tonight at about 1245am i was walking up the road, you three were walking towards me, probably coming from a certain concert in dt dartmouth, mouthing something to me, so I took out my ear buds. You, beer bottle in hand, clearly drunk, told me to give you my “stuff”. Before I even had the chance to say I didnt have any “stuff”, you sucker punched me in the jaw. what the fuck? why? im like half your size and probably the least threatening person in the world. i stood there, shocked at what just happened, and you three continued to come at me, thank god i had a knife. you guys walked one way, and i walked the other. have you guys nothing better to do than go around terrorizing the public? i hope someday you get out numbered and jumped, and then pissed on. YOU are what gives this city a bad name, YOU are what makes people scared of their own community. and youre gonna rot in hell for it. the only bonus in what happened tonight, is that i think you fixed the clicking in my jaw.
—disapointed in humanity.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2009.
Bullies they were. What alcohol does to some people is really sad and scary. It’s funny how differently people are affected.
I’m glad you could defend yourself and really glad your knife didn’t end up in you.
While it’s natural to be disappointing right now with humanity in general, we’re just a mixed bag, and there are real gems in that bag too.
yeah, but let’s face up to reality, Smee… this city has more than its fair share of pricks & assholes.
in fact, halifax has the dubious distinction of being above the national average for violent crime – compared to all other Canadian cities – we are #1.
what a shame that the OP feels compelled to carry a knife to defend himself… but i don’t blame him, because that is what it’s come to here.
it’s just too bad the OP didn’t have a baseball bat, so that he could’ve cracked their numb skulls. and good fucking riddance to them, i say. the fewer pussbags like that around, the better.
It is sad that when I went to court the other day and the sheriff took my pepper spray then gave it back to me when I left……folks have to arm themselves since we do not have a police department here.
Weeks ago when I was in court I was allowed to keep my spray so in that short time they had to change the rules. Again …..
It is dog eat dog …
my thoughts exactly, mcgayle. imo, the HRP have their heads so firmly planted up their anuses, they don’t know WTF is going on in this town… and i think a lot of that has to do with their incompetent police chief.
however, it was good to see cops WALKING the beat yesterday, where they should be, at street level, with the people – and not just driving around in their patrol cars. personally, i want to see MORE cops walking and riding around on bikes (although, they’d probably just waste their time handing out tickets to bikers/boarders for not wearing helmets).
Actually, latest StatCan statistics show that while Halifax does still maintain an above average crime rate, we’re far from the worst. Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Thunder Bay, and even sleepy Victoria and skanky old Saint John all had higher reported crime rates than Halifax in 2008 (see: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/0…). I’ve been to all of those cities I just mentioned above and every single one of them has sketchier, poorer, more hostile areas than Halifax, too. Take a quick trip to Saint John and see for yourself!
Sorry people, I know it won’t help your street cred., but Halifax really isn’t the dangerous ghetto some people like to think it is. I’ve lived here my whole life and have never had any problems with crime (including the “bad” parts like Gottingen Street, Spryfield, and north-end Dartmouth).
Don’t condone violence, but I gotta believe, if these three ended up a ditch with holes in them, I don’t think it would be much of a loss to the world.
Techcafe, my sentiments exactly….I have been trying for about a decade to get Skank Beazley outed with his gal pals Kelly and Sykes and Baker and Scott and Hershcorn etc…..
The Commission is equally responsible because they hide the grievances that come through and each one should be made public so that the Commission has to explain why they did nothing. When we do not discipline the bad behaviour it breeds, we all know this.
The recent Hyde matter is just the tip of the iceberg resulting in death..so much police abuse does not result in death but destroys lives and families…. and communities often for generations.
The stats for crime from Beazly et al are fudged and have been for years. They do not come close to showing the reality of violence in this city especially in the poorer communities especially black on non-black crime.
Community policing has been proven time again to be the most effective way to be involved and create positive interactions between community and police and trust and safety.
Just a tidbit: this was written 3 years ago and nothing has changed
‘Uniacke Residents open doors for a conference’
document.write(dateConvert(“2006-09-15 16:29:32”));
September 15, 2006 – 4:29 pm By: Laura Graham
AdSpot(“news957″,”news”,8,250,250);
‘Workshops focused on leadership building, violence, discovering community needs and the public’s perception at the first annual Uniacke Square Community Conference.
When Uniacke Square is Googled, one of the most popular sites is the Urban Dictionary entry, that defines the public housing community as: “a crime ridden gathering of apartment buildings…where no sane white person should ever walk at night.”
