Melanie, I don't believe that anyone is outraged that Lt. McCurdy is available to help us; however, I think you are missing the main point, which is about much more than technicalities. Imagine that UCD is offering to help the community with real estate issues. UCD then persuades you or another licensed real estate agent affiliated with a local brokerage to spend time in UCD's office answering real estate questions. Your broker gives you permission to do this as its agent, but UCD gives you UCD cards with your name and real estate license information, a UCD email and a UCD phone number. My reading of this situation would be that, despite good intentions, you, UCD and your broker would be in violation of state real estate ethics laws and regulations because UCD is not a licensed branch office of the brokerage. These laws and regulations exist in order avoid conflicts of interest and confusion for real estate consumers and to make sure that a broker is able to supervised and vouch for the activities of its licensed agents. Many of us view Lt. McCurdy's card as more problematic than my real estate analogy because he is a public safety officer with a direct chain of command to the police commissioner and the mayor. There must never be any hint of a question of an on-duty police officer having a dual affiliation with a non-public entity. Obviously more so than real estate professionals, police officers must make clear that they are here to serve the people and are accountable to the people's government. Andy
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 11:12:22 -0400Subject: Re: [UC] Who do sworn officers of the Philadelphia Police report to?To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] a message dated 9/30/07 10:31:13 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Thanks for refocusing the discussion on the real issue, Karen.KimmIf the real issue is "Who do sworn officers of the Philadelphia Police report to?", then Lt. McCurdy answered that question before this ever came up on the list, when Bill Brown and I asked at the meeting last week about what territory he covered: He replied that he reports to the 18th District at 55th & Pine.If the real issue is, what can we fault the UCD for this week, then it's that the Lt. has cards he gave out so people know his phone number if they'd like his help, and some people on the list think they should be redesigned. Or perhaps people on the list think the police shouldn't be located at 39th & Chestnut, or the police shouldn't communicate with the UCD. I'm not sure how it would most succinctly be framed; surely someone will correct me. But it seems to be about technicalities - I haven't heard anyone say they are outraged that a police lieutenant offered to make himself available to hear our needs.I was involved with Cedar Park Neighbors' board at the point that its ministation at the Firehouse, 50th & Baltimore, had failed. We (CPN's dues-paying members) were paying its bills, such as phone and utilities, but no one was ever officially there (though the phone was being used)! So we had the phone turned off and the ministation ceased to exist. A ministation such as the one at the Firehouse was supposed to have had community people staffing it, and they were to have contact with the police and have police checking in with them - it was not to be staffed full-time by police officers. As we all know, there are a limited number of neighbors who volunteer, and they were choosing other volunteer activities - not sitting in a small room attached to the Firehouse. So when there were no community people there, CPN's Firehouse ministation was no longer viable. It is my understanding that the substation at 47th & Chester, also relying on community volunteers, has had trouble sustaining itself because of a lack of participants. I'm not sure if it is still open, despite incredible dedication by its main volunteer, Cindy Preston.This is a very different model from having a "real" police "substation" - or whatever technical term it's called - staffed with police officers, like the one next door to the UCD. That station is open all the time, not dependent on volunteers. Isn't this good for our community?It can be difficult to get the attention of officers at the 18th District's 55th & Pine location for the less-violent, less serious crimes of the types that we have in University City. Their focus is, understandably, on the very serious things that happen, often further west, closer to 55th & Pine. They are less likely to have time to worry about burglaries of leaded glass windows on Hazel Avenue or smashed car windows on 46th St., even though these lesser crimes, and the muggings and robberies of pedestrians, affect us seriously. Lt. McCurdy's office is another resource for us, and its physical location puts it in the middle of the action at the end of the district where these crimes, though perhaps not life-threatening, are quality of life issues for us. He can bring help to us for our difficulties; he has offered to help. He has given us a phone number and email address where we can reach him. He spoke up himself at the landlord meeting - no one stood him up as a puppet and spoke for him or claimed him as "theirs."If people who were not at the meeting want to see his location, his business card or the connection between the police and the UCD as poor judgment, deceitful, demeaning, a symbolic problem or a power grab, so be it. But for those of us who were present for Lt. McCurdy's remarks, we heard a professional police officer speak about crime and safety and the resources he had to offer us. Melani Lamond**************************************See what's new at http://www.aol.com _________________________________________________________________ Discover the new Windows Vista http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+vista&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE
