How about addressing the heroin problem in our community now? that's a wuthering hills problem not a fourth ward problem.

Uniformity is equal to court costs or fees? Every city, county, and state court has different fees...not all are equal. This would be the same, as long as it applied to all cases.

There is a basic principle of uniformity under constitutional protection, charging fees based on "class" would violate equal protection. Sorry boys, try something else.

If fees were unconstitutional nobody would pay them. A fee is applied to many activities cities, counties, and the state already do...this would be no different.

It all comes down to application into current codes for it to work...no mater what local legal experts think.

Hank, no municipality has the jurisdiction to fine someone over and above that which is assessed by the judicial system, nor for any crime committed in the past. If you need further reading, start with Article 1, Clause 3 of the Constitution.

Justins back where has he been I have missed the bashing (not really) oh maybe he had an alias. Crimes IMo are not down just less reported. The scanner runs non stop and so many of these arrests are not in the paper. Another thing is maybe less are being caught and less reporting of them.I have reported thefts of bikes (more then once) and cars and didn't see it in paper. I called in to report 2 young men breaking into neighbors cars and they didn't come for over twenty minutes I yelled at the kids and they ran, by the time the police got here they could have hot wired and loaded the garage in it.

Leave it to Hank to suggest a solution that is, on its face, unconstitutional.

No soft spot Hank. Not a terrible idea I guess, send a letter to someone with some pull and push for it. Although you might want to decide whether you're taxing people or charging them a fee-hammer out those details before you start throwing taxes around!

Hank-pretty sure criminals are sentenced as a punishment. I hope there was some sarcasm I didn't pick up on there. If not, then we better tax everyone who uses the gazette blog, its a public service of some kind, I'm sure we could tax everything if you'd like to have a brainstorming session.

"...gang members are telling others not to bring guns or drugs into the city, the police chief said Thursday."

Well if the police chief says that's what the gangs are saying, it HAS to be true!
Right?

Considering there have been more drug related overdoses in the last 2 years than in what, the last 8 previous combined? I would say the gangs are getting smarter, getting caught less, and the cops are chalking the drop in reported crime rate numbers to a direct drop in the rate of actual crime. LOL are you kidding me? Just because some sheet of paper says "statistically" that in the last 12 months "this that and this" have gotten better while "that this and that" have gotten worse doesn't mean it's facts. Of course we need some good public press about crime, but give us something we can believe. Kind of a slap in the face to suggest we are doing GOOD, considering this time last year we were in an EPIDEMIC status for drug related crimes, overdoses as well as gang activity, etc. of course this year will look better!!! Can you imagine what it would be like if it was even worse than last year? Come on. In the land of the blind even a one eyed man is king.

HANK...You were into Hitler I'll bet. lol

That's because once they are in that Rock County Jail they don't want to go back!! lol ever been there? I'd rather be on an Island full of Raptors

Large numbers of individuals (society) are poor parents and role models, they raise children in the same vicious cycle they were raised, rinse, repeat, we have criminals, murderers, poor decision makers, and what not. That's the simplified version. On top of that, we're a vicious species and we have been hurting each other for thousands of years.

It's not entirely accurate to blame crime on society: a society is made up of individuals, individuals are responsible for their own behavior in good times or bad.

Society is to blame on crime rates. But that still shouldn't stop us from complimenting a good police department. Keep it up, Janesville PD.

And, Devil......., when the crime rate goes up, it might make more sense to blame it on the criminals, yeah?

Yeah Justintimberlakerules. Just learn how to read and everything will be okay! I am not hanna- When will you learn how to read this?

Let me explain it if you don't get it. If the crime rate is down we shouldn't need to be collecting CASH if they need to respond to accidents for revenue.
I knew I should have attached a link to the story for stupid people like yourself.

Where are all you shop floor psychologist now? How many of you chimed in when ever there was a crime story to only blame the economy and GM leaving? Where are all of you that made the statement that crime is going to go up because of the bad economy and people have to break the law to feed their families?

talk1 left posts here that were meant for the other story.

Sorry, one more thing...Where does this statement come from:
"Nationwide, the crime rate is down, despite the assumption that the recession would lead to more crime."
Last I checked, the FBI--which releases national figures from the Uniform Crime Reporting Program--has not released any final numbers for 2009. They do have a preliminary report out that includes January - June data for cities with a population greater than 100,000 but no final report. I think it's important to clarify or credit a source for a quote such as that.

