Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Police Sitting on the Moose Lot are Misunderstood


Many people who see police cars sitting on the parking lot of the Dundalk Moose building declare that the police who park on the lot are not doing anything good. That idea is far from correct, and I figured it out decades ago. The Moose parking lot is a strategic location of high value for good police work. It has been going on for decades. It is like a guard post, where patrols or responses to 911 calls go out from. 

I figured it out long ago that the Moose is a good spot for cops being where they can see and hear things happening behind the middle school, out across the sports fields, up towards the high school and community college, vehicular and foot traffic (mostly school children) on Delvale, and down along the businesses on Merritt Ave.. There are several 24-hr convenience store gas stations within a block, and those type places attract criminal activities. There is plenty of through traffic - with tractor trailers plus school buses included - to and from Merritt Blvd, Peninsula Expressway, Sparrows Point, the Key Bridge, Baltimore City, etc. to monitor.

Fire Station Engine 6 is right across the street, where police can use the bathroom. They can also team right up with the firefighters leaving the firehouse on emergency calls, where police service is needed along with fire service. And that can make the difference between life and death in many situations. If you live in the area, or are in the area, a 911 call for help responded to from the Moose lot may be from you. 

Eighteen years ago, I was helping raise my sister's grandson, in my house 4 blocks from the Moose. The little fellow swallowed a penny, and I called 911. I thought he was going to choke to death. Then in 3 or 4 minutes a police officer was at my door and came striding in - with deep concern written all over him - into my home carrying an obviously First Aid Bag with equipment for saving the child's life. The cop feared the boy was choking to death. That officer was relieved to find no kid dying, and the EMS who then arrived were advised by their emergency room contact that kids often swallow pennies, and then harmlessly pass them out in few days. I don't care where that officer was when he took the call, but if it was on the Moose lot that would be a 3 or 4 minute response.   

Police officers there at the Moose can quickly respond to 911 calls coming from all directions. Officers can quickly respond to criminal problems, medical emergencies, and fires occurring by heading up Delvale and out past it towards Eastern Ave; or quickly to Stanbrook, Inverness and out further that way towards Berkshire and Eastpoint, and even to North Point Village, or out the beltway or to Essex for backup calls. They can easily head down Peninsula Expressway towards Sparrows Point/Edgemere/Ft Howard, or up Sollers Point Rd. to all the neighborhoods off of Sollers, then Watersedge and Turner Station; up to Dundalk Village Shopping Center, St. Helena, Old Dundalk, Dundalk Marine Terminal area; also down Dunmanway to Logan Elementary, Merritt Point Park, etc.

They sit on the lot filling out their endless, necessary (at least mandated) paperwork, do investigative research online and over cell phones. They eat. They talk with each other about criminal cases, public safety weaknesses and strengths in the patrol area, and proper police procedure; about people passing by whom one officer has never seen but another there knows that the person is a good citizen or a criminal. Pedestrians and drivers who know cops may be there, or happen to see patrol cars there, can go over and alert them to crimes, accidents, fires, medical emergencies, etc.

Police cannot be expected to drive around and around on their shift, looking to stop, prevent and solve crimes and not stop driving till they do. There is a huge difference between police patrol driving and all other types - police steadily remain tensed a bit, as they anticipate how to respond to criminal activities, road accidents, medical emergencies, etc; they study various public safety aspects in the area, always having to wonder if their death or other injuries by criminals or accident will occur. A good patrol officer must be aware of as much of their surroundings as possible, listening for sounds of problems while glancing or looking intently here and there in different directions. Also for odors, including fire, gas, chemicals, dead bodies, etc..  

I've worked driving taxis for Dundalk companies, and in busy times driven around the community, and into and out of it for hours on end. As much as 6 to 8 hours before stopping to take a break. Driving long hours makes a person tired. Cabbies suffer fears of crime, also, but taxi drivers avoid trouble, while police look to stop and/or prevent other peoples' trouble. Police remain prepared to jump out and go at trouble, knowing they sometimes encounter hostile, angry, scared and/or psychotic people with weapons. That intensity wears a person down, and inflicts lifelong negative effects of PTSD on officers' lives. Along with their loved ones' lives. 

