The sensationalism against George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin, clouds the real reason this tragedy occurred in the first place.
The pundits, the community organizers, the pot stirrers, are all trying to find a scapegoat and the convenient one to blame is George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman is but the symptom of a government failing in its prime function: To provide protection and security for its citizens. If government does not provide protection for its citizens, then the citizens will provide it for themselves...and what the citizens provide will not be as professional and polished as a trained police force.
The gated community that George Zimmerman is a resident, has been the repeated target of crime. Zimmerman himself had made repeated phone calls to the local police to report suspicious behavior/crime as had been requested by that department. Other members of the community had made calls as well. As far as the cops were concerned, that wasn’t excessive in a neighborhood fighting petty crime.
The neighborhood was on edge, particularly since they had suffered 8 burglaries in the past 14 months. Including the terrifying experience of resident Olivia Bertalan:
21 year old Bertalan was home alone with her infant son one morning last August when a man came to her door, knocked, and rang the bell. She peered out the window and didn't recognize the man. But then called police when another man came to her back door.
She ran upstairs clutching her son and locked herself in a bedroom as the second man entered her home. Terrified, both she and her son cried as the man tried to enter through the locked door of the bedroom. Both men ran when police arrived, but not before stealing a laptop and digital camera.
After the crime she was afraid to come home. She and her husband got a dog, as advised by police. "It was terrible," said Bertalan, who moved from the neighborhood last month because of this and other burglaries.
"There was definitely a sense of fear in the neighborhood after all of this started happening, and it just kept on happening. It wasn't just a one time thing. It was every week," she said. "Our next-door neighbor actually said if someone came into his yard or house he would shoot him. Everyone felt afraid and scared."
For years, Twin Lakes has been beset by crime which finally lead them to start a neighborhood-watch organization last September. The burglary of Olivia Bertalan’s home in August seems to have been a catalyst
There was a large sign post at the entrance of this gated community saying it had neighborhood watch and suspicious people would be reported to 911. This should give someone new in the neighborhood fair warning as to why they may be followed or watched and should invoke a sense of cooperation and understanding from those visiting.
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Read more:
Brave mom protects her infant and shoots intruder
Americans want the 2nd Amendment under their Christmas tree
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As state and local governments drown in debt, they are cutting back. The California town of Vallejo went bankrupt due to spiraling costs. As a result city managers asked for concessions from public employee unions to help get the city back on sound fiscal footing. The unions wouldn't give up benefits or wages, as a result the town had to lay off police and fire forces and is now skeleton staffed with less, but more expensive personnel.
Oakland California, a financial basket case, did not have enough police officers last fall to respond to a violent beating which resulted in a death of one of its citizens in their own front yard. Police forces were busy patrolling the Occupy Oakland gathering.
These stories will be repeated around the country as budgets get tightened. Critical numbers of law enforcement will be reduced and response times to crimes will be lengthened. Some jurisdictions will no longer respond to certain types of crime because they just can't afford to hire enough police to respond. Revenue enhancement policing will be increased as municipalities struggle to bring in more money to their coffers. Speed traps are on the increase and traffic violations are watched for with an eagle eye as they bring in fines.
Communities are having to come to grips with the costs involved of protecting their citizens. Some communities are trying to cut costs by having non police dept technicians collect evidence at crime scenes. There is also talk of privatizing some segments of police work, such as traffic enforcement and other non violent crime areas.
Some communities are getting rid of their local departments of police and fire altogether, finding them too expensive to maintain, they are sub contracting with regional sheriff and fire depts to serve their needs. Many communities are now using private fire fighting services and considering using private security companies to provide basic protections.
All of this doesn't bode well to the citizen that think instant help will be there with a 911 call. In many cases when danger is seconds away, the police are just minutes away and the difference between you living to be able to defend yourself in court, or dying and being carried away in a casket....is your right to bear fire arms.
There will be calls for tighter gun controls because of the Trayvon Martin shooting, but more restrictions only give the criminals a bigger advantage. Look at the cities with the tightest gun controls, it doesn't put a dent in the criminals owning guns. As a result citizens feel the need to enhance their security with more neighborhood watches and by purchasing fire arms for their personal protection.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.BrianO | May 04, 2012, 02:59 PM EDT
The 1% pay 40% of the taxes.
McNamara31 | Apr 30, 2012, 04:37 PM EDT
bmcgrady "for the issues that he has created" Lets be honest... we know it was the 8 years of Bush/Cheney and not Obama who took this country to the brink of financial collapse.Remember two unpaid wars while giving tax breaks to the 1%. The facts clearly detail this.
bmcgrady | Apr 26, 2012, 07:10 PM EDT
I am American, I did not vote for Obama, sure don't want him for a second term. He has ruined this country, my grandchildren will still be paying for the issues that he has created.
