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Permalink Reply by Margy Meath on January 23, 2012 at 8:25am

I very much appreciate that all of these minutes get posted here- thanks to people who take the minutes and mega thanks to John who is keeping track, posting, etc.  I do know that minutes do not always accurately reflect the tone of discussion but want to comment on this portion of the minutes related to the "War on Thurston":

"has become an unfortunate happening that has escalated because an owner stood up to loiterers and drug dealers without contacting RPD first. The shootings were in retaliation against the owner who has created bad blood trying to handle the problem on his own. If he had called 911 first this situation may not have happened."

This sounds very much like "blame the victim" and I am hearing way too many of these types of statements from RPD these days. In this example, the VICTIM of the crime is reported to have "created bad blood" by standing up for himself.  Further, it says that if he (the victim) had called 911 first this situation "may not have happened" - again, this seems to blame the victim! I don't know if the victim of this crime is part of this group but certainly he is not to blame for the fact that some thugs on Thurston decided to shoot him!!!

A month ago, my friend/neighbor was the victim of a robbery and one of the first things RPD said to her was "you shouldn't have.....". 2 weeks ago, a woman at PCIC discussed concerns about her property (a rental to students) had been the target of crime - again, one of the first responses from RPD was "well, you know that students tend to....."  

I don't think that the officers with RPD mean to blame the victim but these examples and lots of others have me wondering about the approach to crime and victims of crime in our neighborhood!

Permalink Reply by John Boutet on February 8, 2012 at 3:52am

The agenda for the next meeting on February 9, 2012 in the NSC Office has been added to the Discussion above or click AGENDA.