Too Many Police Officers in Tuscaloosa

I (Peter) have been to many major cities in the United States. I have been to major cities in foreign countries. I have never seen as many police on a daily basis as I do in Tuscaloosa Alabama. The only comparable place for the amount of police I have seen each day is Saint-Petersburg, Russia, where they had armed police in front of every bank.

I actually started counting the police last summer that I would see each day, and it averaged between 10 and 15 cops a day. They are just continually driving around the streets or something. I was a political science major and studied the affects of police officers in cities. The mere presence of police officers does not have an effect of reducing crimes. More police officer presence does cause the people to feel safer, even though the police do not make much of a difference. This is only referring to the presence of police walking or driving a beat to just be there and make a presence.

Obviously if the police are doing undercover work, investigations, or solving crimes, or keeping an eye on threatening individuals and preventing crimes from occurring, then this does reduce crime.

When I see a lot of police just driving around on the streets, when I can count 10 to 15 a day my thoughts are that these police officers are not making much of a difference. They are not reducing crime in the city of Tuscaloosa. They may be making some of the citizens feel safer, but only because the citizens don't understand that the presence of the police officers alone is not going to have any effect on the actual crime levels. Really all these police are doing is giving out tickets for minor traffic infractions all of the time, mainly to good citizens.

Personally, I feel like some of the police in Tuscaloosa are causing more problems then they are solving. I had my car broken into a month ago and had some stuff stolen out of it. It cost a bit to replace everything and it was irritating to cancel my credit cards, but that was it, I took a hit and then I dealt with it. It was over. A week and a half later I received some questionable tickets from some irrational police officers in Tuscaloosa. The tickets would cost more than the money lost from being robbed. Not only that but they would go on my permanent record, raising my insurance rates potentially costing me hundreds or even thousands of dollars over the long run, and I could get a misdemeanor which would be on my criminal record for potential employers to see. I would rather have that petty robber on the streets than those cops. What the Tuscaloosa police did was much, much, much worse than what that robber did. Sometimes the biggest thief is government.

The police argument is that pulling people over often leads to the discovery of other crimes. That is very possible. But, if that is the reason, why should a lot of good citizens have to pay exorbitant fees and deal with being treated as criminals and having their insurance rates raised, because the cops want to catch other criminals? The cops could easily keep using that strategy, but the courts should lower the costs for tickets and provide more leeway for people to contest their tickets. The cops could still catch real criminals who are a threat to society without ticking off all of the good citizens of Alabama.

I think tickets have little impact on people's driving other than being an occasional nuissance/reminder. When Alabama does their "take back the roads" campaigns where they give out a certain high amount of tickets a day for a couple weeks, the people start driving slower for a couple weeks. After that they normal speed rates go right back to normal for the rest of the year. All the take back the roads campaigns do is increase government revenues from ticket fees by several million dollars. This also decreases the spending power of Alabama citizens by the same amount. Also, all of those citizens that got tickets have to pay higher insurance rates, further decreasing their spending power over several years by hundreds or thousands of dollars per citizen.

Around June 1, 2009....

we are going to welcome our first baby into our family. I went to the doctor today and they did an ultrasound. Here's pictures of our baby at 11 weeks:





These may be boring to most people but I know my family (or at least my mom) wants to see them. We are really excited!!! It is starting to feel a little more real now that I saw the baby and heard its heart beat!

Redistribution of Wealth

This is from a funny email that someone sent to me about redistribution of wealth. I (Peter) thought it was pretty funny, so I figured I would post it here for the world to see.

"In a local restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie; I laughed, as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence--because... When the bill came I decided not to tip the server, and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight. I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10, and told him to thank the server inside, as I've decided he (the homeless guy) could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful. At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment, I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he earned, even though the homeless guy "needed" it more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application."

Our 2nd Anniversary and Chattanooga

Our 2 year anniversary was last Monday. Pete had school and homework so we only had time to go out to eat. We tried out a local Japanese Restaurant that was very yummy! Pete had never been to a Hibachi style Japanese Restaurant before, so we decided we should go there so he could try it.

We took this picture at the dance studio I teach at before we went out to eat.


We celebrated our anniversary in Chattanooga this weekend since we were unable to do much on the actual day with Pete's school schedule. We loved it there! The weather was beautiful and there were so many fun things to do! We loved that there were some "mountains" in Chattanooga! (Compared to Utah they look more like hills but a welcome sight none the less!)
These pictures were taken on the foot bridge that's over the Tennessee River in Chattanooga. There were some pretty views from it. The water is much more clean looking there than here in Tuscaloosa!

