Why we formed CopTalk?
Because your cops on the street could do what they were trained to do with your help. Preventing serious crime before it happens. If you are informed of how you can protect yourself and your property by taking simple measures around the house, Thousands of cops will be patrolling the streets instead of spending thousands of hours taking crime reports after the fact.(Where do you want your cops?)Because of the thefts from your home and vehicle that didn’t need to happen. Because of not recognizing the danger signs around you at the ATM machine. Because of senseless deaths and injuries from avoidable vehicle crashes. (I don’t call them accidents.) Because my money says you’re not prepared for an earthquake, fire, or flood if it hit in 5 minutes. Because of the many times we had to hold your child’s lifeless body after an Avoidable Accident. Because of a woman I will never forget: I didn’t know her name. I never met her. I didn’t respond to the call, which was just out of my department’s jurisdiction.
One week before Christmas 1996, this woman drove home from work at 11:00pm just like she did every night, 6 nights a week. She took the same freeway off-ramp that she had taken hundreds of times before. She stopped at the red signal light and didn’t pay attention to the 3 male Low-Life-Gang-Bangers that emerged from the bushes 30 feet away. They approached the driver’s window and demanded the car. The woman was startled and confused as one of the Low Life’s withdrew a handgun and again demanded the car. As she tried to lock the door and roll the window all the way up, the shooter fired 3 shots through the window into her face. The woman accelerated and somehow managed to drive 2 blocks, before her car crashed at a railroad crossing. That is where she died from gunshot wounds to the face. One block from her home. One block away from her family. One block away from her Christmas Tree, decorations, and the gifts she had bought for her family that she was going to wrap that night when she got home. Now I ask you, how does an Officer knock on your door, and give you that kind of news? I think of her often. I always will. This happened two blocks from my home. This could have been anyone that I know.
More importantly, this could have happen to someone that you know, or love. I guess the question you must again ask yourself is. “Could this happen to me?” These 3 hideous forms of life were never caught. I don’t even think they were ever identified. Did they have the right to take this woman’s life? NO! Could she have done anything different to prevent this from happening? YES! To Summarize Why? Because of EVERY headline in the Newspaper involving Loss of Life and Property, that could have been replaced with a nice little Public Interest Story.
That’s why we came up with CopTalk. Period!