Saturday, September 24, 2005
Downtown police officer is welcome news
The police department announced that an officer will be assigned to the downtown area full time. Good news! It's an old-fashioned idea--an officer walking a beat, knowing everything going on and everyone in the area.
I learned at a young age from my grandfather how important this is. He was a policeman in Quincy, Mass. for 38 years starting in the 1920's. Over the years he worked on a horse (there was the time the horse reared up and almost trampled him), on a motorcycle (which required a tight grip, which he blamed for his arthritis) and on foot, which I think was his favorite. He knew everyone on his beat, and when something went wrong he was right there--but more often nothing went wrong, precisely because he was there. He never liked the more reactive approach of squad cars responding to calls.
While I never feel unsafe on Main Street, there are a couple of spots that feel uncomfortable at times, with groups of people hanging out. One day I saw a guy show off his knife to his buddy. Another time I saw a fistfight break out in a crosswalk. Stuff like this can happen anywhere, but it should happen less with officer Dave on the beat.
I learned at a young age from my grandfather how important this is. He was a policeman in Quincy, Mass. for 38 years starting in the 1920's. Over the years he worked on a horse (there was the time the horse reared up and almost trampled him), on a motorcycle (which required a tight grip, which he blamed for his arthritis) and on foot, which I think was his favorite. He knew everyone on his beat, and when something went wrong he was right there--but more often nothing went wrong, precisely because he was there. He never liked the more reactive approach of squad cars responding to calls.
While I never feel unsafe on Main Street, there are a couple of spots that feel uncomfortable at times, with groups of people hanging out. One day I saw a guy show off his knife to his buddy. Another time I saw a fistfight break out in a crosswalk. Stuff like this can happen anywhere, but it should happen less with officer Dave on the beat.
Hooray for the redirect!
Visitors to www.townofgreenfield.org now get the new web site instead of the dead-end error message.