It is that negative and racist perception that resident Tyler Morton wanted to change, by organizing the conference.
Morton says if you come down to the neighbourhood, you’ll see for yourself that it’s not that bad.
“I try to take the first step and invite people into the community and say, you can be a part of the community — once the community gains your trust. That will not happen overnight.”
…….
Gayle McIntyre is one of the residents who has not been entirely happy with the police. She says they begged for the police to move in years ago, but the relationship has been damaged since then.
“Because the police have caused so much damage in the poverty community and the visibly poor communities in public housing, they have to do cartwheels before people are even going to start trusting that they’re here sincerely and they meaningfully want to engage in the community in the right way.”
McIntyre says as long as the police continue to be involved in positive community work, the relationship will grow — and hopefully it will reduce crime in the area.’
( I would like to clarify that I, at no time, implied to this reporter that ‘police continue to be involved in positive community work’……this reporter was told quite the opposite)…
anyway……
Oh, boy, again with the form 5s…..
@qpmzwonx
hey, i’m only going by what has been recently reported in the news, which says that the 2008 report on crime shows that while the crime rate is down nationally, Halifax is STILL above the national average for violent crimes/offences.
here, read for yourself:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-561-m/2008…
“The Halifax CMA (census metropolitan data) follows the general trend of declining crime rates in Canada, although the CMA’s rate has CONSISTENTLY HOVERED ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, victimization data from the 2004 General Social Survey indicates that the total violent victimization rate reported by residents of the Halifax CMA (229 per 1,000 inhabitants aged 15 and over) was MORE THAN DOUBLE THE CANADIAN AVERAGE.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/0…
“Violent crime rates also tended to be highest in Western Canada. The census metropolitan areas of Saint John, Thunder Bay and HALIFAX were exceptions to the general pattern, with each reporting VIOLENT CRIME RATES SIMILAR TO OR HIGHER than those in the West.”
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/0…
“The highest police-reported crime severity indexes in 2008 were all found in western CMAs. Crime severity was highest in Regina, followed by Abbotsford–Mission, Saskatoon, Kelowna, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.”
“Among central and eastern CMAs, only Thunder Bay, Brantford, Saint John, HALIFAX and Montréal reported index values ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.”
http://www4.hrsdc.gc.ca/.3ndic.1t.4r@-eng.…
“In 2006, rates of violent crime in the 13 largest urban areas ranged from a low of 601 per 100,000 people in Ottawa to a high of 1,261 in HALIFAX…”
“In 2006, rates of violent crime tended to be lower than the national average rate of 951 incidents per 100,000 people in most of the13 largest urban areas in Canada. Rates were lowest in Ottawa (601), St. Catharines-Niagara (628) and Kitchener (615); THEY WERE HIGHEST IN HALIFAX (1,261), Winnipeg (1,256), and Vancouver (1,089)”
http://www.halifax.ca/Police/PressReleases…
“The volume of violent crime was down 8%, while the severity of violent crime was down 7%. DESPITE THESE DECREASES, BOTH THE OVERALL CRIME RATE AND VIOLENT CRIME RATE IN HRM ARE ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.”
so, what was that you were saying about ‘credibility’, qpmzwonx??
So, uh, tech, even if Halifax is a high crime city, your solution is to hire more bike cops? Bike cops aren’t even respected by other cops. Fuck, get off your bike for once and smell the reality. Cops on fucking Segways are more intimating then bike cops.
Fever, stop putting words in my mouth… i was merely suggesting that more ‘beat cops’ are a good idea, walking or riding. and what makes you think that cops on bikes are not respected by their peers?? what a fuckin STUPID thing to say. but then again… look who i’m talking to.
oh, and ‘intimating’?? get a friggin dictionary, i’m tired of deciphering your drivel.
I didn’t put words in your mouth, as I didn’t quote you, nor did I twist them. I only inferred what you had said which was “i want to see MORE cops walking and riding around on bikes” to mean that Halifax needs more beat cops and to have bike cops. I can honestly tell you, beat cops and bike cops aren’t going to stop murders/violent crime. Nobody respects bike cops. I respect most normal police officers, and I can tell you I’d laugh at bike cops. The best more “beat” police would do is remove more petty theft and petty crimes. Although, you are right, they would spend an awful lot of time ticketing those morons who like to ride without helmets.
Oh and my intimating remark was indeed a typo, I meant intimidating, which makes much more sense, although intimating makes sense, just a little odd.
