How about an arrest and some punishment for these punks?

To the editor,

Once again the Laconia PD jumps to inaction and does little to clean up crime in Metropolis. In July of 2008 my daughter and her family were traveling the crime laden streets of Laconia in the Union Ave./Jewett Street area when their vehicle was shot with a pellet/BB gun virtually inches from my infant granddaughter’s head. Perhaps some of you recall my letter at the time. In that missive I called the areas in Laconia with decades of criminal history as “Pits of Pestilence”. This prompted a call to me from the "concerned" Captain Clary. I had blown off some steam, so to speak, when I called the PD in the middle of this event and asked why it took 10 minutes for a cop to respond to a call for help. On top of that 40 minutes after the incident, the responding female officer was more taken with my granddaughters than doing her duty and going to the crime scene a couple hundred feet away and questioning some of the — how should I put it nicely — "colorful characters” (her words) in the neighborhood. She told my shaken family they should go home and forget it, they will never be caught. GREAT!

So now, 2 ½ years later I learn she was right. The same little punk is doing the same thing on the same corner and likely with the same gun as he/she has been doing for some time now. Reading the Laconia papers on Thursday I have learned that the Crime Stoppers of Laconia who are hired to protect the public have now spread a dragnet over the entire city. “Call us with information” was their plan of action. I’ll bet every punk in every corner of crime in Laconia is virtually shaking in their snowshoes.

Now, I may sound more sarcastically ungrateful to “those who serve” than I should be. However, I have watched the LPD since my call from Captain Clary. They have added a crime map. They are very good with public relations, honoring their officers several times a year, playing basketball in the neighborhood, etc. In his statement on their website, the chief refers to “community-oriented policing”, claiming through this strategy they go after the “root cause” of the crime rather than the “quick fix”. How about an arrest and some punishment for some of these punks? That might change their behavioral motivation more than looking into their feelings.

I would like to know how these latest victims of traveling Laconia streets were handled. Were they responded to promptly? Did the responding officer knock on any doors? Ask any questions? Did they get a call from Captain Clary? Or just told to go home and forget it, they will never be caught?

Rick Heath

Moultonborough