My son and I were treated to a screaming, drunken argument between star-crossed lovers tonight at Wallingford Playfield. I’m not particularly worried about revealing secrets here, since they were shouted across the park, but the woman repeatedly shouted that she loved her husband, who obviously was not the potty mouthed gentleman she has been carrying on with.
I called the police, but after about 45 minutes, they hadn’t shown up, and it was time to go home. It’s the second time this summer I’ve had to call in a drunk and disorderly for that wooded area in the south east corner of that park, and the previous time the police hadn’t shown up by the time I left, either.
I’ve got email in to the SPD for more info on expected response times, but I wonder if anyone else has had similar experiences at that park?
I can add one experience at the park. About 6-9 months ago, while walking the dog in the morning, I saw two people committing lewd acts by the bathrooms. I called it in, and police responded quite quickly (within 5 minutes). They detained one person, and chased the other person who ultimately got away.
We walk past there almost every morning, and that was the most significant incident I have seen. However, it is common to see homeless people sleeping along the edge of the wading pool in the morning.
Keep calling in the disturbances. 911 must triage all calls, so unfortunately there were other higher priority calls placed in front of yours. We are informed that eventually all calls do get responded to. The more we as citizens call disturbances and suspicious activities, the more our Police will realize we have situations. No calls is interpreted as not needed to staff our area as much as other areas. Bummer they weren’t able to respond when you needed a response.
A while back, a couple of people tried to break down my front door while we were in the house. Called 911 several times, but SPD never showed up. When I later complained, SPD’s community relations claimed they drove by the next day but decided not to come to the property in case we were sleeping.
QUOTE: “SPD’s community relations claimed they drove by the NEXT day…”
When seconds count, the police are only hours away.