Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ The West End police substation had major missing ingredients from the outset. From the moment the substation was proposed at a community meeting in May 2014, the substation idea met with major resistance from the majority persons living in the area. Why?
• The idea was not community-driven. It came from either city hall or the police chief. Local persons know best about the needs of their own community–they live there.
• The idea of a substation where people will visit with the police twice a week with open doors for a few hours seems daft for a neighborhood having its share of gang members, free-lance pharmaceutical salesmen, and criminals. It goes without saying that anyone visiting a police substation would be viewed as a “snitch”. Not good.
• Quite often police are distrusted because a few employ excessive force, demonstrate demeaning behavior toward minorities, use profiling, and blow the cover of informants.
• Most West Enders I spoke with last year wanted a police presence in the form of patrol cars and foot patrols. They wanted a visible presence on a daily basis. No one I met wanted to go to the substation.
