December 19, 2009
Each morning, hours before dawn, I am on the internet scanning news stories from dozens of media sources, looking for stories to post on The Police News. As I do, I often read several accounts of the same incident in different newspapers and on different TV stations.
I am always amazed at how different the same story appears in the various media sources.
This morning I read a report in a daily newspaper about a robbery suspect that was chased by police, abandoned his vehicle and ran into a wooded area where he was finally flushed out by police dogs. The newspaper headlined it's story, "Suspect hides in mud to try to elude police." Didn't happen. He covered himself with some leaves.
The newspaper story went on to say, "search dogs found him covered with mud." It's true he was dirty, but he was not covered with mud. We have pictures of the arrest. There was no mud.
Of course the story clarifies that at the end of the sentence by tagging it with, "authorities said." Oh really! What authorities? Must have been an authority that wasn't there as our photographer was.
The story is perpetuated when a TV station picks up the story from the newspaper and repeats it word for word. Spreading the news is the name of the game, but shouldn't they spread it right?
Now, whether or not this crook had mud all over him or not is no big deal. Who really cares? My point is this. What else do they report wrong? What else do they exaggerate? It was actually a good story without the mud.
Can we really trust the mainstream media to report only the facts to us nowadays, without all the color and hoopla? Probably not. Today's news reporting is all about drama and hype in a competive business where they all compete for the same advertising dollar and reporters are competing for jobs.
Could this be part of the reason we are seeing large, old line, print newspapers dwindling and fading away in preference to online news?
My grandfather always said he took things with "a grain of salt." He beleived only a morsel of what he read and heard.
My grandfather was a smart man.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Crooks beware, Sugar Land cops are watching
December 17, 2009
Sugar Land police have a great idea. Experiencing a rash of vehicle burglaries brought on by the holiday shopping season, the SLPD has formed a special impact team made up of officers who will focus exclusively on vehicle burglaries and shopper safety.
As the holiday season progresses, traditionally crime increases. The recent arrests of two men from El Campo caught breaking into cars has put a damper on criminal activity in Sugar Land. Both men were charged with several auto break-ins inside and outside the city limits.
Officers on the impact team have department-wide resources available, including plain clothes investigators, crime prevention officers and citizen volunteers.
The task force is saturating areas identified as "hot spots" with newly created impact teams. Special stings and surveillance operations are also being conducted.
In addition to enforcement, the impact teams work closely with citizens and owners of retail areas, especially shopping centers and fitness clubs.
The Police News thinks the Sugar Land Police have the right idea. They have recognized a traditional problem that arises every year during the holiday shopping season. Rather than just waiting for calls to come in from victims, they are out there, poised to grab those crooks who are sure to appear. And when they do, they're busted.
That's what we call 'police work'.
The following tips can help prevent vehicle burglaries:
• Police suggest shoppers remember the basic, common sense, precautions during their shopping trips.
• Remember to always keep vehicles locked. When parked overnight, remove all valuables from vehicles. When shopping, make one trip to the car with purchased merchandise, and then leave the lot. Thieves have been known to watch shoppers as they place merchandise in their cars before returning to a store.
• Never leave identification, wallets, credit cards or jewelry in vehicles while visiting fitness centers. Doing so is much riskier than using a locker inside the gym or leaving the items at home.
• If personal property must be left in a car, lock it in the trunk. Unfortunately, this option does not exist for pick-up trucks or SUVs. Thieves are aware that there is no secure place to store items in these types of vehicles.
• Finally, before you leave a vehicle, take a second to look inside and make sure nothing is visible from the outside that could attract a thief.
Breck Porter
The Police News
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Galveston Politics STINK!
Most of us who live on Galveston Island, know by now that city politics has hit a new low and there seems to be no end in sight.
The city council is now occupied by at least three new members who pretend to be acting in the best interest of their constiuents, but who we are convinced, just love to watch themselves on Channel 16 re-runs of the meeting.
Council meetings drag on for hours and hours as these three entertain each other, one even laughing out loud at her own remarks, that is, when she is awake.
Next to her sits a black activists who had a short career as a city fireman, then sued the city when they fired him. A lot valuable TV time is focused on him trying desperately to form sentences that are intelligent enough for others to understand. He's the only one on council, who when he finally decides to shut-up, says, "I pass mayor."
At the other end of the council table sits two lady lawyers. One speaks from time to time when she can get a word in edgewide. The other hardly ever shuts up. During her campaign for election she gained the endorsement of the city's only daily newspaper. In that endorsement the paper commented this lady lawyer was sure to raise some points that otherwise would not be raised. That was an under statement. The lady lawyer loves to hear herself talk when others are bored to death and are praying she shut-up.
A sure sign that politics really does stink in Galveston, is when one of the leading political journalists in the city decides to pack up and move to Houston.
Disgusted with the whole damn mess, Jim Guidry, publisher of Guidry News, announced this week that he and wife Lynda, who have been covering city government in Galveston for 25 years, will return to a city of some semblance of sanity. They will leave a reporter behind to endure the misery of city politics in Galveston.
Actually, this is probably not a surprise to many who know Galveston. This so-called tropical resort, with a historical past of gangsters, cronyism, gambling and corrupt government, has long found it difficult to break free of these old habits.
Galveston has forever operated with an undermanned and poorly equipped police department. The department is more of a training ground for new cops who move on to careers elsewhere within a couple years, leaving the city spending more and more money rehiring and retraining new cops rather than provide them pay and benefits which would keep them on the island.
Even at that, the local newspaper brands them rich cops and blames many of the city's financial woes on the expense of providing police service to the citizens of Galveston. The publisher who makes these complaints, feels so safe in his own home, he has erected an 8' high, solid wall around his own home.
The story about the current state of Galveston politics cannot be told better than by Jim Guidry in his Comments on Galveston Municipal Government, published on March 16, 2009.
It's a damn shame when politics is so rotten, that a good and decent, professional journalists, decides to move 60 miles away to get away from the stink.
The city council is now occupied by at least three new members who pretend to be acting in the best interest of their constiuents, but who we are convinced, just love to watch themselves on Channel 16 re-runs of the meeting.
Council meetings drag on for hours and hours as these three entertain each other, one even laughing out loud at her own remarks, that is, when she is awake.
Next to her sits a black activists who had a short career as a city fireman, then sued the city when they fired him. A lot valuable TV time is focused on him trying desperately to form sentences that are intelligent enough for others to understand. He's the only one on council, who when he finally decides to shut-up, says, "I pass mayor."
At the other end of the council table sits two lady lawyers. One speaks from time to time when she can get a word in edgewide. The other hardly ever shuts up. During her campaign for election she gained the endorsement of the city's only daily newspaper. In that endorsement the paper commented this lady lawyer was sure to raise some points that otherwise would not be raised. That was an under statement. The lady lawyer loves to hear herself talk when others are bored to death and are praying she shut-up.
A sure sign that politics really does stink in Galveston, is when one of the leading political journalists in the city decides to pack up and move to Houston.
Disgusted with the whole damn mess, Jim Guidry, publisher of Guidry News, announced this week that he and wife Lynda, who have been covering city government in Galveston for 25 years, will return to a city of some semblance of sanity. They will leave a reporter behind to endure the misery of city politics in Galveston.
Actually, this is probably not a surprise to many who know Galveston. This so-called tropical resort, with a historical past of gangsters, cronyism, gambling and corrupt government, has long found it difficult to break free of these old habits.
Galveston has forever operated with an undermanned and poorly equipped police department. The department is more of a training ground for new cops who move on to careers elsewhere within a couple years, leaving the city spending more and more money rehiring and retraining new cops rather than provide them pay and benefits which would keep them on the island.
Even at that, the local newspaper brands them rich cops and blames many of the city's financial woes on the expense of providing police service to the citizens of Galveston. The publisher who makes these complaints, feels so safe in his own home, he has erected an 8' high, solid wall around his own home.
The story about the current state of Galveston politics cannot be told better than by Jim Guidry in his Comments on Galveston Municipal Government, published on March 16, 2009.
It's a damn shame when politics is so rotten, that a good and decent, professional journalists, decides to move 60 miles away to get away from the stink.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Will There Be A Police Review Board For Those Who Shot Cop Killer?
A good man in Corpus Christi was run down and killed Wednesday by an asshole with a long criminal record who had already attacked one cop and was being chased by several others.
Lt. Stuart Alexander was only 47-years old, about the same age as my oldest daughter. He had been a Corpus Christi police officer for 20-years and was highly respected by everyone in the department. He was a "cops cop" said another officer in his department. That's a term of endearment in the police business.
