Thursday, August 4, 2011

"Armed Melee"

Well this certainly grabbed my attention this morning.

It was easier to dismiss the recent stabbing as a one off event, but something is clearly brewing here. Something a tad troubling.

By this thorough account in the Daily News, the police handled things quite capably. But the article warns of potential troubling coming this week and - I'm guessing - perhaps the rest of the summer.

I guess I was most troubled by the last line uttered by Mayor Holaday, who sounds a bit more like the mayor of Amity than the mayor of Newburyport.


Holaday stressed that people shouldn't think twice about visiting the downtown area, but added that parents should practice common sense after the end of scheduled events, typically around 10 p.m.
"When the concerts are over, it's time to bring the kids home and not linger in the downtown area," Holaday said.
Sound advice, to be sure, but not something you want to hear.




4 comments:

Dick Monahan said...

Yes, but last night's action showed the benefit of the new camera on Inn Street (even if it's not installed yet). Having heard about it, the idiots moved to the church parking lot. One more success for technology!

Tom Salemi said...

Depends how you measure success, Dick.

First, the melee happened away from Inn Street. Not sure if the cameras (or lack of cameras) were the reason, but if that's the case it's probably best this occurred in a less busy spot.

I think the article suggested one of the groups had parked at the IC, but I might be delusional.

Second, the cameras likely made it easier to track the pack enabling police to respond more quickly.

And I'm put in the weird position of defending the cameras.

Dick Monahan said...

More on the software. http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/04/7254996-your-face-and-the-web-can-tell-everything-about-you

Anonymous said...

the cameras don't prevent crime, they didn't prevent the stabbing, they didn't prevent the bank robbery and they don't prevent shop lifting, nor did they prevent the group of (unrelated) kids running through downtown with baseball bats and sharpened sticks.

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