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Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

National Night Out Helps Communities Connect


Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Don Arellano was not a happy camper when he bought his home in the 2800 block of Teller Avenue 14 years ago. The neighborhood was in decay, he said, and partly to blame were four nearby “drug houses” that brought down the block.

Dozens of calls to the Grand Junction Police Department later and a concerted effort to keep in touch with his neighbors have helped turn around the city’s east-end neighborhood.

“I don’t want to see that here again — the drugs and the trashy-looking houses,” Arellano said. “It’s perking up. Me and some other neighbors feel good about it.”

For the past 13 years, Arellano has helped organize a National Night Out event on his block that has gathered neighbors to talk about their concerns. Tonight, the Teller Avenue neighbors, like 41 other neighborhoods around the city, will participate in the annual gatherings designed to connect residents with police.

National Night Out parties have spanned across the nation each year on this night since 1984, an event commonly dubbed “America’s night out against crime.”

More than double the amount of neighborhoods this year compared to last year will meet over barbecued burgers and ice cream while police officers check in to give crime-prevention presentations and gather residents’ crime-related complaints.

Grand Junction Police Chief Bill Gardner said targeted enforcement has drastically cut some types of crime, such as property crimes. But a few specific highly publicized violent crimes have contributed to the public’s perception that the crime rate is high, he said.


Grand Junction Sentinel

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The second amendment really works. Stop and think, a cop does nothing until a crime is committed! How can that protect you??? djw

Randy said...

Differing views exist re: Neighborhood Watch types of programs... a rather strange dichotomy is sometimes posited in apologizing for these things. What I mean is, that; sometimes the same people who might argue Government excess following 9-11-’01 (‘backdoor access’to civilian telecommunication files, warrantless wiretapping of civilians, and so on..) are abhorrent. (However); arming ’Neighbors’ with radar guns, inviting local police agents to ’Watch Parties’, citizen ‘Jr. Police Academy’ (or similarly named police adjunct cadres) are to be encouraged in light of property, violent, drug (et so on) types of crime in our communities.

As often as not, the naïve? argument is raised (particularly in groups 20 -40 years of age) something like, ”I’ve nothing to hide”,...

Simply put, nothing to hide is not the point

I’ve talked with more than one immigrant (from repressive nations) who’ve communicated to the effect; “... you people don’t seem to know what kind of freedom(s) you are losing”.

Personally, I don’t believe (that) people are lax in reporting crime (real or suspected) in our neighborhoods. (Moreover,) I believe local police agents should be respected much in the same manner that my son (Chris) should be respected for military service in Iraq....

That does not mean however, that; I want more police presence in my neighborhood, (or my living room). (Neither) would I support the mindset of my ‘neighbors’ (to be) posturing as de-facto adjunct police force.

Citizen militia type cadres have historically displayed....... well, I think my point is, moot.

(See: WWII (brownshirt) Germany, North Korea, China, Communist Cuba, and so on, and so on... )