As a Lieutenant and field supervisor, Alexander didn't have a partner riding with him. He was alone when he set up at a spot on a freeway to set out a spike strip in an effort to blow the tires on the car heading in his direction, being driven by 21-year old Daniel Lee Lopez. A pack of police cars hot on his tail.
Lopez, a local turd, known by the cops as a street thug, saw Stuart on the side of the road ahead of him and swerved to hit him, and he did.
Hearing about this good man's death makes my blood boil when I think of all the police antagonists we have been reading about lately. It makes be cringe when I see these people on city councils and in positions of public leadership, who make it their mission to micro-manage the police departments in their communities.
It make be want to puke when I watch some Galveston city council persons spend hours grilling the police chief over bullshit they know absolutely nothing about. I get sick to my stomach to watch an idiot on TV who mumbles and bumbles and repeats himself over and over, in and effort to make a sentence that others can understand. My gosh, who in hell elected this fool? And to think that Stuart Alexander laid down his life in Corpus Christi to protect people like this.
And it's not just in Galveston. These same self-annointed prima donnas (a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team) are dealing misery to police officers in Bayou Vista. In Santa Fe they have a mayor who wanted to do away with the entire police department and turn their duties over to the Sheriff who told him right off he didn't want the job and didn't have the manpower to do it.
In Houston they have Quanell X who is mostly a TV performer who defends black criminals against the police department, doesn't have a real job, and wears high dollar suits and ties, drives a fancy car, lives in an upscale home and probably drinks something better than Bull Dog Malt Liquor. Where in the hell does he get his money and why don't he raise hell when a black cop kicks someone's ass?
These are the kinds of people that Stuart Alexander died protecting. These are the kind of people that any officer, from Galveston, Bayou Vista, Santa Fe, or anywhere else, would go to any early grave trying to protect.
Do you think that for one minute any of these so-called political or community leaders give a shit? Hell no! They never even think about it.
These kind of people don't care that Galveston cops gave up part of their monthtly pay to help the city recover from a devastaing storm. All they care about is having a civilian review board so they can hamstring the police department.
Have we ever heard of a review board for the public works department. Where do we complain about the city worker who leans on his shovel all day long while talking on his cell phone and drinking a Diet Pepsi? What about the bus driver we see driving a big city bus down the street while eating a hamburger and playing his I-Pod? Is there a review board for these people? Hell no!
I have found over the years that people of this ilk have usually had an experience with the police in which they didn't fare well. Maybe just a traffic ticket, may their delinquest kid was arrested, maybe someone stole something out of their unlocked car and the police didn't get it back and arrest the thief. They were busy trying to solve a double-murder somewhere.
People, wake up! How many cop funerals must you watch on TV before you realize that some people who sit in responsible positions, on city councils and commissioner courts, are idiots and are there to carry out their own personal agendas. They are supposed to be there to see that the people in their districts or precincts get the services they are entitled to. They are not elected to manage anything, especially the police or fire departments. Most of them have never even ridden in a police car, unless it was in the back seat.
The next time you hear about one of our police officers being shot down, run down or beat down, by some worthless piece of human fecal matter, just remember those who want him reviewed by a civilian review board.
If Stuart Alexander's wife and kids sues Daniel Lopez for the loss of their husband and father, what in the hell are they going to get? Not a damn thing. But if Alexander had killed that worthless scum, you can bet his criminal family would have sued the hell out of the city of Corpus Christi, the police department and Alexander himself. And you can also bet that he would have gotten a money settlement from one of them.
That's the way I see it, and if you see it different, I don't give a damn.
Breck Porter
Lt. Stuart Alexander was only 47-years old, about the same age as my oldest daughter. He had been a Corpus Christi police officer for 20-years and was highly respected by everyone in the department. He was a "cops cop" said another officer in his department. That's a term of endearment in the police business.
As a Lieutenant and field supervisor, Alexander didn't have a partner riding with him. He was alone when he set up at a spot on a freeway to set out a spike strip in an effort to blow the tires on the car heading in his direction, being driven by 21-year old Daniel Lee Lopez. A pack of police cars hot on his tail.
Lopez, a local turd, known by the cops as a street thug, saw Stuart on the side of the road ahead of him and swerved to hit him, and he did.
