WE FEEL MUCH SAFER

Orlando cracks down on crime.

Comments

[daisymae]

I'm so glad they are finally taking it seriously - that mouse, ya know, is a little weird.

[daisymae]

And tp makes a big mess. I'm sure the crack dealers loved this.

[daisymae]

Helllooooo? Anybody home?

[Mew]

Why is it that no one has a sense of humor about these things anymore? It happens once a year. Big deal.

[SquirlCat41]

They wanted to make an impression on the juniors so that they wouldn't do it next year. How would they know? The raid was in the middle of the night, and cleaned up before the next day?

[slyeyes]

Violent crime squad responds to Orlando high school incident.

I hate it when crime squads become violent.

[MOTW]

The seniors ... should be able to graduate with the rest of their class on Saturday, crossing the stage to receive their diplomas with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of their shoes.

[Dr Acula]

A few years ago a home owner here in the UK looked out of his window to see a couple of guys stealing the lawnmower out of his shed. He rang the police, only to be told that no officers were available to come out, so tough.
A short time later, he rang the police and said "You don't have to come now, I've shot them."
In seconds, two squad cars, an armed response unit and a helicopter surrounded his house. The burglars were apprehended and taken away in shock.
The policeman in charged approached the householder and said "I thought you said you shot them."
To which he replied: "I thought you said you hadn't got any officers available to come over."

[rita]

Come on. A little tp on the campus and the cops show up?

My 6-year-old granddaughter is finishing kindergarten in Orlando at one of Florida's A schools (not only a top-ranking school, but in a very nice, quiet neighborhood) and only last week was hit in the face with a chair. By Jeffrey (you can imagine Avery's inflection, full of scorn and disgust), the little bully who's been annoying her all year. Supposedly they have a no-tolerance stand on bullies but nothing has been done all year, and the principal and assistant principals would do nothing. The teacher quit a couple of weeks ago and pulled her son out of kindergarten because of bullying. Since then, they've had a string of substitutes who didn't bother to try to stop the bullying.

It took my daughter's letter stating that my gdaughter won't be returning this year (a whole two weeks at that time) and why, before the assistant principal would give her any time. Then she had a deputy there, who pulled Jeffrey out of class and told him he'll be going to jail if he doesn't quit this crap.

The school then divided gdaughter's class among the remaining kgarten teachers (who were thrilled to get 4 or 5 new students at the end of the year), and the teachers had to test each child, since the teacher had taken all her paperwork, including grades, with her.

Avery is thrilled; not only are there no bullies in her class, she has a cubby to put her bookbag in. In the "cottage" her class was in, she'd had to put stuff on the floor with the other kids' stuff, and everything was stepped on and messed up.

Bullies. In kindergarten. And it's the middle of May before anything is done about it.

[CoastRaven]

Taxpayer money well used. This type of preventative action will keep those kids from becoming miscreants in their adult life. I mean really, it's because of an involved police force that Orlando has no problem with drugs or murder... rape isnt even thought of anymore. Orlando is a Utopia and it all can be credited to ... ah H&ll who am I kidding? The cops shouldda locked up the principal and made him watch his school get wasted!

[Lisa Bisa Fo Fisa]

I don't know if it's happening everywhere, but in Central Fla. TPing is very popular. Instead of money for graduation trips or dances, HS students spend their funds on ammo for TP assaults.

One house in my neighborhood (not mine, thank God) was hit five times in one year!

Everyone thinks it's funny, and I think it's kind of pretty--you know, snow-covered mountains and all that--but I'm glad to see that the OPD has the situation all wrapped up.

[KOW]

To be fair, the principal only called in one cop. He's the one who went and called a WHOLE lot of backup. He should be getting an awesome ribbing from his colleagues today.

And all that police presence, helicopters with lights, and they arrest five amongst dozens? No wonder squirrels are running rampant.

[KCSteve]

According to WFTV, police said they hope the massive armed response made enough of an impression on this year's juniors that they might think twice about reviving the prank next year.

Or, more likely, compete to see who can come up with the best way of getting a massive armed response sent to the school for no real reason.

