First and foremost, Weston is correct, the city of Chattanooga does have a crime problem. I have faith that our police department is working hard day and night to prevent any further unrest. If you don’t believe me you can sign up for a ride along one night. I’m sure they would be happy to have you.
Second. I’m not a dispatcher, but I would think that being a dispatcher is hard. You deal with people who have no control over whatever is happening to them and they may be angry, scared, drunk, crying, mentally handicapped, mentally ill, high, a non-English speaker, or suffering a heart attack. The list goes on forever. But don’t take one bad experience and bash those dispatchers. They serve my family and me too.
Now, to get to the substantive reason for this letter:
I will not let undeserved criticism of our 911 center and our police go unchecked.
It seems highly narcissistic and self-centered for Weston to legitimately believe that the police did not properly handle a “Wamp family” emergency. I did a little digging and learned a couple of things about this incident. First, there was no firearm involved in this incident as alleged on Weston’s Facebook account on May 12. According to a May 12 Facebook post by another Wamp family member this was a C02-powered gun. Second, this “reckless dispatcher” that received this call was in fact not a 911 dispatcher at all. According to the same Facebook account of a family member the “emergency” call was placed directly to the Chattanooga Police and not the 911 center on Amnicola where it could be handled by well-trained dispatchers. If you or a family member has an emergency, please call 911. Otherwise, the failure to call 911 signifies that this was most likely not a bona fide emergency, and a “dispatcher” was most likely not involved at all.
So now that we’ve got the facts straight, lets look at what happened. Weston thinks the police response was “so unacceptable”. Really, because some jerks shot at your cousin with a CO2-powered gun and the police did not bring out the SWAT team with a helicopter full of K9’s they “did nothing”. Because there wasn’t an immediate shut down of Broad Street to recover any relevant DNA the police “did nothing”?
I doubt you have actually been the victim of any unacceptable behavior by anybody in a position of power over you.
If you were to represent the people of this area you would have to acknowledge that there are neighborhoods and classes of people in Chattanooga who feel victimized and cheated everyday—whether by our school system, courts, or local businesses.
Here’s a list of people that actually have a legitimate gripe, see if you’re “shocking” episode can be added: The single mother who just received a ticket for not properly restraining her child in a moving vehicle but can’t afford a car seat. The single father working two jobs to raise his girlfriend’s child as his own only to learn that he can’t see her immediately after her appendix is removed at Erlanger because he isn’t family and its not visiting hours. The seventy-year-old great aunt who has had to come out of retirement and refinance her home at a ridiculous rate in order to care for her three great-nephews because their mother is incarcerated and the father wasn’t going to stick around anyway. You are not an employee who was fired from his $8.00/hour job because the CARTA bus that takes him from Lee Highway to Pilgrim’s Pride was 45 minutes late due to a blown head gasket.
The people I just mentioned do not have a social media account or a recognizable last name to garner attention. You’re idea of unacceptable and shocking behavior is quite subjective, don’t you think?
You are a privileged, upper-middle class Chattanoogan that feels victimized because your family’s problems were not handled to your satisfaction. I feel that I can say in confidence that you were not a victim. And with that same confidence I can also proclaim that you are not special. Let me drive that point home: You, Weston Wamp, are not special.
In closing, maybe you should Google what “TANF” means. While you’re at it try and identify what it takes to be eligible for CAPS in Georgia. Maybe get out in this great Chattanooga weather and take a drive to the parts of town that you avoid everyday so you can see what’s going on in the real world.
By the way, thanks to the CPD and dispatchers. Don’t let ‘em get you down.
Joseph Thomas
* * *
Oh my. This incident that appears to have traumatized a former candidate for elected federal congressional office so, and made quite public by Master Wamp, brings up a couple of questions:
1. What's a Soddy Daisy High School senior doing in downtown Chattanooga at 2 p.m., with a friend, when school doesn't dismiss until 2:15?
2. Were both truant? Why weren't they either at school or work on a Wednesday afternoon?
3. Master Wamp's sister, Miss Wamp, is on the taxpayers' payroll. Was she on the taxpayer tab while she "spent much of her day yesterday (Wednesday) on the phone with CPD playing catch up and asking that they take this serious?"
4. Did this traumatic incident have anything to do with Miss Wamp's duties in the Public Defender's office?
5. Did Miss Wamp take herself off the taxpayers' clock while tending to personal business, that probably wasn't her business in the first place?
6. If not, will Miss Wamp be reimbursing the taxpayers, her employer, for time spent on personal business?
7. Did personal issues take away from the rightful services supposedly provided by the Public Defender's office, funded by tax dollars?
8. Is behavior such as this a reason for the significant backlog at the Public Defender's office?
9. How much of CPD's time was wasted by interference of the precious progeny?
Yeah, yeah... I know. There are three kinds of mathematician in this world, those who can count and those who can't.
So much drama... so little substance... maybe other offices should take some lessons from Gary Behler. Schools too, while they're paying attention to attendance.
Royce Burrage, Jr.
Royce@Officially Chapped.org