Hearing about this good man's death makes my blood boil when I think of all the police antagonists we have been reading about lately. It makes be cringe when I see these people on city councils and in positions of public leadership, who make it their mission to micro-manage the police departments in their communities.
It make be want to puke when I watch some Galveston city council persons spend hours grilling the police chief over bullshit they know absolutely nothing about. I get sick to my stomach to watch an idiot on TV who mumbles and bumbles and repeats himself over and over, in and effort to make a sentence that others can understand. My gosh, who in hell elected this fool? And to think that Stuart Alexander laid down his life in Corpus Christi to protect people like this.
And it's not just in Galveston. These same self-annointed prima donnas (a vain or undisciplined person who finds it difficult to work under direction or as part of a team) are dealing misery to police officers in Bayou Vista. In Santa Fe they have a mayor who wanted to do away with the entire police department and turn their duties over to the Sheriff who told him right off he didn't want the job and didn't have the manpower to do it.
In Houston they have Quanell X who is mostly a TV performer who defends black criminals against the police department, doesn't have a real job, and wears high dollar suits and ties, drives a fancy car, lives in an upscale home and probably drinks something better than Bull Dog Malt Liquor. Where in the hell does he get his money and why don't he raise hell when a black cop kicks someone's ass?
These are the kinds of people that Stuart Alexander died protecting. These are the kind of people that any officer, from Galveston, Bayou Vista, Santa Fe, or anywhere else, would go to any early grave trying to protect.
Do you think that for one minute any of these so-called political or community leaders give a shit? Hell no! They never even think about it.
These kind of people don't care that Galveston cops gave up part of their monthtly pay to help the city recover from a devastaing storm. All they care about is having a civilian review board so they can hamstring the police department.
Have we ever heard of a review board for the public works department. Where do we complain about the city worker who leans on his shovel all day long while talking on his cell phone and drinking a Diet Pepsi? What about the bus driver we see driving a big city bus down the street while eating a hamburger and playing his I-Pod? Is there a review board for these people? Hell no!
I have found over the years that people of this ilk have usually had an experience with the police in which they didn't fare well. Maybe just a traffic ticket, may their delinquest kid was arrested, maybe someone stole something out of their unlocked car and the police didn't get it back and arrest the thief. They were busy trying to solve a double-murder somewhere.
People, wake up! How many cop funerals must you watch on TV before you realize that some people who sit in responsible positions, on city councils and commissioner courts, are idiots and are there to carry out their own personal agendas. They are supposed to be there to see that the people in their districts or precincts get the services they are entitled to. They are not elected to manage anything, especially the police or fire departments. Most of them have never even ridden in a police car, unless it was in the back seat.
The next time you hear about one of our police officers being shot down, run down or beat down, by some worthless piece of human fecal matter, just remember those who want him reviewed by a civilian review board.
If Stuart Alexander's wife and kids sues Daniel Lopez for the loss of their husband and father, what in the hell are they going to get? Not a damn thing. But if Alexander had killed that worthless scum, you can bet his criminal family would have sued the hell out of the city of Corpus Christi, the police department and Alexander himself. And you can also bet that he would have gotten a money settlement from one of them.
That's the way I see it, and if you see it different, I don't give a damn.
Breck Porter
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Cops Hot On The Trail of Galveston Killer
There is a police investigation going on in Galveston, Texas that is unlike any we have seen in recent memory by the city police department. We all remember the Baby Grace investigation which was about an 8 on the Ricter Scale, but that was the Sheriff's Office case and they wrapped that one up in fairly short order, considering.
The current case involves the violent attack of a woman back in January in which the victim was savagely beaten, partially disrobed, and left for dead. She survived, but when she got out of the hospital she took off and she's either been hiding ever since or she is just one of those people who don't know what's going on in the world outside. Knowing her background, she probably fits that category.
One officer involved in the investigation says she is either hiding from the police or is afraid that if she shows her face, the bad guy will come for her again. Either way, police are desperately trying to find her because she may hold the key they need to solve two murders. They are convinced that whoever beat her up, also assaulted and killed two other women within a month of her assault.
Charles Wiley, the police chief, a usually soft spoken, easy going, laid back type of guy, has all hands on deck for this case, assigning 10 of his detectives to the investigation, full-time. That is a large percentage of his entire detective squad in a department that is already 20 officers undermanned. Not only that, he asked for and got, help from several neighboring agencies. It's always good to get the whole police community involved in these type cases. So often we have seen an investigating agency try to keep everything in their own little corner of the world so they get all the glory when the case comes to a successful end. Yes, cops, even police chiefs have egos, but they are all pushed aside in this case.