By the way, in 2004, the FBI stopped releasing "Total Crime" data and instead opted to release a set of Violent Crime figures and Property Crime figures to give a more accurate picture of crime. It looks like the state began doing the same in 2006. So maybe a better article would have included a Violent Crime and Property Crime total (in my humble opinion of course). :)

http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Mr. Sullivan,
Did Janesville PD release the actual figures or just a press release indicating crime went down? It's really not my intention to complain, but some actual figures to supplement this story would be great. I checked the Janesville PD website, but of course they had nothing.

Also, I'd be curious to know the difference between Violent Crime (Murder, Rape, Robbery, Agg Assault) and Property Crime (Burglary, Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft, Arson). To say serious crime went down could potentially be misleading. Theft--the most commonly reported serious crime--could really drive these numbers. So for example, maybe Rape and Robberies were up but because Thefts dropped by 30 percent the increase in Rape and Robberies would be lost. Not saying this is the case here, but since we don't have any actual figures to back this up, no one really knows for sure.

If anyone is interested, there are some surprisingly interesting reports that the state releases annually on Crime and Arrests in Wisconsin. You can find them here: http://oja.wi.gov/category.asp?linkcatid...
Unfortunately, their most recent versions are from 2008.

And by the way, point well made devilsadvocate. I'm surprised by the last sentence in this article. In fact, after reading it again, it almost seems like the Chief would rather have the crime rate up than lose $138,000--which really isn't all that much money to pay officer's salaries/benefits.

Either way, thanks to the police for risking their lives to keep the citizens of Janesville safe.

There is an old adage in police work that says..."the police shouldn't take credit for lowering the crime rate, unless they are also willing to take the blame when it goes up." The truth is, the crime rate is constantly changing based on many varied occurrences in the innards of society as well as statistical anomalies in reporting crime. The police can do little to change that, significantly, one way or the other. Police administrators and politicians are usually quick to take credit for political gain, when the rates drop and blame society in general when they go up. Although it sounds good, there is little basis in fact for the claim.

Robsem and Gfan - Please enlighten me on how the two stories go together. One has nothing to do with the other.

lol @ Frogger, funny comment.

Yeah, justin................., take your Alzheimer pills!

JustinTimberlake...Read the paper, frogger is referring to an article about janesville fire charging for calls. Sorry, but your bashing backfired on you.

Ok, truth.., so if a community shows it doesn't need more money to fight crime then it should be given more money to fight crime. Or, the less crime there is in a community, the more money it should get to fight crime. In other words, if a community had no crime, it should be buried in money to fight crime. And a community with a whole lot of crime should get little or no money to fight crime. Is that it?!

And have someone look up the word "truth" for you.

gmof3- Please tell gfan that what you said is actually the same as what I said before he/she has a brain explosion.

frogger(hannah) - what in the hell are talking about? Did you forget to take your bipolar meds.

Crime is down so we must collect $500 for accidents and fires! WHAT!

Dave Moore is going to have the last laugh when the kid gets busted for dope and becomes just one more statistic.

gfan- You should actually take the time to READ what I post before you comment...Why don't you actually read and comprehend what I said and try again.

I guess I don't understand how the state justifies penalizing a community with LESS funds, because they are SUCCESSFUL. The previous funding was most likely what contributed to the drop in crime. So now the funds to pay for overtime and additional staff goes away and we end up where we were before? I don't get it!

Well done JPD!

How does a story that contradicts an argument support that argument?

Officers in Janesville do a good job, anyone who has lived there for any length of time would agree. Keep it up.
.
And I don't think these forums should be used to single out "white collar" criminals by name. If you do so, post your real name and stop hiding behind the internet.

i think you make an excellent point truth

Tinfoil hats may need adjusting.

truth.., you miss the point that what actually happened in Janesville does fatal damage to your claims of fascism.

The community is becoming a safer place to live. White collar crime is on the increase, but only because Mike Sheridan live here.

The "state" should be in the business of employing hard-drug agents and organized-crime busting PERSONNEL, not doling out money for trumping up charges by municipalities...Looks like Jvll took the high-road here.

In essence, the "state" is OFFERING municipalities money for arresting people whether the people need arresting or not...A CLEAR case of fascism by the "state"......In other words if Jvlle trumped up some charges on some people, they could have got another 138000.....Thats just wonderful.

Well it makes sense to me. Put the money where it's needed. If crime is down in Janesville, the state needs to send the money where it's up.

juststopping- Yes, thats what I meant.

Truth, read more carefully: "The drop, however, COST the department a $138,000 state grant..."

Kid, yes! Ha! Awesome.

The "state" gave them 138000 less dollars because crime went down...just think about that a bit...politicians ... idiotic B-----DS!!!

why do they always put dave moores name under a picture of pete rose??

This is good news to hear and I hope it continues.