Tech you are right. As I was saying beat cops or community policing are effective….but it all boils down to the very same thing..they have to be qualified to do what they are doing…. no more grade three drop outs.
And this MMPI test they have to do for weeding out the sociopaths….is a bloody farce…
so, let me get this straight, Fever… you are saying that cops in cruisers are somehow worthy of more respect than their counterparts who are walking or riding bikes? if so, that’s ridiculous. ime, people LIKE to see cops walking and/or riding around town, and speaking for myself, i have a helluva lot MORE respect for officers who are brave enough to walk/ride the streets, amongst the citizenry, to whom they are sworn to serve/protect – and not so lazy that they can’t drag their asses out of the patrol cars too!
the presence of police officers, walking/riding the streets, is a very effective deterrant against crime… it’s preventative. whereas cops driving around in cars only show up AFTER the crime has been committed, take a report… and that’s about it.
the level of mutual respect amongst cops/citizens goes UP when the police have a visible community presence. THINK about it… it’s not that complicated.
All I’m saying is that the city’s woes will not be cure by a few bike/beat cops, and it really doesn’t matter whether they’re respected or not.
Fever says, “the city’s woes will not be cure by a few bike/beat cops…”
probably not, but it certainly can’t hurt either.
i’d like to see more satellite/community based police stations, but i suppose that would be too costly. still, when i see cops walking the beat (which i don’t mean pejoratively, as you might), i feel it brings the police down to our level, i am more inclined to empathize with them – and they with us. a kind of mutual understanding and respect for each other develops, i believe. it’s a more civilized, and effective, way to ‘police’ communities.
“and it really doesn’t matter whether they’re respected or not.”
you couldn’t be more wrong about that. without a mutual respect, communities devolve into an adversarial relationship with the police – we become intimidated, almost fearful of them, which is the exact opposite of how we should feel about the very people we’ve employed to serve & protect us.
so no, i believe you are wrong, respect DOES matter… and like all good relationships, respect goes both ways.
Does anyone else find it ironic that the OP is a self-professed “lover, not a fighter”, yet he/she carries a knife on them???
Probably uses it to carve hearts into trees with “XX + XY 4EVER” inside.
jesus what is coming of this city?
Police should not intimidate. It’s absolutely true they should be walking and getting to know and be known on a personal level in the community. Carrying a weapon for self-defence is not the same as carrying it to hurt other people. To say that Halifax is a city is misleading. This is a town with big city problems, and the city is not able nor do they want to be able to handle the problems. I as well as the people I know are constantly frustrated by this city. On one hand you have cry babies who do not want to engage the criminal element by way of making excuses for them, whether it be poverty or otherwise. On the other hand you have people who are distanced from the problems, looking in from the outside, over paid and under qualified making the decisions that are negatively impacting us all, tying up our police on traffic violations and the property rights of the wealthy. Our “city” is dying.
Its a habit for me to carry one, I use and carry a knife at work all day long. Its not big or scary, the blade is only about 4in. Oh how ironic you dick.
As an aside; does anyone remember the beat cop who was always on SGR a few years ago? There wasn’t any, or hardly any bums, winos or other assorted dross on SGR then.
If it can work on an affluent street, it can be tried on an effluent street – Gottingen etc.
kudos to the cops riding around town on their bikes today.
i was pleased to see that, and hope it’s a trend that continues.
more officers on foot (or riding) is exactly what our city needs.
keep up the good work, and thanks.
i saw some on horseback also.
hey ngf
and they didn’t harrass the boarders in the skate park for not wearing helmets either, so i was even more impressed. maybe all my bitching is paying off. ;~} ok, so probably not.
anyway, it was good to see the cops out riding around. i’d like to see even MORE of them, covering larger areas of the city.
so ngf, about that smoke?
its good smoking weather! i’m sure we can organize something for the upcoming long weekend.
there’s a few smokers on the board actually; could make a nice party!
good idea, ngf (about organizing a smokin party)… so how do we do this, and where?
Oh man you couldn’t pay me enough to go walking in dartmouth. That place is a deep dark shit hole.
Booth, that’s a shitty generalization to make. Sure, there are parts of Dartmouth I wouldn’t walk in for any reason, however, my neighbourhood is quite safe.
My SO recently moved here from Halifax with me and has said on more than one occasion, ‘why does Dartmouth have such a bad reputation in Halifax? I don’t see anything different than what’s in Halifax.’ It’s the snotty attitudes of people living in Halifax that scare people about Dartmouth. There are places in Halifax that I wouldn’t walk in either. Don’t be such an ass!