Let's talk about police procedure.

[Baitball Blogger]

The main aggravation is police using excessive force. I understand that. But what about under-policing? Like underachieving, under-policing involves using tactics intended to underreport crime. It is the method of choice for areas that are meant to be propped up as desirable places to live. Good for real estate prices. Good to sustain the Potemkin Village Effect.

I thought about this late last night when the police lost interest in the information that I offered that might provide a clue to the whereabouts of a lost dog. The owners can't understand how it happened. The dog is very old and very sick. Hasn't made it pass the driveway in several months. Last night they went out to dinner to celebrate the wife's birthday and when they returned, the dog was gone. They thought maybe it had gone to find a place to die.

With that information, I scoured my security cams looking for signs of a fuzzy pixelated figure moving on the outskirts of the cams that faced the house. Nothing. It is not likely that it came into our development because I was working outside for most of the time that the owners were out to dinner. And my cams have a clear view of the road into the development. Nothing.

It is possible that the dog went into the development next door, but that's when I realized that at that time of the day the number of cars coming into the development spiked as people came home from work. Someone, surely, would have seen the dog. I guess it might still show up at the pound, but this is a small place and it wouldn't have been difficult to connect the dog to the house it belonged.

The one thing that I had was video of a figure moving above the shrub line. Too blurry to I.D. the man who was wearing a hat, but for someone who is very familiar with the landscape, it did appear that he walked out of his driveway and went into the next door house where the dog was staying, reappearing a minute later. You can tell a dog was not walking by his side when he returned, but at that diminutive video size, you can't confirm if he was carrying the dog. There are signs that he adjusted his walk as he returned, the way we do when we lose our grip of something bulky. The one thing I was sure of was that it needed to be looked into.

So, I told the police that the clip would need enhancement to confirm if this was a valid clue. They took the SD, took it to the car and ten-twenty minutes later, they returned with the SD claiming there was no evidence so they didn't need it. I repeated that the video would need to be enhanced - zoomed - but they left it to me to do the work. I have some DUers working on that now.

But here is the thing, they saw the video. They saw the man. They can connect the house he retreated to. And now, they have everything they need to handle the situation through backchannels. This is how it works in good ole boy towns. If they follow the pattern, they will call in the usual network in the community to see if it can be handled diplomatically. The town protects its Potemkin Village image, and the network can continue to inflict anguish and anxiety on the rest of us without worry of reprisals because of their relationship with the city. They need each other.

I'm saying that this style of under-policing should be looked into because it interferes with a fair process that will weed out abusive people from the ranks of community leadership.