.

By: Paul Gorski

Paul Gorski — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:01:11 +0000

So you’ve opened up a conversation on crime, and you’ve even mentioned some steps to take, “Simple things like clearing trash, fixing streetlights, enforcing building codes, repairing streets, washing away graffiti and discouraging loiterers can have a dramatic effect on reducing crime in a neighborhood.”

Next article, elaborate on those steps. What does the city do, the county, the residents?

I think you’re on the right track here, just as long as you too stay focused on the conversation. Use your articles to focus on specific problems narrowly. Pick off the problems one by one. Heck, pick a neighborhood, contact the neighbors and make a plan. Then implement the plan. Then you’d have something to write about and the city couldn’t ignore you.