mariegalante t1_iz7aycf wrote on December 7, 2022 at 12:16 AM

Reply to comment by Sweaty_Conclusion_80 in Why aren't more traffic tickets written? by cmndo

I appreciate you identifying yourself. I’ve lived & worked in and near New Haven most of my life. I wish things were different but I have never found NHPD to be helpful, at best neglectful and the worst was having to report a crime and then getting literally screamed at by the responding officer that I was lying. It was terrifying.

You are right, there are a lot of factors at play in my experiences and within the policing environment in New Haven. But I can’t really imagine a scenario where I would call the NHPD and not worry that it was going to blow up in my face.

I wish it were better for all our sakes.

Sweaty_Conclusion_80 t1_iz7gfea wrote on December 7, 2022 at 12:57 AM

Yeah, that sounds like a shitty experience, I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Without knowing the details, I can only speak in generalities: we get lied to on an if not daily basis then certainly with regularity and it can be very frustrating. What’s also tough to convey to people is how much we’re exposed to and how much that can wear on a person. It’s not uncommon for us to handle a critical incident such as a shooting, clear the call, and immediately get dispatched to whatever is holding. Imagine stepping in brain matter, trying to secure a scene with a crowd of upset people and comfort grieving family members, then getting dispatched to someone’s parking complaint…and for that person it’s super important because “that cAr AlwayS PaRks liKe tHat!!!” (that’s my best approximation of an irate neighbor.) I’m not excusing what happened to you because I’d like to think we should be able to control ourselves better. However, it feel like society expects us to be some combination of navy seals and social workers but only want to pay for the national guard (no offense to my guard members!)

mariegalante t1_iz80lck wrote on December 7, 2022 at 3:34 AM

I’m not going to get in my details because I don’t know you, but your point about one call bleeding into another is valid and I think points to the whole reasoning behind the defund the police movement. The only thing I will share is that I was a victim of a crime on a Sunday night, I realized it and reported it Monday morning and didn’t get to talk to the officer till he came back to work on Wednesday when he completely flipped out on me.

To your point, police should not be in the roles of navy seals, social workers and national guard. We should put some mental health workers on the streets to take the load off the cops. Cops try to (or are expected to) do too much and it seems like many of them don’t know how to de-escalate a situation or even their own moods. A frazzled officer puts everyone at risk.