Police Chief Tours Riot Zone!

               So many of you have been waiting for a real follow up to the

                                       riot/rumble/disturbance

                   

     
 that occurred in the South Middle River neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale last month. 

     Today, I got a chance to give you a bit of that!
           ——————————————————————-

     I had decided to go look around South Middle River, to see for myself if the City had actually done anything about the problems there that led to last month’s riot….. I had a new camera that my sweet wife Cindy had bought me for Christmas and was loaded for bear!

                          
                                  sweet wife ( on phone as usual)

     Almost telepathically, the Chief of Police called me on some other matter, just as I was deciding to go on over to South Middle River.

      Chief Frank Adderley said “Great, I’ll meet you there”!


               
                                       Chief pulls up, (not undercover!)


      I hopped in to the souped up Dodge, and we took off to peruse the scene.


                
                             Welcome to the bad side of South Middle River


     So, just a block into the Chief’s tour, we ran into a staggering drunk in the middle of the road ( this was about 3:30).

           
                                        staggering drunk

      Adderley stopped his car and told the drunk to go home. He said OK and headed in the direction he was coming from. As he broke stride, he tossed his beer can on the side of the road.

      It was then suggested to him, (rather strongly) that he pick up his can and some of the other garbage as well while scooting down the road.

                       
                                              drunk on garbage pick-up

     We then headed off to the riot intersection to see if anyone was around to talk to the Chief about the incident last month. Luckily, there were numerous neighbors home that gladly talked to the Chief about the incident, and the constant burglaries and other problems affecting their neighborhood.

              
                                 riot intersection neighbors chatting up the Chief

     We trucked on to other parts of the neighborhood.
 
     We came across this condemned house where the occupant, an old Haitian woman, was still living in her front yard with her meager belongings.

             
                                                          just a sad story
     
     We had been out for a few hours, the Chief had been jotting down a lot of things, so we decided to end up the tour at a bright spot in the neighborhood’s life, and brand new City park that just opened last month.

          
                                                Chief in the new park

     Unfortunately, ( though not unexpectedly) drug dealing has been already reported there.


     The take away from today’s tour is there is much that must be done. Much of it is a Police responsibility, but not all. The “broken window theory” is alive and well there – Garbage, condemned homes, code violations, massive foreclosures, poor street conditions, noise violations, lack of sidewalks, cultural issues – all will take many other departments in the City.

           Will the City step up?



     
         

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *