by Matt Marquardt –
MASON CITY – At last night’s Mason City Council meeting, Police Chief Michael Lashbrook took time to explain to the public how his department is battling crime in the city at this time.
He said his department is employing a number of programs to keep things under control.
Lashbrook (pictured) said that traffic enforcement is “one of the most proactive functions a police department can perform” despite the public feeling otherwise, or feeling that officers may have “better things to do.” Lashbrook says that traffic stops help detect and deter crime and are a source of intelligence gathering.
“We are looking for the person on the block,” Chief Lashbrook said. “Community involvement… they are the eyes and ears,” he said, as the department continues to rely on the public for information and tips on crimes that are committed.
The MCPD has participated in programs like SALT (seniors and law enforcement together), a collaborative effort between various entities and law enforcement agencies, which works to prevent and solve crimes.
Lashbrook also said that there is no way to predict in the city when or where violent crime will take place.
Lashbrook’s presentation comes in the wake of several murders within the last year or so in the city as well as other criminal activity and lawlessness that the public has taken notice of. Vandalism has continued to plague the city, and widespread chaos spread through last month’s band festival carnival. Scores of youth were brought in for questioning and banned from the park after a series of brawls erupted that weekend in East Park. Many folks said they would no longer attend after witnessing this, and MCPD had to call in backup from around the area as youth became aggressive and advanced on the officers.
The chief said that anyone who wants to start a neighborhood watch program is free to contact the Mason City Police Department for information. That number is 641-421-3636.
On a related note, Mayor Eric Bookmeyer reminded the public to volunteer for the park watch program, which is down in numbers. This program has been instrumental in keeping some vandalism out of the parks.
Watch video:
Peter, since my High School days, when I was required to take Social Studies and Sociology,
I learned the relationships between our laws and an orderly society, and the requirements of citizenship. Those classes 40 years ago, began a process of observations of how things worked, and why.
I see the same things playing out today in real life, not theory. In many of the contacts I have had with our police, they have met or exceeded my expectations. They act just as professionally as members of Chicago PD, IL State Police, IN State Police, numerous local departments in Philadelphia, Chicago, Wisconsin, IN, and Montreal, the FBI, and individual Railroad Special Agents I have had personal contact with.
I do not presume for one moment every member of a police department is perfect. I give you one example, Jon Berge of CPD. He was a creep when I met him in the late 80’s, and the courts have reached that same conclusion. And because of the make up of human kind, he is not the only one out there.
When I make comments about our police, or any police, as I have explained on these pages in the past, I take the department as a whole. If you choose to measure a whole organization on it’s worst single part, then it is you with the unreasonable and unrealistic mind. You probably have no real experience with large departments. And even if by chance you have, your paradigm of life prohibits you from seeing reality. You hold disdain for people who hold authority over you. Sorry old sock, but in the society we have in this country, that kind of thinking is unrealistic, and honestly, unhealthy.
Ive been raised practically my whole life in a large city/ state. Which isnt here in mason/ iowa and have dealt personally with law enforcement and court officials. And i have to thoroughly disagree with you about our departments as a whole here in good ole river city ….while living here the personal observations ive experienced are night and day which is pretty sad …i felt better about my safety and my community when i knew and could experince ACTUALLY safety…what example are these departments setting ? Come to our community if you want to get away with drugs, harassment, theft,drugs,owi,burglary, assault ,stalking,sex offendets,having warrants and walking around town knowing nothing eill hsppen etc..but you better not go 4miles over or fix that license plate light or else youll get it! Haha
Haha ironically after i posted i saw on nit homepage about shots fired at the. Northend …by African Americans that im sure have illegal weapons and did this knowing that not only will they probably get away with it but that this is now considered the”norm” the department s should have nip this in the butt along time ago!
Is the person in the next car going to shoot you? How do you know?
Is the person behind you at the grocer going to take all your money? How do you know?
The Black man at the corner waiting on the corner is: 1.) A drug dealer from Detroit; 2.)A gang banger from Waterloo; 3.) A man going to work on the bus because his 2011 Lexus had a computer failure. How do you know?