Earlier this week detectives arrested a man in a sexual assault case that bore some similarties to these latest cases, in that the victim was brutally beaten and left for dead. Police connected him to a 2006 case through his DNA which was taken while he was a prison inmate. They have rushed his DNA to Austin to see if they get a match on these latest victims.
Police are quick to say however, that they aren't betting their whole pot on the guy and they have several other suspects that "look pretty good." We know they have probably pulled in every registered sex offender in the area and are no doubt getting DNA samples from the one's they don't already have, and no doubt they are pin-pointing where they were at the time of the assaults and murders. It's a big job. Galveston, at our last count about 2-years ago had over 150 registered sex offenders living on the island. With the influx of the riff raff that washed ashore with Hurricane Ike, who knows how many more there are.
Wiley, a great proponent of community based policing, has all his beat cops asking questions in the neighorhoods. This is where community policing can really pay off, in these kinds of investigations.
Often these cases are smeared all over the front pages and the TV news for a day or two, then they sort of just fade away when reporters aren't getting anything new from police, but that doesn't mean the investigation has slowed. Believe me, there are a lot of cops busting their butts 24/7 on this one, and if I were a betting man, my money would be on an arrest in the not too distant future.
Watch for it. The police know a hell of lot more than they're telling us, you can bet on that.
Breck Porter
editor@thepolicenews.net
The current case involves the violent attack of a woman back in January in which the victim was savagely beaten, partially disrobed, and left for dead. She survived, but when she got out of the hospital she took off and she's either been hiding ever since or she is just one of those people who don't know what's going on in the world outside. Knowing her background, she probably fits that category.
One officer involved in the investigation says she is either hiding from the police or is afraid that if she shows her face, the bad guy will come for her again. Either way, police are desperately trying to find her because she may hold the key they need to solve two murders. They are convinced that whoever beat her up, also assaulted and killed two other women within a month of her assault.
Charles Wiley, the police chief, a usually soft spoken, easy going, laid back type of guy, has all hands on deck for this case, assigning 10 of his detectives to the investigation, full-time. That is a large percentage of his entire detective squad in a department that is already 20 officers undermanned. Not only that, he asked for and got, help from several neighboring agencies. It's always good to get the whole police community involved in these type cases. So often we have seen an investigating agency try to keep everything in their own little corner of the world so they get all the glory when the case comes to a successful end. Yes, cops, even police chiefs have egos, but they are all pushed aside in this case.
Earlier this week detectives arrested a man in a sexual assault case that bore some similarties to these latest cases, in that the victim was brutally beaten and left for dead. Police connected him to a 2006 case through his DNA which was taken while he was a prison inmate. They have rushed his DNA to Austin to see if they get a match on these latest victims.
Police are quick to say however, that they aren't betting their whole pot on the guy and they have several other suspects that "look pretty good." We know they have probably pulled in every registered sex offender in the area and are no doubt getting DNA samples from the one's they don't already have, and no doubt they are pin-pointing where they were at the time of the assaults and murders. It's a big job. Galveston, at our last count about 2-years ago had over 150 registered sex offenders living on the island. With the influx of the riff raff that washed ashore with Hurricane Ike, who knows how many more there are.
Wiley, a great proponent of community based policing, has all his beat cops asking questions in the neighorhoods. This is where community policing can really pay off, in these kinds of investigations.
Often these cases are smeared all over the front pages and the TV news for a day or two, then they sort of just fade away when reporters aren't getting anything new from police, but that doesn't mean the investigation has slowed. Believe me, there are a lot of cops busting their butts 24/7 on this one, and if I were a betting man, my money would be on an arrest in the not too distant future.
Watch for it. The police know a hell of lot more than they're telling us, you can bet on that.
Breck Porter
editor@thepolicenews.net
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Does Galveston Need It's Own Quannel X?
Charles Wiley has been back in his hometown of Galveston just barely eight months. If you don't know who Charles Wiley is, he's the new police chief in town. Already he has faced a bigger challenge than any police chief since the 1900 Hurricane that almost wiped Galveston off the map.