We took this picture at our hotel. They had a garden area with fountains and a gazebo.

The hotel we stayed at was the Chattanooga Choo Choo. It used to be a train station and they've converted it into a hotel. You check into your room in the train station and then they have 3 different hotel room buildings and some train cars that are hotel rooms as well. We stayed in one of the regular hotel rooms because we are poor college students and can't afford the train car. It was a cute hotel in the middle of downtown with access to the electric bus system. They also had a really nice pool with a hot tub so we went to the hot tub one night too. I wish I would have taken a picture of the pool. It had a waterfall and the hottub was in the middle of the pool with a bridge leading to it.

We went to Rock City while we were there. In one of the caves they have this fairytale land that they made (we thought it was kind of cheesy but i'm sure kids like it). One of the fairytales was Peter Pumpkin eater. Pete got called Peter pumkin eater as a kid, so we took his picture by his favorite nursery rhyme (actually he really hates it).

Me inside the cave. There's a waterfall fountain thing but you cant see it in this picture.

Pete by the waterfall at Lover's Leap.

Our attempt at taking a timed picture with our camera in the festive decorations. (That's the bench I set the camera on at the bottom of the picture. I know, I'm awesome at taking pictures.)

You can see seven different states from atop lover's leap in Rock City. The lady that took our picture didnt wait for me to look at her before she snapped it.

Squeezing between the rocks in Rock City. This place is not made for fat or tall people. Good thing we are neither!

We also went to the Tennessee Aquarium. Pete with the sharks above and me with a huge sea spider below.

It was a good trip; nice to get away and see other parts of the south!

Fall Break: Camping at the Beach

We went down to Gulf Shores Alabama during Pete's fall break (Oct 9-11, I'm slacking at blogging). We camped at Gulf Shores State Park and checked out the beach. The state park doesn't allow dogs on the beach, so we drove over to Fort Morgan. We parked in front of some condos and walked out to the beach. The beach was relatively empty and the weather was perfect! I was surprised the beaches were white and the water was clear. When I lived in Houston I would go to Galveston and the beach there is not so nice and the water is nasty brown. It's good to know that part of the Gulf Coast has nice beaches. We had a fun time camping (minus the bugs) and enjoyed playing at the beach.

Luckily we didn't see too many of these alive.


Sunset at the beach

Pete hates this picture but I put it on anyway because I like it. Captures what we looked like on the beach since neither of us brought our sunglasses.

Mila enjoyed the beach too. She started digging massive holes in the sand right when we got there. She swam in the ocean too. She doesn't love the water yet but she is getting used to it and is a great swimmer.

Huntsville Ballroom Dance Invitational

Kira and I competed in the Huntsville Ballroom Dance Invitational this weekend hosted by the Rocket City Dance Club. I recorded our dances and I put a few on YouTube for everyone to see. We stayed in Huntsville at a hotel Friday and Saturday night. We danced in the East Coast Swing, Cha Cha, Rumba, Waltz, Tango, and Foxtrot. We were in the Bronze IV division and won four first places, three second and one third.

The judges were the 2007 Ohio Star Ball Professional Showdance Champions:
Eulia Baranovsky and Steven Dougherty.

East Coast Swing


Cha Cha


Rumba


We had a pretty good time up there. The people from Rocket City Dance Club and the other dance clubs were awesome, and so were the judges. We from Farleys Ballroom all did pretty well and had a good time.

Our New Pup

Pete and I have been wanting a puppy for a long time now and finally broke down and got one this weekend. I've wanted a Keeshond for about five years now. I randomly decided to check petfinder for one and there was an adorable seven week old Keeshond mix available almost two hours from here. Pete called and she was still available so we made the drive to pick her up. She is sooo cute and very sweet and playful! It's fun having a dog around our apartment. It's kind of like having a baby though. I had to get up in the middle of the night with her several times to take her to the bathroom. We can't leave her unsupervised or she will get into everything she's not supposed to. She whines occasionally because she is not used to being the only dog but they said she would adjust within a week.
We named her Mila. It is russian for darling or sweetie.

Mila trying to drive herself to her new home.

Close up of her adorable face.

Me holding her on the way home.

Playing at the park right after we got her. She decided she needed to go to the bathroom right after leaving the animal rescue.

Taking a nap on Pete's lap on the way home.

Playing at her new house.

Mila already found her favorite spot in our living room next to the fireplace.

We had our ensigns and church news under the tv but Mila wanted to eat them so we had to move them. Once they were cleared out Mila wanted to lay in there.