Great news, everybody!
As of today, there is officially no real crime in Montpelier.
That's right, and that's according to the Montpelier police. According to the Burlington Free Press:
I live in Montpelier, and all I can say is THANK GOD that the streets are now safe for me to walk. What's even better, though, is that there is apparently nothing more serious or dangerous happening in the Capital City
Now I can stop locking my car doors, which I’ve been doing for the past 5 years in Montpelier because it seemed “less safe” than it had been.
More seriously, the cop-per-person ratio in Montp has always seemed rather high; now I know it’s cause they’re busy worrying about what women do with their bodies in their free time.
And, as an aside about your note assuming there’s no more dangerous or serious crime going on: most any kid on the street can a) get you most any drug you want from the Julios kitchen and b) tell you where on Norhfield St the guy who’s responsible for 2/3’s of all the stollen bikes lives.
To subdue whom, exactly? Cold-blooded jaywalkers?
They ought to get together with the St. Albans cops who, as I recall, were apparently considering the acquisition of one or more Segways for sidewalk patrol!
I sometimes get the feeling there’s a law-enforcement travelling salesman making the rounds of all the easy marks in Mayberry.
…did WPTZ get a photo of her, which is prominently featured to the left of their blog story? I thought they were only allowed to do photos of folks accused of major offenses. I guess I’m next: “Man on cane arrested for walking ‘too slow’ during Montpelier lunchtime rush.” See video here:
There are circumstances in which this would be a valid use of the police department’s time. Was the woman, for instance, being a nuisance to passers-by or downtown businesses? Soliciting near a business’s entrance, or even inside?
The Freeps story says she was initially given a warning “inside a bar” (three guesses, and the first two don’t count), and later arrested by the undercover officer. If the bar or its patrons complained to police about the woman and the police then dispatched an undercover officer, I think that’s a reasonable use of resources.
If the police are just randomly trolling for hookers, they should find better things to do.
“Hot Dang! Mr. Drysdale and Miss Jane got me a job with the Montpelier PD as an Undercover Double-Nought John! And I’ve got $131.00 U.S. dollars in my varmit bag so’s I can sit on a bench in Montpelier and wait for one of these Montpelier Call Girls to ask me for Trick or Treat. Then, all’s I gotta do is call up the Montpelier PD on my Top Secret Double-Night Crime Alert Shoe Phone and four or maybe five Montpelier Police Cars will show up and I’ll have saved the town from a serious crime wave, and get my picture in the paper. And maybe Dash Riprock will play me in the movie! I’ve gotta go, cause the Montpelier PD gave me all kinds of Top Secret words and phrases to study on so’s I could be like a real Undercover John, like “Around The World,” and “BJ,” and “No, I Don’t Have An Extra Cigarette.” The Montpelier PD told me if I did a really good ‘sweep’ they’d also make me a Top Secret Undercover Double-Nought Panhandler. Hot Dang!”
Sure, two consenting adults, whatever.
Except that’s not how it pans out most of the time in real life.
In theory, prostitution is a private commercial service transaction between two consenting adults. In reality it often involves minors, drug addicts, exploitation, coercion, kidnapping, and outright violence. It fosters the spread of disease, including HIV.
The Dutch have isolated it in one urban area and regulated the hell out of it, reducing the downside, but it’s not the neighborhood I’d want to call home.
It’s analogous to polygamy. In theory, three or more consenting adults, blah, blah, whatever. In reality, 50 year old men raping 13 year old girls.
So yes, let’s arrest prostitutes (and pimps and johns) in Montpelier, unless we want to follow the lead of the Netherlands and actually fully deal with it.
It is no longer safe to street walk in Montpelier.
This reminds of the time a man was arrested for walking on the campus of Bennington College. He was looking for his lost cat. I attended the Trial. He represented himself. He appeared to be poor, possibly homeless. That was his real crime. I, and thousands of others, walk on the campus all the time and are not even questioned, let alone arrested.
Interesting legal case just decided by the VT Supremes. Headline reads: “Court backs tenants…” The tenants had been fined for opening their windows. Come on – even poor folks need to get fresh air. Amazing stuff going on all around us every day……………