I have lived more of my life in those areas that the Moose lot affords good police access to and from than anywhere else. I graduated from Dundalk High School in '68, and have attended many classes at the community college next to DHS. I've visited relatives and friends all over those areas. I have shopped, worked, ridden and driven in the areas. Taken Sunday rides. Gone to many celebratory events. All for sixty-some-years.

I have walked past that Moose a thousand times, day and night, in all kinds of weather. In the 70's, two police cars did a stop and ID check plus a wants & warrants thing on me, when I was walking home between the Middle School and Moose from a girlfriend's apartment late at night there. I didn't like being stopped like that, but appreciate that they could have been nabbing a guy with heavy warrants out on him and kept that criminal from committing more crime in my neighborhood. I ain't angry at the law, but at the bad guys causing fears.

Walking can be very scary at times, and I have avoided being a victim of crimes then by strategic thinking and actions. Including right there in that lot when no police were present. They aren't there more than being there, and should not be there the majority of the time. I sure wish they'd a been there, because I scared the perpetrator away and he went on to be arrested a few hours later as he was committing serious crimes against others. Thirty-five years in the penitentiary worth of repeat crimes, and he had recently been released from decades in prison for the previous ones. And while those new crimes were happening, I had gone right to a friend's place a few blocks away to borrow a pistol to go hunt that #*****#~~~ criminal down, but the gun owner was out. Yes indeed.

When I learned that perpetrator had been arrested, I went up to the police station and told them I can witness that he was in the area if that helps. I said, "He walked past me holding his hands out from his sides a bit (like challenged gunslingers in movies), which kept his writs from rubbing against a weapon tucked under his shirt into his pants, and his shirt tail was out and helping conceal the weapon, which I suspect is a knife." An officer in the station walked past holding a large kitchen knife and told me that that is what I had accurately perceived was there. My life experiences of seeing or not seeing police cars on the Moose lot have been that intense. 

I have military experience, plus have done civilian security patrol work. I am experienced at searching for and guarding against criminals and our nation's enemies. At all times of day and night in all kinds of weather. And, like most kids, I grew up feeling and thinking protectively of my family, community & country. 

Consequently, I thought all these things over a few decades ago. Because, like many other people, I did not appreciate the cops sitting there, until I thought it through and realized how well that location for parked patrol cars serves my hometown.

And, you know, many folks in the general public prefer police sitting in their vehicles where cops can be seen on duty and also there's a chance of errant, or overworked, officers being discovered if napping. Or worse.

That Moose parking lot is a good strategic location of high value for police work and public safety concerns. Unappreciative people need to face those facts and appreciate them. 

Many other people do.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Year 2013 Photos of Old Dundalk High School


Old Dundalk High School - 1959 to 2013 - has been torn down, and the new one is up and running. The link below is to a photo/video set from a visit to the old school and a glance at the new one built next to it - on Delvale Avenue, in Dundalk, Baltimore County, Maryland U.S.A.. 

Photos and Video by DHS 1968 Alumni Dave Crews:


Phtotography by David Robert Crews
{a.k.a. ursusdave}
.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Eddie Money At The Dundalk Heritage Fair Performing Part of "One More Soldier"


Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Eddie Money and his band at the 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair. The little stereo microphones, on my inexpensive Nikon Coolpix 110, can't handle the heavy, loud sounds of drums and bass guitars on Stage 1/The Shipway Stage at the fair. So the sound comes out terribly distorted, but you get to see how good the band looked in Dundalk Heritage Park - on July 3, 2011.

