One year later …
Peoria Police Chief Steve Settingsgaard had this to say about his one-year anniversary in Peoria:
“People were tired of the litter and noise and loitering and obscene language and all these little things that were destroying quality of life in the neighborhoods.”
They still are.
The police chief says his top priority in year two will be cracking down on the drug trade no matter how big or small.
So he’s going to become a drug warrior, huh? What happened to the broken windows philosophy?
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Hope he does something. We are having a shooting a day it seems.
You can’t BLAME crime on police, in most cases. State’s attorney’s a judges have more responsibility. And the people most deservign of blame are the CRIMINALS of course.
I give him credit for his efforts to fight street prostitution.
We certainly cannot blame crime on the Police. However, there have been 7 murders in Peoria this year, and not one arrest, or even Suspects. I am just curioius how Chief Steve Settingsgaard feels about that?
Time to allow our police department to profile the gangbangers, start taking their cars, eveicting their girlfriends from public housing. Start ARRESTING the “children” in the public schools that are threatening others, and while they are at it, arrest their parents. Maybe good ol’ Ray “The Hoodlum” LaHood could try and pass some bills that would take away the public aid monies given to the families of these criminals. If we start removing the freebies, maybe the parents, wives, girlfriends etc., they will get mad, and start policing themselves. Being politically correct has reached it’s limit.
Well, I like Settingsgaard better than Stenson at least. But I’ve got to think a few bordellos and pot cafes would do more to decrease crime than anything else except increasing take home pay for poor Peorians. Getting tougher with stupid people doesn’t make them smarter. I do agree about the freebies too, as long as they can’t turn to selling pot to make up for it, which is exactly what they will do.
It has been much quieter for the most part since the music ordinance has passed. Now I mostly only hear the one’s advertising drug sales. When they start seizing those cars they will get cash, drugs and guns guarenteed. I would support linking public aid benefits and section 8 housing to drug arrests in the home, meaning if the boyfriend crashes at your pad for free, he’d better take his stash, drugs, and violence somewhere else or start looking for a big 3 bedroom cardboard box near a van down by the river. We do have to stop supporting this lifestyle with our tax dollars. Unfortunately, we are not seeing the wealthy folks behind the scenes. I’ll bet my aunt betty’s false teeth that the real drug lord is a “respected” white, upper crust, near blue blood in the newest housing developments. and again, we are looking to the police to fix everything. Where are these children getting and keeping these guns? I am sorry, parenthood involves more than 20 seconds of freak. If parents did their jobs, we wouldn’t have so many problems with youth shooting others or worse being blown away. I somehow made it my entire child hood completing my homework, eating my veggies, and not busting a cap in someone’s ass even once, amazing.
“I somehow made it my entire child hood completing my homework, eating my veggies, and not busting a cap in someone’s ass even once, amazing.”
That may just be the BEST LINE EVER!!!
But do you really think the kids with blaring car stereos have any inclination they can lose their cars now? I highly doubt they pay enough attention to know that or that our D150 teachers are smart enough to teach that. The wealthy folks behind the scenes have nothing to do with this, in all due respect. They get blamed for inner city problems, in fact, and it isn’t their fault by a long shot. You are probably right about the drug kingpin being white and in a Dunlap school district. Time to take his profit away isn’t it? Imagine that, stupid parents are the root cause of most of our problems just like every generation in the history on humankind. Government school monopoly isn’t working, time to try something different.
Police can only do so much. When you combine scummy people with people who are afraid of them and add a large measure of parents too stupid or lazy to actually raise their kids, you have Peoria’s crime problem.
Drug lords, whether white or black, living in Dunlap or on Frink Street, can’t survive in a vacuum.
This problem may be containable, but is it fixable? It’s pretty obvious that all the people who have fled to Dunlap, Germantown Hills, Metamora, Eureka, Morton and Elmwood don’t think so.
Christ! I don’t blame crime on the Police, but I sure do expect the police to prevent it. What else have they got to do?
The police make arrests for drugs all the time, and then the guys they arrest are not prosecuted and they are on the streets a week later, kind of a sick little video game and Catch and release Lyons keeps pushin the reset button, that has gotta get old for the street cops. How much do you expect the police to take? If your boss at work came in at the end of every day and trashed what you had done all day and then told you to start over in the morning how would you feel after just one week? If you really want to see improvement in law enforcement then look to oust the scumbag prosecutor and elect someone with a modest respect for the the street level police, at least enough respect to attempt to prosecute those arrested without worrying about how a loss or ten might look on a stat sheet, cops want a prosecutor that does not make what they do for a living become a joke to every criminal in town.
Mmmm motorcycles…. rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble….
What is that? Two Bradley kids walking down the sidewalk smoking a ‘pipe’ typically associated with weed. No concerns in the world. No worries. Why? because it is Peoria. Where’s my phone? Damn… left it at home.
Save the motorcycles… burn everything else LOL
Oh poor police. Crime stops somewhere?? That is the way it has been for years. It’s called lawyers and loopholes. If you don’t like being a cop, then get out, otherwise, you have to keep plugging at it, like it or not. That’s what makes 99% of our police special. My feeling is the administration of the PD is what gets cops down. Inept command. When moral is down, then people being people tend not to be as aggressive in their jobs. Happens everywhere in every job except maybe at the PJS.
As for drugs, saw a deal at Lincoln and Western. Guy drives up on bike, gives something to driver at light, driver hands something back to guy on bike. Must have been candy.
There is no problem with lawyers and loopholes, for that to be a problem Lyons would have to attempt to prosecute, if you do not even attempt to prosecute how can you run up against a lawyer and fall victim to a loophole. When you suspected you were witnessing a crime what did you do? Did you call the police? Did you turn a blind eye with an excuse like they won’t do anything anyway?
I saw BRAVO for the shift in focus. While I understand the concern about and the impact on neighborhoods due to loud noise (I’m just as bothered by the car pulling up beside me and subjecting me to their music), there is no doubt in my mind that drug use and selling has a FAR greater negative impact on the community than loud noise.
While there may be a shift in focus at the top, there has been a concerted effort by police officers to address drug issues. It’s been there and will continue to be there. But I for one, support a full frontal attack. Address noise, litter and jaywalking as it occurs and if it’s seen, but let’s go looking for the drug use and sales.