[Meanie the Blue]

I'm sure they must have needed to use up all kinds of cop equipment, taken lots of fingerprints and dog-smelling prints, and have plenty of 8x10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows on the back of each one to be used as evidence against them.

[CoastRaven]

KID Have you rehabilitated yourself?

[MOTW]

rita - That story about a rowdy bully named Jeffrey reminded me of the Bill Cosby video, Himself. Bravo for your daughter - you learned her real good, rita! ;)

[swilmor]

No wonder kids are getting the wrong message...

sell drugs, sex in the stairwells, beat-up a nerd and call in the rental cops (not to mention requiring a court order to search their locker).

BUT... take part in a little creative re-decorating and send in the SWAT team!

[O. the U(manity)]

Did they make those five arrestees go sit on the Group W bench?

(Tsk, tsk ... all these unanswered questions ... shoddy reporting, I don't care how Perky the news team may be ... )

OTOH, the cleanup and such (in other years, with no arrests) is simply another example of your tax dollars at work ... to clean up after a prank ... better than the aftermath of a beer bust -- Fosston, Mn lost three kids in a prom night car crash, for example -- but still wasteful ... how about if the Seniors would contribute the money spent on TP to a local shelter, or taking needy families shopping?

In my day (back in another century, in another millenium0 there was no "Skip Day" or "Senior Trip" ... our tradition wuz for the Senior Class to leave the school a gift ... one class paid for an intercom system, another class contributed choir risers ...

My class? We were so broke our "gift" to the school wuz a bottle of Air-Wick™ for the furnace room, where the teachers had to go to smoke ... we were merely "impecunious" ...

[random thunking]

"O the Impecunious" has a nice ring to it.

[Bumble]

If minor vandalism is the major problem this school has, they need to get over it and send this team to Roundstone Elementary School. The teachers used to go out for a smoke while the students were forced to watch Barney on TV, and when a fourth grade boy hit and shoved a girl in his class to the floor (me) because she found a sticker on the floor and wouldn't give it to him, the vice principal Mr. Pencil's (yes, that was his real name) grand solution was to give us both a sticker and send us back to class with our nicotine-addicted moron teacher who could barely speak, let alone teach. But I'm not bitter or anything. Not even about the other jerk who knocked me down in gym class and jammed my thumb, or the third jerk who kicked by butt while standing behind me in line at the water fountain. Uh-uh, not me.

[Bumble]

correction: kicked my butt.

[O. the U(manity) (MBE LP)]

random -

Yeah, well, (speakin' of rings) my impecuniousocitynessism was so bad ... I had the most expensive (at the time) class ring in our gang ... I hadda buy SIX boxes of Cracker Jack™ before I found one that fit ...

[24-aholic]

I bet there was more chocolate syrup in the kid's pants than on the building. YIKES!!!

[24-aholic]

Bumble - I feel ya! When I was in grade school, Wendy (litle snot) pushed me down and fractured my wrist. Not only did she not get in trouble, but no one believed I was a actually injured until the next morning when my arm swelled up like a football. The saddest part? I went to Catholic school (guess she went to confession instead of getting suspended) and it was MY OWN MOM who didn't believe I was injured! The pain was worth years of guilt trips, though!

[rita]

MOTW--thank you. And OMG, I didn't realize that Avery was quoting Cosby without ever hearing the monologue. I LOVE that video!

Jeffrey could have been that kid. Without a script even.

[rita]

Wow, Bumble, did you go to school in Shenandoah County, Virginia? That sounds like my 6th grade teacher, the one who took a break after lunch to smoke, leaving us alone in the classroom. Who at gym time sat on the bus with other teachers and smoked while the kids ran around unmonitored.

The one my mom went to see after I got a C in history. Who said that I was doing better than the others, so what was her problem?

I'm not bitter either, but I'm not sure that I've forgiven my parents for moving us up here in the middle of the school year, either.

[mellio]

Really, I think it's appalling. We can joke about it--you can indeed find a humorous angle, after all--but at the end of the day, a clearly-stated objective was desired:

"police said they hope the massive armed response made enough of an impression on this year's juniors"

This is sick. They did this with a SWAT team? Over toilet paper? Exactly what kind of IMPRESSION do you think that really leaves?