Saturday, January 03, 2009

Berrien Corruption Rolls On

Here are excerpts from a (typical) Herald Palladium article on Benton Harbor and drugs. Emphasis and brackets telling the ugly truth added by Mrs.Dorothy Pinkney.

[Whirlpool's Man] Mingo vows to continue fight on drugs in city

[Just another article to keep fear alive. "Rehabilitation" and "Restorative Justice" unheard of in this isolated county]

J.Swida 12.30.08 - BENTON HARBOR - Police Chief Al Mingo said that restoring the community's confidence in the police department and continuing its war on drugs [passe concept, proven to be nonfuctional and unsuccessful - mob rule backwater Berrien County will use it to justify mass imprisonment] will be his top priorities in 2009.

"It is my goal to work closely with the courts, judges and prosecutor to bring and keep the city's drug issues under control," Mingo said. "I am committed to providing strong and ethical leadership in this area." [Officers from the BH police dept. have never honored their badges under Chief Mingo. Corruption has existed for decades.]

The department suffered a setback with the federal indictment in December of former narcotics officer Andrew Collins on drug charges. Mingo said he will not let up on the war against drugs in the city because 95 percent of all crimes committed in Benton Harbor are in some way connected to drugs. [Chief Mingo knew Officer Andrew Collins was planting drugs on the citizens of Benton Harbor. My husband and other citizens of BH reported Collins at several commissioners' meetings resulting in no investigations. Andrew Collins was given the 2007 Officer of the Year Award - for planting drugs on innocent citizens.]

Updating or enhancing the city's ability to communicate with other police agencies and enhancing community policing initiatives are two other top goals for the new year, the chief said. [Read: harrass, intimidate, arrest, jail as many BH residents as possible in '09]

Foot patrols downtown, in parks and in troubled neighborhoods would go a long way in bolstering crime prevention, he said. Becoming aggressive in the area of truancy would also be a crime reduction measure because young people would be in school instead of on the streets. [Wealthy golfers don't want to look at Black youth!]

Mingo said the expansion of Harbor Shores, Harbor Town and other developments will more than justify the need for increased personnel in the department. [Get those Black people outta here by any means necessary.]

This year, even with budget restraints, the department was able to retain five of the eight School Resource Officer positions that resulted from a federal COPS grant in 2004. Hiring an experienced grant-writer would help the department secure future funds and meet other goals, he said. [Watch the funneling of that grant money to Whirlpool, Fred Upton, and St. Joseph!]

Mingo said one of the biggest accomplishments in 2008 was assigning two officers to full-time community service initiatives. Working closely with schools and block clubs, the officers were able to engage the city's youth in worthwhile activities, like Shop With a Cop, Spring Break Bash and Summer Slam Basketball League, the chief said. [Two guns stolen from the police department is being investigated now. This was an inside job. Also, the police dept. was towing citizens' cars and selling them on ebay. You can't make this stuff up.]

Benton Harbor and Benton Township are among the few agencies in the area that have maintained their own dispatch centers, while most others have joined with Berrien County's central dispatch system. Mingo has said it would save money, with no loss in efficiency, to join the county system. City commissioners, so far, have not been receptive to the idea.
[Giving Chief Mingo a vote of confidence is ridicious and the norm for
Whirlpool-controlled BH and Berrien Cty. Mingo should be fired.]