Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-13-2014, 11:24 AM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,686,981 times
Reputation: 3521

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moby Hick View Post
Maybe wear some Dockers. Nobody suspects a guy wearing Dockers of selling drugs.
Haha, I do not wear business casual clothes usually downtown. That really makes you stick out like a sore thumb.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-13-2014, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
618 posts, read 687,886 times
Reputation: 842
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl View Post
Haha, I do not wear business casual clothes usually downtown. That really makes you stick out like a sore thumb.
You should be sure to let the khakied hordes that descend upon market square at the lunch hour know.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-13-2014, 12:40 PM
 
1,445 posts, read 1,963,077 times
Reputation: 1190
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl View Post
Haha, I do not wear business casual clothes usually downtown. That really makes you stick out like a sore thumb.
I worked downtown (for IBM) for seven years and wore jeans* and t-shirts everyday and never felt like I stuck out. The only people in suits were either 70 years old or lawyers (or both).

*except during the summer when I wore cargo shorts and tevas.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-13-2014, 12:45 PM
 
Location: ɥbɹnqsʇʇıd
4,599 posts, read 6,686,981 times
Reputation: 3521
Keep in mind I also look um.... "ethnic" compared to most downtown lunch-time Pittsburghers so that with plain clothes could have made me stick out too.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-13-2014, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Frederick, MD
147 posts, read 291,570 times
Reputation: 133
FWIW, as a frequent visitor and formerly a Point Park student, I've never thought of downtown as dangerous, but it's definitely kinda sketchy in certain blocks (Smithfield comes to mind, and even Wood at night is a little questionable). I think the weirdest thing about it is how empty it gets after business hours. Once it gets dark, except for the cultural district, there's hardly anyone out except students and the, uh, less fortunate people that downtown seems to attract (junkies, beggars, homeless, etc). My friends and I have drunkenly walked around downtown as late as 3 AM with no problems. Just the occasional person asking for change or a cigarette or whatever.

With that said, I don't think an increase in police presence is necessary. I think downtown is still gentrifying, and with all the buses that transfer down there, plus I believe there's a homeless shelter/halfway house sort of thing (if my memory serves me right), you're naturally gonna have some unsavory characters. It's just part of city life, and you'll see it in Baltimore or DC or anywhere you go. Seriously, walk around the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, which is the most touristy part of the city, and see if you can count on one hand how many times you get hit up for change. Only so much the police can do about this sort of thing. Violent crime seems pretty rare downtown, and IMO, that's the most important thing.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-14-2014, 06:01 PM
 
Location: Troy Hill, The Pitt
1,174 posts, read 1,579,861 times
Reputation: 1081
Quote:
Originally Posted by The King of Um View Post
Pittsburgh police are engaged with the people; you just have to have the right attitude about them. I think a lot of people who gripe about how awful police-community relations are, are those who have negative attitudes regarding the law and law enforcement. Many are probably criminals themselves.

The right attitude you say? What does that entail? That they have carte blanche to beat, harass, and intimidate the public like goons in a totalitarian state? The are no "good" cops. There are those who abuse the public, those who enable them, and those who are no longer officers because the other two forced them out of the profession for refusing to maintain the status quo.

We have a far more dire need of accountability from the officers that we already have before we attempt to increase their ranks.



Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-15-2014, 08:09 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,203,280 times
Reputation: 3509
Quote:
Originally Posted by Q-tip motha View Post
The right attitude you say? What does that entail? That they have carte blanche to beat, harass, and intimidate the public like goons in a totalitarian state? The are no "good" cops. There are those who abuse the public, those who enable them, and those who are no longer officers because the other two forced them out of the profession for refusing to maintain the status quo.

We have a far more dire need of accountability from the officers that we already have before we attempt to increase their ranks.




The police officers are already accountable to the politicians who are responsible for their actions.

The officers who had the incident with the Miles boy were obeying the prime directives of their commanders and the politicians who the commanders answer to.

The fact that none of the three were reprimanded or lost a single millisecond of pay over the incident, tells me that they were indeed just following orders. If they were acting on their own and out of order, the brass would have cracked down on them in such a notorious case.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2014, 11:30 AM
 
Location: Troy Hill, The Pitt
1,174 posts, read 1,579,861 times
Reputation: 1081
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam View Post

The fact that none of the three were reprimanded or lost a single millisecond of pay over the incident, tells me that they were indeed just following orders. If they were acting on their own and out of order, the brass would have cracked down on them in such a notorious case.
It tells me the city is protecting itself from liability, and is thus enabling further abuse.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-17-2014, 09:47 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh
7,541 posts, read 10,203,280 times
Reputation: 3509
Quote:
Originally Posted by Q-tip motha View Post
It tells me the city is protecting itself from liability, and is thus enabling further abuse.
I don't see how it protects the city from civil liability at all.


The city has paid plenty over the years in civil settlements and judgments in this kind of case. If they were to crack down on the officers responsible, it could divert a good portion if not all of the civil liability on to the individuals acting contrary to their standing orders. Of course that doesn't work and would backfire on the city, if it wasn't true and the police officers were just acting according to the instructions given to them by the brass.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Pennsylvania > Pittsburgh

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top