Letter to editor: Roy Flannagan rebuts former Chief Jeff Dowling
Letter to editor
Roy Flannagan rebuts former Chief Jeff Dowling
Since my testimony has been impeached by former Chief Dowling, I need to defend my reporting.
I admit I have lived in Beaufort only ten years and did not know Mr. Pruitt when he had his other store, but I have known him for the last four or five years and I was instrumental in getting his landmark store on the St. Helena Tour of Homes several years ago. I did talk to him informally, and he did tell me he had been robbed and that he did install some security lights because he was afraid of being robbed again.
I was robbed of my bicycle and I gave the serial number to the police. What Chief Dowling means by “the next day after Flannagan’s letter was published, this same victim left his bicycle on the city sidewalk unsecure,” I don’t know, since, if he means me, I normally carry a lock and chain with me if I plan to park my (new) bike in town. Who observed my bike unsecured, or knew that an unsecured bike might belong to me? Are the police watching me, or looking for criminals?
Or is Chief Dowling talking about my elderly friend who had his bike stolen and chased the thief down the street? The irony there is that my friend now buys used bikes from a local gent who does a modest but legitimate business in used bikes (a fancy one costs $20). My friend buys $10 junker bikes because when he has one of them stolen he can buy another for another $10. But my friend has a lock and chain even for his junker bikes, and I don’t think he leaves them unprotected in the street.
If Chief Dowling read my op/ed piece carefully, I wrote that crack dealers do operate fairly openly in the Northwest Quadrant, and I have seen no evidence that any of them has been shut down or raided since I have lived for ten years off and on in this neighborhood. What I wrote was based on the fact that dealers are active in a patrolled neighborhood, and I asked why that might be, using the phrase “suggests collusion.” I certainly would rather not believe that there is any collusion between criminals and the police force.
My wishes should be exactly the same as those of Chief Dowling and Chief Clancy–to raise the quality of life in Beaufort by catching and prosecuting law-breakers–dope-dealers, thieves, and muggers–and not allowing ordinary citizens to live in fear for their property or their health and safety.
Roy Flannagan
Beaufort SC
Related posts:
- Letter to editor: Former Beaufort police chief challenges downtown crime concerns
- Letter to editor from Burton fire chief: I work for you
- Roy Flannagan writes about local crime: Problems of petty theft, grand larceny and muggings
- An open letter to Interim Fire Chief Sammy Negron
- Letter to editor: Why are downtown crimes not being reported by local press?
Comments
2 Responses to “Letter to editor: Roy Flannagan rebuts former Chief Jeff Dowling”
I have to back Mr. Flannagan up and thank him for raising the issue. I am a teacher at one of the local high schools and I live across Boundary Street in Pigeon Point. I have always wondered why the drug dealers are allowed to operate so freely. You say freely? We all know where they are and the exact houses. How do people who don’t do drugs know? And if your average citizen knows then yes, why do the police not do anything? The most appalling part of this is, the children from these neighborhoods know it, tell me about it, and then some of them know where to score or get involved.
Honestly, I have just come to accept the dealers and be thankful for the fact that I don’t live in their neighborhood. That’s sad. I still have to deal with teenage delinquents using drugs in open view and broad daylight and at known places in Pigeon Point. We have called the police several times and they general attitude seems to be, “its just kids smoking pot.” So I have learned to accept that, too.
However, I tried to be optimistic and think the police were dealing with bigger dealers. Now I am wondering.
To give the BPD credit , I have seen the crack house on Washington Street be raided one time. I am speaking of the one that is on the Ribaut Road side of Bladen Street…second house down. I guess they were serving a warrant for one person because that’s all they brought out and it was business as usual the next day. Shoot maybe the jails are too crowded to take everybody in.
And for the record I have lived here 15 years(it seems to matter) and I don’t see any explanation for these events occurring. An apology would be nice and doing something about it.
So the former chief can’t take the heat? Glad to see that censorship is alive and well in Beaufort and the cover-up continues.
So how many arrest warrants of the rich and powerful have vanished into thin air in Beaufort?