Friday, July 17, 2009

We need your help!

By Jim Unland

In case you missed it, San Jose suffered its 17th homicide of the year on Wednesday night. With four killings so far in July, we’re on pace to match if not exceed San Jose’s rising homicide rates of the past few years. As you can see from this interactive map, none of our neighborhoods are immune from this horrible crime:


View in a larger map

I can only hope that if our city leaders had followed through on the staffing increases they’ve been promising for as long as I can remember, we might have been able to prevent more of these tragic deaths. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts and attrition, the San Jose Police Department has returned to 1998 personnel levels. In the meantime, the city’s population has grown by more than 140,000.

Despite being overtasked and understaffed, the men and women of the SJPD work as hard as they can to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe. But we can’t do it alone. We rely on members of the community to help by providing us with tips and information that we can use to catch the criminals who prey upon our residents.

If you have information that could help us solve a crime, you don’t have to worry about retaliation from anyone involved. Just call the Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (408) 947-STOP or submit an anonymous tip online by using this simple web form.

You can also visit the SJPD website for information on ongoing investigations and cold cases, many of which have been solved with help from the community.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe.

Sgt. Jim Unland is a 21-year veteran of the SJPD and a member of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association.

3 comments:

  1. The reality is that it is only going to get worse. Our economy is bad, and our jobless rate is soaring. In tough times more crime happens. Even decent people start doing things they normally wouldn't.

    I want to thank SJPD for their commitment to protecting our community and for working to bring us justice. Most times your hard work is all we can depend on in obtaining justice for crimes committed against our society and us.

    I also want to mention my disgust with the Watch Dog blog today. To say that this article is, "Not missing a beat... Protect San Jose uses the rising homocide rate to call for more Officers," infuriates me. By informing the public on how many murders are occurring in their community SJPD is doing us a favor, and providing us with a vital service. If we continue to walk around in our own little self-absorbed worlds without understanding the dangers around us, we become ignorant victims of crime. Keep up the good work Sgt. Unland.

    By the way, I think Watch Dog graduated from the same school of new language Raj did, look at how he/she spelled homicide. UGH~

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  2. I read Watchdog and they're okay. Far better than San Jose Revealed which is just a mouthpiece for labor.

    But Kathleen is right, they don't seem to understand the dangers of police work. Or the need for quality officers. Anyone really want to argue that we slash wage and benefits and hire less skilled employees -- and give them guns?

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  3. THe fact is that the state will be opening the doors to state prisons and releasing criminals on our streets. Maybe watchdog will help our maybe they are some of their friends. That is going to have an impact on our stafety. With an understaffed department we will draw them like flys maybe Sam or Peirre can talk them to death

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