Come On In, Lowlifes!


City issues welcome to criminals

By Kelvin Wade | | February 12, 2009 17:02

I had an ant problem on my kitchen counter last week. A platoon of scouts were dipping feelers into a small glob of syrup on the countertop, preparing to radio the information back to their home base. No doubt an ant invasion would've ensued had I not intervened with an aerial assault from a can of bug spray.

I never have ant problems in the bedroom. I don't eat in the bedroom. Ants wouldn't find it very hospitable. No, they seek out the most welcoming conditions.

That's how I feel about the crime problem in Fairfield. Criminals commit crimes here because it's hospitable for them. The conditions are ripe for criminal activity.

Sure, some statistics came out recently showing that violent crime dropped from 590 incidents to 546 from 2007 to 2008. Of course, that's completely imperceptible to the public. If you were slapped that many times each year, would your jaw notice a difference?

Let's take a look in the past week or so and see what we see. A thief broke into a business and was caught in the attic. Two burglars broke into a Fairfield resident's bathroom. Two men were arrested for stealing beer from a local convenience store.

But those were just the warm-up acts.

A man was shot in the back in front of Motel 6 on Holiday Lane. There was an armed robbery at the Burger King drive-thru on Pittman Road.

For the main event, there was an alleged gang fight and stabbing in the FoodMaxx parking lot. That was followed by what police believe was a retaliatory drive-by shooting on Maryland Street.

The City Council wants a crackdown on gangs. But why do criminals feel they can act here with impunity?

Perhaps it's a bad message to send that in the highest profile case of 2008, the Matt Garcia murder, the district attorney let the getaway driver walk. The perception among many people I've talked to is that we have a DA who isn't aggressive enough. So criminals feel they can do business here.

And it certainly doesn't inspire confidence among residents that in the midst of economic Armageddon, local police brass are getting a $700,000 raise. How many more boots on the ground would that buy?

If the perception is that you can do dirt in Fairfield and receive revolving door justice, why wouldn't thugs flock here? Why wouldn't the Nortenos and Surenos feel comfortable having a knife fight in the parking lot of a large grocery store? Why not do a drive-by on your enemies?

And I'm not saying we don't have fine beat cops. Obviously city leaders think investing in experienced captains, sergeants and lieutenants with a big raise will pay dividends in the long run for Fairfield. And I know that if Councilman John Mraz could personally kick the rear ends of every criminal punk in Fairfield, he'd do it.

But somehow we're leaving a welcome sign out for these gangs and losers or else they'd head for a different town. We're leaving syrup on the counter. Peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

No updates to the other blogs this week. It's been a crummy writing week. Just couldn't get my head into the game. Had problems located my muse. It happens. Hopefully I'll get my mojo workin' next week.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Your muse was resting...Sorry she was unavailable during your amnesia period. Good column and I think the linking to the walk the driver got on Matt's murder was nicely tied in. Pam
11:48 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Matt Garcia

Image
Ten years ago, I woke up and turned on my laptop and went to the Daily Republic website and was devastated to learn of the shooting of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. I immediately called my brother Tony who answered and knew why I was calling. We shared our shock and horror. But mainly we just cried together on the phone. Later when Matt had been removed from life support and passed away I told Tony that it felt like hope itself had died. He told me, “Matt has inspired too many people to let hope die. But hope took a beating today.” It seemed like some horrible cosmic joke. Twenty-one year old Matt Garcia, elected to the Fairfield City Council on a platform of supporting youth and curbing violence is murdered on the streets of Fairfield. What's worse, his killer mistook him for someone else. It was a pointless act of evil in which a worthless example of a human being took the life of a priceless one. In 2007 Matt invited me to lunch at Joe's Buffet to discuss...
Read more

What if we could enforce our own driving laws?

Image
Thursday, June 6, 2013 Let’s all enforce our own driving laws By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | June 06, 2013 | Leave Comment Vallejo resident Anthony Cardenas, 52, became a local hero after painting his own crosswalk near his home on Sonoma Boulevard at Illinois Street. Cardenas claims the busy street is dangerous for pedestrians, so he painted the crosswalk and earned himself an arrest for felony vandalism and trip to jail for his trouble. Mr. Cardenas makes me want to place my tongue firmly in cheek and take matters into my own hands to make things safer. Have you ever had idiots zoom down your street in complete disregard for kids in the neighborhood? I’d love to creep outside at 3 a.m. with some cement and make my own speed bumps. The next time the speedsters come flying down my street, they’d make a sunroof with their own heads when they hit my new speed bump. BAM! Problem solved. Last week, my friend Nedra Polk asked me to write about the condition of Clay Bank Road between Air B...
Read more

The reason I've ditched my earphones at night

Monday, August 26, 2013 FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Accident convinces me to ditch my iPad By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | August 22, 2013 | 4 Comments I’ve been an insomniac for years. I used to embrace my insomnia by putting on a pot of coffee at night and doing some of my best writing while the stars were out. I wrote about having a sleep study a couple of months ago and one of the things the analyst told me is I have to stay off my iPad in bed. That hasn’t happened. But recently, my girlfriend Cathi stumbled upon a cure for my nightly iPad habit. So there I was in the middle of the night in bed with earphones in listening to an awesome version of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die” while pummeling various victims in “Words with Friends” on my iPad when I heard a boom. I turned on a lamp and saw my Beagle, Theo, panting at the bedroom door. I thought he’d jumped against the door to get my attention. Lately, he’s had to go out a lot at night (a dog with the bladder of a mouse...
Read more