Bonnie wrote:
Am I safe because I'm a nobody, a poor person living on trash land that no
one else wanted? I don't know. When is the time to stand and fight, and
when is the time to say, "Count me out of this game" ? Am I paranoid
because of my bad experience? I hear of this sort of thing happening
everywhere, but maybe I exaggerate the problem in my mind.
(end)
Bonnie, you have had some very scary experiences. I am glad you had the
presence of mind and courage to deal successfully with both situations. How
odd that a scumbag who might have raped you acted "polite" when you told him
of your illness.
So, you might have ended up an innocent victim in the war on drugs. Any
dogs you might have had would have been shot and the feds might have gone
into "shoot anything that moves" mode. I don't know. They might be decent
men at home who believe in what they are doing, hard to say.
I doubt being a poor "nobody" makes someone safe. Frankly, I think being a
lawyer and driving a nice car(with University of ____ law school decal in
clear view) with matching nice clothes would give you a great deal of
protection from rogue law-enforcement people.
Being bullies, they don't want to mess with someone who can shove back, and
who may have friends who could spend a lot of time, money and influence to
investigate things if a disappearance or death occurred
which did not seem right.
I've noticed how when I'm dressed very nicely the police treat me much more
respectfully. And I have seen on tv how cops are much more deferential in
the wealthy neighborhoods.
Anchorage has probably one of the most professional(and well-paid) police
departments in the nation. We are a fairly wealthy city and brutality is
not well tolerated here.
Some folks on the force did have a problem with sticky fingers. The "vault"
at the police station where drugs and money were kept had a long record of
having unauthorized withdrawals! lol The city legislature put a stop to it
with a new vault which is very high-tech and has everything videotaped and
monitored. Only a few on the force now have access to it and there is
always a clerk/guard there. Not fullproof, but definitely better.
The FBI just expanded their new headquarters here to include a huge garage.
The whole complex is a big brown building(aesthetically pleasing) in the
middle of downtown. A high black steel fence surrounds most of it and
videocameras cover every angle, I don't blame them for being careful.
Despite some things they have done in the past, I do have a high regard for
the FBI. It broke my heart when the local Alaska bureau head, a very nice
African-American man who did a lot in the community, was caught by the APD
drunk driving! I bet the APD loved it! He was soon after replaced by an
agent out of Texas.
sincerely,
John Grigg
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:33:55 MDT