This is worth cross posting, as drunk drivers impact a lot of lives quite negatively on a daily basis - we found this on the SABA website: http://www.sabanews.org/
We imagine this will end up on the Haverford Township Police Blotter eventually - they put their blotter online http://www.haverfordpolice.org/police/
Another Traffic Incident on Cricket Ave.
Saturday around 10:30 I was startled by a loud noise while watching "The Mist" on D.V.D. The Movie primary takes place in a Grocery Store. The loud noise unfortunately sounded like metal shelves crashing. oooo boy ......At the corner of Cricket and Normandy I saw a black pick-up truck on my neighbor's sidewalk, and the stop sign broken off. I quickly went back inside and dialed 911. Then I walked down to the corner, and saw a gentleman standing by the driver's window, and someone else in the vehicle. I called out from across the street, and asked if anyone was hurt. Strangely he did not answer, but the driver was ackwardly attempting to get his truck in reverse. I then looked at the license plate, and decided it was best to back away. I walked back up to my house to check on my vehicle that was parked in the street. The driver may not have been able to turn a corner, but did manage to miss my car. Then two Haverford Police Cars had arrived. The gentleman that was at the window of the car must have been walking by on Cricket, because after he spoke to the police he walked up by my house. I then asked the question of the gentleman again... this time he did respond..."He's tanked" was his response.....
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I just can't help it so I'll have to chime in on how important it is for neighbors of any community to have convenient access to unfettered and unfiltered police activity reports - all of them. This is the first step for any community towards the realization that even out here in the burbs, it ain't all peaches-n-cream. Currently, the Lower Merion Police Dept. filters what it releases to the public, via MainLine Times/Life, so that only a small percentage of the incidents they document are made public. The only way citizens can make informed decisions about the future of their town(Ardmore) is if they have all the information on which to base those decisions.
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permalinkHmm, I wonder if police reports can be requested via the Freedom of Information act or similar legal process?
It could be fun to scan them and put a bunch of them online.
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permalinkLet me just clarify a little more. Anyone can request, via the Freedom of Information Act, records from the police. We used to do this all the time for illicit stuff happening along County Line Rd. But, it makes it very difficult for the average citizen to participate - you have to go to the Admin building, make the request in person, often pay a small fee, and as some of you know about PA and it's laws, we have had to prove to those holding the documents that there was some compelling reason to deliver them. Like I've said elsewhere, we often had to hire an attorney to get certain documents released if they involved certain liquor licensed establishment who were also township employees! You also have to know specifics about what your requesting, times/dates/general descriptions of the incident, or you might not get what your where looking for. And this does not help the interested citizen if something of interest happened a block away that they are unaware of.
Easy access via the newspaper or internet is really the only way to make this work, to make criminal activity in a community transparent and easy to obtain for every resident. I think this is a big question, why LMP does not do this on the Township or Police Webpage, for LM residents.
more to follow...
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permalinkWilley,
Perhaps you should make an appointment and speak to someone in Lower Merion Township Police Department about their policies and procedures?
Would it be helpful if they had a website like Haverford Township PD? Perhaps, but the reality is most municipal police departments do not, since a best practice for more departments than not is to NOT release information if they are performing some sort of ongoing investigation.
We promoted the Cricket Ave thing because we thought it was worth mentioning, not to ride roughshod over our police department which had nothing to do with this incident as it has been related to everyone.
Thanks.
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permalink"Perhaps you should make an appointment and speak to someone in Lower Merion Township Police Department about their policies and procedures?"
I have and they are not going to do anything based on one person. I really do understand the on-going investigation stuff when it relates to very serious crimes like aggravated assaults, arson, rape, homicide that are investigated. When it comes to the other stuff - your common assaults (bar altercations or domestics), robbery of homes/cars/items, vandalism - this kind of quality of life stuff should be very accessible.
I realize that the incident on Cricket is Haverford and not LM. I still think it is a good opportunity to make information about policing in general available to those who do not realize what is happening around them.
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permalinkWe were merely explaining things as some of us understand them. AND this is NOT HT vs. LMT .
Look, you can always contact the LMT commissioners who are on the Police Committee:
Commissioners Gould ( ), Phillips ( ), Rogers ( )
Take your ideas to them. See what they can do. And again, we aren't saying you are right or wrong, we are only telling you what some of us have been told in the past. We LIKE that HT puts their blotter up, but even you have to admit it is not a common practice in suburbia...or even in all major metropolitan cities.
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permalinkYea, your right, your right. I don't want to pit one township vs. another. It is actually funny to think HT has it up on the web. A lot of us over here scratch our heads as to how in the heck, given the political climate, that it came about - but, it is a really good thing!!!
I've brought this to one of the Commishes you list - some of this is "in the works" so I'm waiting for responses and it is partly why I am posting it here. I'll have more info. soon, I hope...
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