You can see - and thoroughly enjoy - the best danged collection of Eddie Money concert photos and some half-decent video clips on my Flickr pages. I took good shots of every member in the band, and they all have some nice photos of them amongst these offerings. So rock and roll on over to:

Eddie Money at the 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair

Monday, February 06, 2012

Norm and Carlos At The 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair



Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Norm and Carlos at the 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair. They are performing their excruciatingly excellent version of "Hotel California." The little stereo microphones, on my inexpensive Nikon Coolpix 110, can't handle the heavy, loud sounds of live music. So the sound comes out with little distortions.



Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Norm and Carlos performing "Proud To Be An American," at the 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair. The little stereo microphones, on my inexpensive Nikon Coolpix 110, can't handle the heavy, loud sounds of live music on Stage 2/The Dunmanway Stage at the fair. So the sound comes out with little distortions.

To hear these videos, you have to scroll to the bottom of this page and stop the Playlist Player there.


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

BlueStreak at the Dundalk Heritage Fair - on July 1, 2011



Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Cool video of BlueStreak playing on Stage #2, at the Dundalk Heritage Fair - on 7/1/11. BlueStreak is a hot-dang, smooth-in-the-groove, Blues/R&B/Rock Band that is based in Perry Hall, Md.. And they play a buncha' my kind of music.

To hear the music on the video, you have to first scroll down to the bottom of this page and pause the music coming from my playlist of Songs From The Soundtrack To My Life.


Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Dundalk's 4th of July Fireworks 2011







Photography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}


And here is a link to my video of the last sixteen minutes of the 2011 Fourth of July Fireworks in Dundalk, Maryland:

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Gorgeous Clouds Over Dundalk



Photography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

Friday, June 24, 2011

The 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair


Photography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}

The 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair will be held on July 1st, 2nd, and 3rd from noon until 10:00 pm each day. This year's headliners are: The Mahoney Brothers- on Friday, July 1st; The Guess Who - on Saturday, July 2nd; and Eddie Money - on Sunday, July 3rd.

Admission to the 2011 Dundalk Heritage Fair is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under.

Enjoy three days of family oriented fun, food and festivities at the annual Dundalk Heritage Fair. Activities include checking out cool cars-trucks-and-motorcycles, lots of nice crafts vendors, rides, some good fun stuff just for the kids to do, plus a great lineup of live music.

Book reading and signing by "Roots of Steel" author and Dundalk native Deborah Rudacille, along with Frank Behrum, of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, author of “Thirty Years Under the Beam, the Real Story of Bethlehem Steel,” on July 2nd, 12-2 pm, at the Heritage Park Gazebo.

At the fair on Saturday and Sunday only: Baltimore Grand Prix Car, Charm City Choppers, Wandering Magician & 10 Foot Tall Uncle Sam, Pig Races, Phineus T. Waggs & His Monkey Pal Django, Joe Stebbing (wood carving), and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

"We Enjoy The Dundalk Heritage Fair" is a Facebook page for those who do.

Over on "We Enjoy The Dundalk Heritage Fair" you can find links to videos and song playlists of the world class Rock and Roll headliners - Eddie Money and The Guess Who - plus other good stuff; including great photographs of the Heritage Fair and photo albums of some bands who played at last summer's fair; a few of those bands will play at the fair this summer.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

June 2011 Sunrises Over Dundalk, Maryland


Sunrise on June 15, 2011 - over Dundalk, Maryland. In the lower left, you can see the steeple of St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, which is at Dundalk Ave., Pine Ave., and Willow Spring Rd..


Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}


Purple-ish sunrise on June 18, 2011 - over Dundalk, Maryland. With train whistles in the distance. In the video's lower left, you can see the roof and steeple of St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, which is at Dundalk Ave., Pine Ave., and Willow Spring Rd..


Videography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}


Sunrise on June 19, 2011 - over Dundalk, Maryland. You can see St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, which is at Dundalk Ave., Pine Ave., and Willow Spring Rd..

Photography by David Robert Crews {a.k.a. ursusdave}