Monsoonman | Apr 25, 2012, 10:19 AM EDT
Good point Krisdaly: Obama had the opportunity to be a unifier, a calming voice and a leader. He chose the lower road again and used the Trayvon Martin case to divide our country instead. Despicable and also despicable is our country having no budget for 3 years...What a loser
krisdaly | Apr 25, 2012, 02:42 AM EDT
President Obama said that if he had a son, that he would look like Trayvon. Well since President Obama is a mulatto (1/2 white and 1/2 black), and he is President of the United States of America, by his commenting on the Zimmerman case, he was in fact inciting some Black people to possibly violent acts. Should the American People vote for him to stay in office for another term???
McNamara31 | Apr 24, 2012, 12:25 PM EDT
Ed, I appreciate you taking down the hateful comments.No matter what side of this sad issue we all stand on, comments like these should offend every person.
merefalow | Apr 24, 2012, 11:10 AM EDT
anyone who breaks into someones elses house deserves everything they get,if we had real deterrent sentences in the uk we might not have the crime we do have,zero tolerance works.do gooders hate it.try to rehabilitate the b,,,,,,, after they have paid the price,if you want to waste your time on a 90%recividist ratio,be no jobs for a lot of useless people if we had a serious zero tolerance prog,like lawyers,probation officers and their CLIENTS,unbelievable description that,like making police officers call inmates mr.unbelievable human rights crap.the first duty of a civilised country is to protect its citizens,a lot of countries are failing in that basic.so we do it ourselves.
EdinCali | Apr 24, 2012, 01:15 AM EDT
Hi McNamara, as you can see those offensive posts were removed. There is no room on I.C for those types of comments and language. This is an emotionally charged incident and there is plenty of heartbreak to go around, so no need to make it worse.
McNamara31 | Apr 23, 2012, 10:44 PM EDT
bigguy1999... says "i say kill all the little niggers and let god sort the good from bad" bigguy1999..You are a sick, ignorant, lowlife and probably a poster boy for the NRA. Ed, I'd like to hear your comments about remarks like this.
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 07:00 PM EDT
"Doomsday Scenario" of 1400 people calling the police...Sounds like some of those folks had bloody stumps for fingers after calling the cops so many times. IMHO: Mr. Zimmerman wd have been beaten to death if he hadn't been armed. He was 7" shorter and outweighed by 40 lbs.
kerry214 | Apr 23, 2012, 06:36 PM EDT
Your 1400 calls are your issue not mine. And I don't see any posting on this blog where anyone is laughing it off. Are you mad at the Sanford Police now ? Or are you just circling the wagons ?
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 06:15 PM EDT
So how can you pooh pooh those 1400 calls to the police dept. from the citizens in this community? Laugh it off as just a normal occurrence from people annoyed with petty crime, like the Sanford police did?
kerry214 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:59 PM EDT
Maybe because I don't live in Florida. And unlike yourself who know everything about everyone, I don't know how Neighborhood Watch works from State to State. And with more probability, from City to City. That 1400 calls are you facts. You know what they say "Your entitled to your opinion but, your not entitled to your facts"
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 05:44 PM EDT
Sorry if U think I'm a smarty pants, but I do deal with reality How come your perfect system wasn't used in Sanford Fla? The 1400 calls is a fact.
kerry214 | Apr 23, 2012, 05:33 PM EDT
Mr. Monsoonnman, Mr. Smarty pants, The police had a system that by-passed your "Doomsday Scenario" of 1400 people calling the police. Every 2 weeks we received a list from the Neghordhood Watch Coordinator, (A civilian police dept. employee) The list gave the names of the patrol officer's for our area, their hours, and cell phone. We had this for the 3 shifts the officers worked. This was our contact point.
butlerreport | Apr 23, 2012, 04:39 PM EDT
Despite his not being a police officer and being warned not to approach the kids, Zimmerman did so anyway. When he did that he made a decision that cost the kid his life.
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 04:07 PM EDT
Kerry 214: What do the police say when they have been called over 1400 times by people in this community to report crimes and suspicious activity and nothing happens as crime continues? Be good little sheep and don't offend the invaders into your neighborhood? Why pay police? Hire your own security force
kerry214 | Apr 23, 2012, 02:54 PM EDT
Well, I beg to differ with you because I was in neighborhood watch for 10 years. An yes we were given training in the form of overviews, meetings at neighbors homes where Police personnel came to address different problems effecting our area. As to the political makeup of the group, we were very mixed. And we must have had some positive impact because a apartment house that was selling drugs was eventually shut down & the owners were forced to sell. We supplied the Police with video tapes, descriptions and other data that enabled the police to make arrests. Each time we met with officers, they always stressed the importance of our role as neighborhood watch was to provide them with information, and let the police do police work, and never ever follow a suspect.
Mo Rage | Apr 23, 2012, 02:51 PM EDT
what nonsense. this couldn't have been a more racist act. Mo Rage, the blog.
GaelMcC | Apr 23, 2012, 11:31 AM EDT
Despite the well reasoned article published here the press is still showing 5 year old pictures of Trayvon, still hanging its political agenda around this 17 year old's corpse, still calling him "an unarmed child", giving no update on the million dollar new black panther bounty on Zimmerman's head. The other side of the story is that when Zimmerman was told to stand down, he did. He was walking back to his car when he was confronted and attacked by Trayvon who punched him in the face, knocked him down, and bashed his head against the concrete walk way. This has become a race driven circus, where hawker and carnival barkers capture the country's ear, and Trayvon's mother has tradmarked her son's name for profit. A tragedy occurred, a 17 year old is dead but he is not resting in peace, not now.