Not only did Wiley lead Galveston's police force successfully through the storm of the century, saving lives and losing not a single officer, his own home was nearly destroyed. In fact, he has just completed moving back into it.
Welcome back to Galveston Chief! Thank you for your leadership and skills in the most horrific event in 108 years. Now, we're going to tar and feather you and run you out of town.
That's what is happening to Charles Wiley at the hands of one of Galveston's well known, longtime trouble makers and Quannel X wanna-be, Tarris Woods, elected to the city council last year by the city's predominently black district.
It seems no one, including the media which prides itself in digging up dirt on politicians and candidates, took time to dig into Mr. Woods. No one asked, or reported on, why Woods, a one-time city firefighter, left that job several years ago. No one apparently asked Woods, who claims to have been a police officer at one time somewhere, exactly where and when he was a cop. No one apparently looked into court records in which Mr. Woods is recorded making remarks like, "I can't work with white people."
This is the guy who is now attacking the city's new police chief, who, by the way, is probably the most qualified, professional, police chief appointed to the position in decades. And, he is certainly what many have demanded for years, a chief from outside the Galveston Police Department. Residents have demanded for years that the city sweep out the politics and coy games going on in the department. So they did.
From 48 applicants throughout the United States, City Manager Steve LeBlanc selected Charles Wiley and the city council affirmed his appointment. It was a good fit for Wiley and a good fit for the city. Wiley wanted to return to his hometown and the city needed a professional lawman with wide ranging experience, someone who had actually seen what policing is like north of the causeway, someone not tied to the same old ways of doing business. Galveston is known everywhere for keeping everything tight knit, close to the chest, shut off to outsiders. Keeping it in the family has been the Galveston way since the island was controlled by gambling bosses and mob rule.
Back to Woods. His latest disturbance is to call a closed meeting of city council to discuss the job performance of Charles Wiley. It's hard to imagine that Woods is capable of evaulating anyone, or anything, after watching and listening to him bumble and babble and stutter during council meetings, trying to form a complete sentence that anyone can understand.
In a recent council meeting, he tried to express his interpretation of exactly what the police department's Internal Affairs Division is and how it's connected to the Office of Professional Standards. Wiley tried to explain that Internal Affairs is just one part of the OPS, that the OPS performs many functions. Woods kept repeating that's not the way it was, "when I wore the blue," suggesting he was once a police officer. If he was, no one has been able to confirm it. Was he referring to his blue fireman's uniform without explaining it?
Well, Mr. Woods will find out today that his attempt to get behind closed doors to launch his attack on the police chief isn't going to work. Woods has now started a fight with a man who is not going to lay down and roll over for his grand standing and public ignorance. Wiley is coming to the meeting with a lawyer and demand that Woods attempted lynching be held in an open meeting for all the world to see. That's the way it's going to be too, because that's the law. If Wiley wants it to be open, then open it will be.
Babble, babble, mumble, mumble, stutter, stutter. Your move Tarris!
Not only did Wiley lead Galveston's police force successfully through the storm of the century, saving lives and losing not a single officer, his own home was nearly destroyed. In fact, he has just completed moving back into it.
Welcome back to Galveston Chief! Thank you for your leadership and skills in the most horrific event in 108 years. Now, we're going to tar and feather you and run you out of town.
That's what is happening to Charles Wiley at the hands of one of Galveston's well known, longtime trouble makers and Quannel X wanna-be, Tarris Woods, elected to the city council last year by the city's predominently black district.
It seems no one, including the media which prides itself in digging up dirt on politicians and candidates, took time to dig into Mr. Woods. No one asked, or reported on, why Woods, a one-time city firefighter, left that job several years ago. No one apparently asked Woods, who claims to have been a police officer at one time somewhere, exactly where and when he was a cop. No one apparently looked into court records in which Mr. Woods is recorded making remarks like, "I can't work with white people."
This is the guy who is now attacking the city's new police chief, who, by the way, is probably the most qualified, professional, police chief appointed to the position in decades. And, he is certainly what many have demanded for years, a chief from outside the Galveston Police Department. Residents have demanded for years that the city sweep out the politics and coy games going on in the department. So they did.