And if you were a police officer, are you perhaps more privy to the backgrounds of people whom you have had no contact with?
In all cases above, I pointed out people without prior criminal histories or police contacts.
Because one wears a badge, does not make them clairvoyant. What cause do they have to suspect a person of illegal behavior? Legally! If they have had prior contact, do they have sufficient cause to constantly follow that person around?
As an experiment, I walked up to an officer last night, and asked him if I had priors, or an active warrant against me. At first he was really taken aback, but then laughed and asked who I was. He really had no clue who I was just by looking at me. I asked another officer this morning, who knows who I am. They replied, if they spent the whole day trying to guess who everybody was, and looking up records based on guesses, they would never get anything done.
Police work is part observation, a lot experience, and to be honest, part luck. There are a lot of names in town that are known to everybody. There are some who have extensive contacts with police, you might not know them, but they do.
When you look, or listen to their day to day routine, if that’s what you want to call it, depending on the shift, its running from call to call, or finishing paperwork, or following up cases. There is insufficient manpower to sit watching an intersection, a single person, or a single location, without real justification. A person’s background, ethnic persuasion, or dress is not proper cause. We are talking law, not opinion.
Unless of course you find it acceptable to let calls for service back up. Who’s calls will go unanswered? Who will accept the liability if an unanswered call is more serious that was originally reported? How do you know?
Look inside to what is really involved, what really happens, how things must be done. Then maybe you will have a better understanding. If not, then you are only assuming.
Let me get this straight. We cannot seem to staff the police dept well and are short on officers but we can hire a Blue Zone Coordinator? What is that about? What exactly, and skip the generalities we keep hearing about–what exactly are we going to get out of the Blue Zone Program as long as we are investing staff and taxpayer dollars into it? The downtown area has really gone downhill in the last 2 years–people are not aware of all the vandalism and crime there. The whole city needs more police presence. We need our dollars invested into hiring more police officers and making sure they have the backup they need if we expect them to police well especially with the caliber of criminals we seem to have here. Would you like to go up against some of these people without adequate backup? Mason City let’s get our priorities in order.
Hahaha, I see police staked out in the morning hours, trying to catch people going to work because they know its an easy target , because most people tend to speed on their way to work, or they watch for under age drinking parties. So here is my question. Why can’t they focus their attention to higher crimes, and set outside or drive around Alley Katz on weekends? 9 out of 10 times they are bound to find- felony gun possession, drug possession, disorderly conduct arrests, public intox, arrest warrant criminals an maybe prevent a murder or serious assault or rape. These type of arrests are more beneficial to our community than- seatbelt violations, speeding tickets, or headlight an tail light violations. Sure a crime is a crime but lets start where we know the worst violations an crime is.
i agree with your comment 100%…violations and crimes are still just that but i think meth,crank,burglaries and more serious happenings need to be dealt with more urgently ! no one wants to continue to reside in a community where they dont have much faith in police or court systems ! and before people flip out,understand its just my opinion and i am a younger citizen of this community that wants to see us move forward not backwards
I think you need to ride with them on all shifts, and see exactly what it is they do. You seem to think traffic violations are lessor, I feel just the opposite. We need more enforcement of traffic laws at busy intersections to keep our community safer. On top of that, we should also increase fines to help curb further violations of traffic laws.
This person obviously hangs out at Alley Katz, traffic violations are good but what examples are we the city of Mason City setting for these criminals? That as long as u drive safe an wear ur seat belts u can go an fight with whoever or try to intimidate people of a certain neighborhood that you an your crew owns these streets because cops wont mess with u unless someone calls them on u. The reason for tragic points are to try to prevent accidents an deaths, this should also be a concern to patrol this bar or houses of known drug dealers. I understand our police are not the best trained so its easier to go for the simpler crimes so they don’t have to deal with bigger. The more we let them continue to act this way the more they recruit . Nip it in the bud Barney