IrishDragoon | Apr 23, 2012, 11:26 AM EDT
Luther and Monsoonman - You both speak truth! Monsoonman - Your analagies to Neighborhood Watch and Wal-Mart are particularly right on. Bureaucrats HATE do-it-yourselfers (meaning: doing it without THEM)
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 10:47 AM EDT
Maybe the American public education system should teach their students to read, rather than watch Al Gore movies and learn the one handed method to put a condom on a cucumber...Perhaps they would be able to read warning signs. There was a large sign post at the entrance of this gated community saying it had neighborhood watch and suspicious people would be reported to 911. This should give someone new in the neighborhood fair warning as to why they may be followed or watched and should invoke a sense of cooperation and understanding from those visiting.
EamonnDublin | Apr 23, 2012, 09:02 AM EDT
Has anybody any stories about a black man killing a white boy? Never happens? I await the vicious, snarling rants that I am a "racist". Éamonn, Dublin, Ireland.
DaddyMac22 | Apr 23, 2012, 07:11 AM EDT
This would be hilarious if it weren't so terrifying. An innocent young boy is dead, and you use it to get on your soapbox? I don't know how you sleep at night.
iconicles | Apr 23, 2012, 02:21 AM EDT
The disproportionate nature of the reaction to the Trayvon Martin incident happened because of two things. It portends to help the case for gun control, but more insidious in my mind, it sends a message to people that they'd better not join Neighborhood Watch. Liberals dislike Neighborhood Watch for much the same reason they hate Wal-Mart: it accomplishes its mission without undue governmental influence. The shooting cannot be called anything but a tragedy, but it did not become a travesty until it also became political hay.
dcwusmc | Apr 23, 2012, 02:05 AM EDT
What a great article, factual and well-reasoned. Too bad it goes against the "mind"set of the race pimps and other loonies of the left. Thanks, Irish Central, for publishing it. D. C. Wright USMC Retired
Monsoonman | Apr 23, 2012, 01:48 AM EDT
Last 3 commenters have reading comprehension problems. The whole story revolved around the fact the police dont protect the citizens...This incident is a classic example the community was being assaulted by crime and the police werent protecting them, they took actions to protect themselves. Or do you 3 think they should be passive sheep and just invite the criminals into their homes and file a police report later?
kerry214 | Apr 23, 2012, 12:56 AM EDT
Zimmerman was told by the police dept dispatcher to stay in the car. He did not. Zimmermman has a record of violence against police officers. Zimmerman tried to get on the Police dept and failed to make it. Zimmerman was NOT a member of his Neighbor-hood watch. He did not have the training that Neighborhood Watch gets from the police Dept. RULE # 1 you call the police report the problem, YOU NEVER PERSUE THE INDIVIDUAL!!! THAT IS THE POLICE DEPT JOB. Once more Mr. Farnum you are short on facts, long on rhetoric
Esta Noche | Apr 23, 2012, 12:32 AM EDT
This does not make Zimmerman's actions self defense. The simple fact is, he followed that child for some time before the fight ensued. By the standards of the "Stand your Ground" law, he was not defending himself, he was the aggressor. There is nothing but his word to imply Trayvon attacked first. Considering that he was already proven to be lying about who's voice was screaming for help on the tape, his word means nothing. In point of fact, even if Trayvon DID throw the first punch, HE is the one who was standing HIS ground. Considering how many perves and pedophiles there are in the world, if some creepy older man was following my teenage son I'd hope that he would defend himself.
catalyst82 | Apr 23, 2012, 12:27 AM EDT
Profiling, following, pursuing, chasing and being confrontational is racism. If you can see this you're a clone of Zimmerman. Any racse can be just that racist. There's no question that this was a racial incident. He was profiled because of the way he looked. He was suspicious because he was black... It has nothing to do with protecting his neighborhood. He wanted to be a cop, but didn't... This Article is based off sub intelligent thoughts... God bless. Acts 16:30-31
Loise | Apr 22, 2012, 10:22 PM EDT
Everyone has a God given right to protect himself/herself!!! God Bless our Friend George Zimmerman and his Family! GOOD ARTICLE, THANK YOU, FROM TEXAS
IrishDragoon | Apr 22, 2012, 09:37 PM EDT
If there is one thing that inept authority hates it a do-it-yourselfer that shows them up. The Zimmerman case is a prime example as is the case of Bishop Diarmuid Martin who said if the Vatican won't do anything about child abuse I WILL. His Good Emminence was denied his cardinal's red hat and Zimmerman is now on trial for his freedom. Both the Pontiff and the police got embarrassed of their own failings. I'll say this though. I'll jest bet ye that its a LONG time before some little puke puddle tries anything in Zimmerman's neighborhood. Just sayin!
luther | Apr 22, 2012, 09:24 PM EDT
When all is said and done George Zimmerman will be recognized as a heroe who has put his life on the line repeatedly defending his community.