From 48 applicants throughout the United States, City Manager Steve LeBlanc selected Charles Wiley and the city council affirmed his appointment. It was a good fit for Wiley and a good fit for the city. Wiley wanted to return to his hometown and the city needed a professional lawman with wide ranging experience, someone who had actually seen what policing is like north of the causeway, someone not tied to the same old ways of doing business. Galveston is known everywhere for keeping everything tight knit, close to the chest, shut off to outsiders. Keeping it in the family has been the Galveston way since the island was controlled by gambling bosses and mob rule.
Back to Woods. His latest disturbance is to call a closed meeting of city council to discuss the job performance of Charles Wiley. It's hard to imagine that Woods is capable of evaulating anyone, or anything, after watching and listening to him bumble and babble and stutter during council meetings, trying to form a complete sentence that anyone can understand.
In a recent council meeting, he tried to express his interpretation of exactly what the police department's Internal Affairs Division is and how it's connected to the Office of Professional Standards. Wiley tried to explain that Internal Affairs is just one part of the OPS, that the OPS performs many functions. Woods kept repeating that's not the way it was, "when I wore the blue," suggesting he was once a police officer. If he was, no one has been able to confirm it. Was he referring to his blue fireman's uniform without explaining it?
Well, Mr. Woods will find out today that his attempt to get behind closed doors to launch his attack on the police chief isn't going to work. Woods has now started a fight with a man who is not going to lay down and roll over for his grand standing and public ignorance. Wiley is coming to the meeting with a lawyer and demand that Woods attempted lynching be held in an open meeting for all the world to see. That's the way it's going to be too, because that's the law. If Wiley wants it to be open, then open it will be.
Babble, babble, mumble, mumble, stutter, stutter. Your move Tarris!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
What Is It With TV News?
Have you noticed how TV news likes to promote itself? How TV news anchors like to boast about the other TV anchors on the same station? What's with that anyway?
TV anchor Joe talks about all the great attributes of TV anchor Jane. Then TV anchor Jane, in a different spot, tells what a great guy TV anchor Joe is.
He's really involved in his community, she says about him. She really digs deep to find all the facts about a story, he says about her.
Why are they telling us this? If we didn't like what we were seeing, we wouldn't be watching. Can't we decide who we like and don't like without them helping us figure it out? Apparently they think we need convincing. They must suffer from lack of confidence if they feel it necessary to tell us over and over how wonderful and devoted they and their colleagues are.
Come on, just read the news. I'll decide if I like you or not.
And what about the way they promote their newscasts.
We do it best on Channel X.
Channel X, first on the scene, first with the news, first with the weather, first with this and that. You saw it first on X.
Apparently I already like Channel X. I'm watching it, aren't I? If I weren't watching it, I wouldn't be seeing all these promotion spots, so it wouldn't matter.
What Channel X should do, if it wants to convince non-Channel X viewers to watch Channel X, is to run commercials on Channels Y and Z. And Channels Y and Z could so the same on Channel X.
Just give me the news at five and six. I don't care what you guys think of each other, and I doubt others do either. I don't care where you buy your clothes, get your hair done, or what kind of deodorant you use.
Just read the news! That's all we want.
That's the way I see it. How about you?
Breck
TV anchor Joe talks about all the great attributes of TV anchor Jane. Then TV anchor Jane, in a different spot, tells what a great guy TV anchor Joe is.
He's really involved in his community, she says about him. She really digs deep to find all the facts about a story, he says about her.
Why are they telling us this? If we didn't like what we were seeing, we wouldn't be watching. Can't we decide who we like and don't like without them helping us figure it out? Apparently they think we need convincing. They must suffer from lack of confidence if they feel it necessary to tell us over and over how wonderful and devoted they and their colleagues are.
Come on, just read the news. I'll decide if I like you or not.
And what about the way they promote their newscasts.
We do it best on Channel X.
Channel X, first on the scene, first with the news, first with the weather, first with this and that. You saw it first on X.
Apparently I already like Channel X. I'm watching it, aren't I? If I weren't watching it, I wouldn't be seeing all these promotion spots, so it wouldn't matter.
What Channel X should do, if it wants to convince non-Channel X viewers to watch Channel X, is to run commercials on Channels Y and Z. And Channels Y and Z could so the same on Channel X.
Just give me the news at five and six. I don't care what you guys think of each other, and I doubt others do either. I don't care where you buy your clothes, get your hair done, or what kind of deodorant you use.
Just read the news! That's all we want.
That's the way I see it. How about you?
Breck
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