Zero-T Night on the West Side - Wednesday, February 28

[connie254]

I'd like to know the stats on people who will try to get out of paying fines that incurred during "zero tolerance".  If you don't work and drive an Expedition, then hand over the money you will use to color your hair purple/the pack of cigarettes or malt liquor you had to out to buy/the stereo system with the bass booming out from every window/the illegal drugs in your possession. I wory about the working people who can't afford insurance or repair their vehicles that they worked hard to buy while the lowlifes drive around in those cars and SUVs with temp tags so they don't have to carry insurance and if they are involved in an acident, a temp tag isn't documented anywhere for someone to find the owner.

[ForumManager]

I pulled into a parking lot on Mahoning to take a phone call last Sunday and several police cruisers passed by while I was sitting there.  One did a quick Uturn and pulled  into the McDonald's drive through  and apparently cited  a person in the drive through for something.  Two state patrol cars pulled in behind my minivan and began to converse.  My phone call lasted at least 20 minutes and they were directly behind my car practically blocking me in  the entire time. I can  say that a middle aged  woman alone on a cell phone is probably not a person of interest but they definitely checked me out. Perhaps they were protecting me from the criminal in the nearby drivethrough?  I feel that this will not help.  I feel that immediate responses to calls will help.  This presence may only deter criminals from traffic violations and keep them off the main streets and on the side streets where people reside. Driving up and down Mahoning repeatedly and pulling people over for tail lights is not going to do anything for breakins, shootings and drug traffic in the neighborhoods.  This is probably an unpopular response but to find me a person of interest is completely laughable.  I pulled into the parking lot so I wouldn't be on my cellphone and driving at the same time.  I'd like to see some statistics that show  how this has done anything more than cost the taxpayers more money. Are there any stats?

[northside lurker]

I don't drive, so I don't have to worry about having a car in tiptop shape.  However, having grown up in a house where money was always tight, I can understand that kind of situation.  Despite that, I think the zero-tolerance is well worth the effort, if only because of the article posted below.

http://www.vindy.com/content/local_regional/307506140811155.php

YOUNGSTOWN — The zero tolerance anti-crime crackdown, in which police and the Ohio State Highway Patrol have recently been stopping numerous motorists in this city, has resulted in a secondary benefit: the collection of delinquent child support, which motorists must pay to get their driver's licenses reinstated so they can drive legally, a county official said. On Tuesday, [February 20] the Mahoning County Child Support Enforcement Agency collected $7,000 in support from 15 walk-in delinquent parents seeking to have their suspended driver's licenses reinstated, Judee Genetin, agency director, told county commissioners Wednesday. "Ten of those people said that they were there because of the elevated police coverage," she reported. License suspension and reinstatement workers at CSEA were "very busy on Tuesday," Genetin said.

[Mary]

Well i can understand why it would. We have not been out as much in the city while these patrols were going on. We are both licensed drivers, have insurance and so on. However my boyfriends car has a crack in the windshield. We can not afford to get it fixed and wouldn't be able to afford the ticket either. And the other issue is that you don't HAVE to be doing something wrong to be pulled over. We were pulled over one night because the cop didn't know the area and said we went straight in the turning lane. Had to have him go back to look to prove our point. Happenings like this make good people nervous.

[jay]

I didn't think that the zero tolerance program would hurt business either until I heard otherwise from a business operator.

[AllanY2525]

I hope that the increased patrols aren't hurting business in the areas where
they are taking place - but if the patrons of these businesses aren't doing
anything wrong, then they shouldn't be apprehensive about carrying on their
everyday activities, should they?

Just posing a rhetorical question....

[jay]

I had to make a trip to Mahoning Avenue this evening.  It was the west side's turn for the zero tolerance patrols.  Between downtown and Belle Vista I counted 6 police cars including the state patrol, YPD, and county sheriff. 

I had to make a stop at a Mahoning Avenue business.  The operator confided in me that since the heavy patrols started this evening, the number of customers declined sharply.   

In general, is this zero tolerance program hurting businesses on the west side?