Why not give the guy a chance? Not all cities are the same size as PTC and most do not include golf cart trails, so why not give this guy a shot? Maybe he can come here with some fresh ideas. It seems fishy to me that everyone is blasting the new guy before he even makes any changes or decisions here about which direction to take the PD. In any case you should at least show some respect and maybe even some old fashioned southern charm welcoming him to this city.

I agree, give the guy a chance. We let senators and governors and such come from governing a state (or something smaller) to being the president of the United States - and sometimes they do very well. So if you look at it that way, 1/12 isn't nearly as big a jump as 1/50 now is it? It's the ability to lead, provide effective management practices, and foster progressive ideas that will make a good Chief for PTC I believe. So far, I don't think we can count this guy out on those things. If you stick to the basics, those things are the same rather you lead 15 people or 100,000 people.
I will say one more thing - my main hope for the new Chief is that he brings some tough law enforcement back to Peachtree City so it will get back to they way it was when I came here. I don't know if it was because of declining leadership, poor morale, or all the constantly whining people, but PTC seems to have lost it's (seemingly) inpenetrable bubble agasint crime that it used to have. It seems to me that it may be because they have been a lot softer on crime as opposed to the old days. Of course the general public opinion will always be somewhat guided by what the village idiot (criminal) is whining about in the newspaper (i.e. my teenager got harrassed, or I got a speeding ticket), but in reality the rest of us law abiding citizens should see what is really happening. Anyway, that's just my two cents worth.

I agree. Also, if Mayor/Council/Bernie continually rejects budgets that include more personnel that could be utilized for the patrolling of golf cart paths regularly, nothing will change in that regard. To be fair to the current stooges involved, they weren't the first that rejected PD's request for more personnel as that's been occurring for years. Seems the little problem of needing more money through increased taxes or cutting services somewhere else gets in the way of adding PD personnel.

The people of PTC need to get with reality and understand that services cost money. That means you can't have it all without paying for it. OK, maybe W and the national Repubs have fooled you into thinking you can, but you cannot do that locally. There are quite a few residents that also wouldn't support their property taxes going up a nickel for any reason whatsoever. They'd rather their home values drop so their taxes would be lower. Yes, your neighbors may indeed be this stupid!

All I know is that I would like to arrange a house swap with him.

Juno is one of my old surfing spots--often the first place that was breaking at all as we headed up the coast from S. Florida in search of rideable waves.

Hey, Skip, can you help a surfing philosopher find work in the Juno area? In turn, I'll help you settle in here.

what of the others? Could not this candidate be the best of the candidates available? You have not given us enough information with which to make the decision. Keep the faith.

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Hummm…..larger (area) city responsibility, almost 5 times increase in personnel responsibilities, 28+ years current tenure (when do police retire), wealthy resort community vs. a real life city…all for less $$$.

I don't understand how your implication that cops can carry pension seniority around with them works!

No corporation does that, do they?

Is it a national pension plan for ALL cops, where one year in Podunk, KY serves toward a pension as well as for a Los Angeles cop?

Strange!

Its called retirement...he retires from Juno, collects his benifits and comes here, takes a pay cut.

Murray did the same thing from Savanna.

Based upon the sensitive nature of camera use in the local Atlanta news this week, the new chief may want to re-think the use of camera's on the cart paths.

Here are results of a MSN on-line survey!

Should police issue red light tickets using cameras?
* 18455 responses

Yes; the presence of cameras reduces violations and injuries.
38%

No; cameras are an invasion of privacy and produce unconstitutional evidence.
62%

Cameras are installed as "Revenue Generators", pure and simple. This is what the PTC police department has become, a cash cow for the city. Red light cameras allow them to increase this revenue flow without paying overtime or benefits.

To "Protect, Serve and Generate A Profit" should be painted on the side of every PTC vehicle.

Actually 4 of us - all live on the cart path chipped in a couple of hundred dollars and we cover both ends of of a very busy section of the cart path and our own back yards. Ours is hardwired, but I think you can get them that transmit remotely. We get a 48-hour loop and one of us is usually available to log on and look at it immediately if there is a disturbance or we can just go back and search for the time something happened. Twice we turned this over to the police - one was an accident and the other is still pending, but will front page here when it comes out.

The new chief wants citizens to help patrol the cart paths and this is one way for those who may not be up to walking several miles a day.

We have also used this to confront neighbors kids and their parents when we record rock-throwing and public urination. It always starts out the same way "My kid would never do that"; view tape then silence and we leave. Gotta love it unless it is your kid.

Can you tell me where you purchased the cams? I have a few "Sleeper Cells" of Peachtree City's "Little Angels" in the surrounding neighborhoods that frequent the trail directly behind my house. Fence has been hit by golf cart (driver looked all of 10 years old), dog is tormented relentlessly... no rocks yet thank god!

I wish I knew what a pain that trail is before I bought my home.

“Once in, you’ve got to see it through. You’ve got to perform without flinching whatever duty is assigned you, regardless of the difficulty or the danger attending it.”
Theodore Roosevelt, Remarks to Recruits, circa 1898

Yeah, we have quite a few of those little angels that never do anything wrong living in our neighborhood. Installing yard and path cams is a great idea. Several of our neighbors have had their yards damaged by these little angels driving through their yards on golf carts to reach the cart path. Others have had fence damaged. One homeowner complained to the kid’s parents and the next week had a rock thrown through her window.

I know several people who have them as well. You can get wireless remote like the Timberlake people have. They get reinbursed for property damage now, they never used to before. I guess they pay for themselves.

It is a shame that it has come to this in PTC. I know kids misbehave everywhere, but we seem to have more than our fair share of bad kids.

Flip,
All that means is that 38% of the people stop when they should and 62% run the lights.

If you aren't doing anything wrong security cameras shouldn't bother you. On the other hand if you know your satanic little brats are causing a lot of property damage, maybe you should worry.

I agree with you, if nothing is being done wrong, nobody should mind them. PTC is growing and I think it is a good thing for safety. Kids drive golf carts and maybe if they know they are being watched they may think twice before doing something. Oh, my son knows what will happen if he even thinks or does something. With cameras they can't deny it happened.

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We Will Stand