I wanted to share this e-mail we just received from a concerned citizen. We know this is bound to make officers go nuts with comments as we know what's going on with our side. Far too often, we hear these complaints from the public, but never get to tell our side of the story. Here's the e-mail and the comment section is waiting:I happened upon this blog a while ago during the media reports, and am amazingly grateful to dirk and anyone else involved with it.
However, some of the comments on this blog, from people that I am assuming are officers, scare me almost as much as the corruption in the department.
I was reading through the archives, and noticed a post back in April. Within the comments there were officers saying how they're happy to do nothing all day long, because all of the citizens here don't deserve the help. While I can see where they are coming from, I wish they would keep in mind that some citizens really do depend on them.
I'm a law abiding citizen. I've never been arrested, been pulled over, or given a ticket. But I have a few stories I would like to share with you regarding my correspondence with the MPD.
About 2 years ago, my fiancé and I were awoken in the middle of the night to the sound of gun shots right outside of our bedroom window. He called 911 and was on hold for 15 minutes. Despite that, the officers - all 20 of them - were there in a very admirable time. We told the officers that we had seen that the shots had been fired from a vehicle, and that we heard 2 distinctly different guns being shot. We also told the officers that we had seen the car go down a dead end road, and that they hadn't left yet. The officers didn't care about any of that; instead they just talked to people in the neighborhood to calm them down.
A few months later, my fiancé and my apartment was broken into while we were at work. I wasn't driving at the time, so a coworker had dropped me off and left. When I had noticed that my door was slightly open, I knew not to go inside on the off chance the burglar was still in my home. I called the MPD. I explained to them what had happened, and the very delicate situation I was in. I wasn't sure if there was some one in my apartment, and that if there was some body they could probably hear me talking to them. I didn't have a vehicle so I couldn't leave. I was by myself, a young, 110 lb. female, who probably didn't stand a chance in defending herself. And that I was incredibly scared. I then proceeded to call my mother, who was still at work, my fiancé, and my step-dad in Fayette County. My mother, fiancé, and step-father were there before any officer was. In fact, they were there 20 minutes earlier than the officer. Luckily, there wasn't anyone in my apartment. However, none of our stolen belongings were recovered, and the investigator on the case never felt the need to return any of our phone calls. All we had was a police report, a police report that I not only had to take time off work to get, but had to pay for.
My most recent run in with the law was interesting. My fiancé and I were out shopping, and we noticed an unmarked squad car hop out of a left hand turn lane at a red light, and then kick on his light and fly through the intersection making a left hand turn, not even stopping to see if there was any oncoming traffic. The second he was through the intersection he kicked off his lights. We then noticed that he pulled into a fast food restaurant. My fiancé, being sick of how officers abuse their power, pulled into the parking lot, got out of the car, and took down the officer's plate number to report him. The officer then came out of the restaurant and accosted us. My fiancé told him what he was doing, and why he was doing it. The office then threatened to arrest us, and told us he was on "official police duty. Told us to file our "silly little complaint." and then stomped back into the restaurant, sat down at a table and continued eating with his girlfriend. That doesn't exactly sound like "official police duty" to me. We most likely would not have filed a complaint with the department for the running the red light, even though he could have seriously hurt someone, however, his actions made us think differently. Of course, no one at internal affairs feels the need to call us back.
Cordova, TN
