TPS: "we didn't have crews to send for an assault"

I have seen these clowns around my neighborhood (they live about two blocks away), and while I suppose I never expected to see them in the paper for murder and assault, it does not especially surprise me. Interesting posts by Jacob Dupuis on his Facebook account:

who wants to party...anyone gotta place to kik it

(Saturday June 11 at 4:34pm)

its saturday i think its time to cellebrate the notthing in my life lol i hate how everones graduated nd i still have 2 3 years to go ugh fml anyone tryin to get fuc... up

(Saturday June 11 at 4:35pm)

ohnestly startin to relize n think about things tht ive done in the past n said wow i really did that... idk i juss want a new life i wish i could have a time machiene and go back in time have the same street and book smarts and have the life i had be fore i started all this shit im really srry fam. that i dint gothru with rehab but i guess its one step at a time n i actualy have too go thru with it :(

(May 29 at 5:52am)

Or this earlier prescient gem:

wow yall little girls r so ignorant n lying cunts like bree morris an aj ya i said aj hes a little girl will see who will go to jail ha ha dumb cunts

(April 16 at 9:58pm)

Wow. That was just plain hard to read. I guess he'll get his new life now, maybe.

Yeppers - his is a train wreck of a life. If you are bored, scroll down and read the past few months of FB posts by the younger Dupuis: addiction, rehab, homelessness, and a near-complete lack of a meaningful life. You can also catch the dad's FB profile via Jacob's account, but it is not nearly as dysfunctionally illustrative.

toledoramblingman - I also thought it was unfortunate that they "didn't have crews to send for an assault."

I suppose that TPD has had its hands full recently with all the shootings that have been happening. But it still seems...sad...when an assault situation isn't a priority call.

That's an interesting version of the English language. I think some insects can communicate better than that. Intellectual stars like this chap make me cheer even more for our new Chinese friends.

I bought gas at this Speedway that night, and I wonder how my life (and the larger events in this case) would have changed had I been there at the same time. Would I have stepped in to intervene with the raging Jacob Dupuis, like George Proshek? I have certainly acted that way before. Could it have been me that was dragged and crushed instead of Randall York? Strange how life unfolds, but I made my purchases before the Saturday night lunatics began to get fired up and wandering around, so I will never know.

Unfortunately, this relatively quiet neighborhood has seen more crime in recent years. I would like to believe that this case is an aberration, but I suspect that this tragedy is indicative of a general decline in the strength of this neighborhood.

Or maybe I just need a cup of coffee.

i wish i could have a time machiene and go back in time have the same street and book smarts

As long as he's wishing for a time machine, perhaps he should aim a little higher than the same street and book smarts.

Unfortunately this young individual is very similar to many other people his age and the poor choices, lack of focus on doing something positive in life

A couple of losers...father & son...who will blame their lot in life (poor education, son's "illness"Tourette's, dad's fatness) for their decision to assault customers and drag someone to death.

How, as a parent, could you look at your kid's Facebook page every day (as it is a gateway to your own) and not see that he was going to turn out to be nothing. Or maybe that was the point--he would never be better than the old man.

F@&ked up, man...

Gee, how could he possibly have such a meaningless life with such a stellar example as his father?

What a sad, sad story this whole mess is.

The kid never had a chance...

"we didn't have crews to send for an assault" - psst unless a cop is driving by when it happens, they will NEVER have crews to send for an assault. Assaults are not minute long encounters like you see on TV, they last seconds. Cops file paperwork and interview people AFTER crimes are committed. The only person who will ever be able to respond to an assault it YOU.

But the next time one of you gets slap happy for the Police officers tied up in a weekend long "speed safety booze enforcement zone", tell me again how eating doughnuts on the side of the road while criminals destroy our city keeps us safe. How many of those officers could have been throughout the city being a visual deterrent to the rash of shooting we have had?

dbw8906 made a very good point. The money is available to conduct pointless and ineffective impairment roadblocks and to inconvenience hundreds of innocent motorists, but no resources to respond to real crimes. This picture is seriously fked up.

Speaking from personal experience I did A TPD ride along a while back and it amazed me.

I was in the car during an 8-4 am shift on a Saturday night in November. I can tell you that there were times when every single officer I saw on his computer was on a call.(and not traffic stops) The theme I seemed to get from the officer was that on weeekends/eavnings the calls are almost non stop.

If you think our current force has enough officers to be able to respond to every call I invite you to do the same and sign up for a ride along to see for yourself.

Can anyone confirm that the officers that man a DUI checkpoint are officers that are pulled off of another beat? Or are they additional officers/overtime added to the force for that shift? Not to say I agree with them, but at least we should be clear if it is really changing the picture on how many officers are patrolling at a given time.

Even if there was a cop and car free, it was only moments til this guy was killed. The cop would have had to be there in seconds or maybe a minute, no more. That's a very small response time.
Like I've posted many times before, listen to the online police scanner and hear first-hand about how many calls the cops get.
All I ask of the police is that they hire and keep only those of the highest quality.
What are you as citizens willing to pay for police? If you do not like the current response time and one solution is to raise taxes $100 per year to get more cops, would you do it?
Something has to change, or at least should change.

Honestly, hockeyfan, that's part of the reason why I live in the 'burbs and pay the crazy taxes that I do.

Since my kids go to Catholic school anyhow, I've been tempted several times to move within the Toledo city limits to save on property taxes. However, the sticking point every time is concerns about whether there would be a police officer available when/if I needed them.

*** Please note that I'm not criticizing the TPD officers. I know that there are issues with inadequate staffing levels, and also that they have more crime in general to deal with. I'm just pointing out that I keep paying the higher level of property taxes where I am, in order to live in an area with an adequately staffed police force.

Glaascityguy - unless something has changed in the last two years, DUI check points are funded by state grants and pay for officer overtime so they do not pull officers from other duties

Honestly, hockeyfan, that's part of the reason why I live in the 'burbs and pay the crazy taxes that I do. - I'm sorry mom2 but I'm gonna have to call BS on that. You moved away from THE CRIME, not too better cops. The taxes you pay don't equate to better protection, just an economic fence. You can be honest, no reason to hide in "white guilt". The higher property taxes keep people with lower income (the bracket with the highest amount of criminals) out of your neighborhood. Sylvania or Perrysburg doesn't have better cops, just less poor people to deal with. If for some reason property values fell we would see how great that police force was out there, cause they said the same thing about the Slyvanias of Detroit (Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Southgate), which are now facing the same problems with crime that that Detroit is. Criminals need someone to rob, poor people don't have nice stuff, never forget that.

Hoeckeyfan is a 110% correct because cops can not be everywhere, they can't even be somewhere sometimes. I don't know when the fallacy of cops being personal bodyguards and street enforcers came into play? They are for public safety not personal safety, that's YOUR problem.

I'm not a police basher, I know it's not an easy job (unless you get to have seizures and shoot your friends). The hope is their presence patrolling neighborhoods keeps the criminal element to less then a boil. The problem is their is no teeth in the law and the common criminal picked up for victimizing your neighborhood is going to back on the street in less than 24 hours and now he is pissed off (snitches get stitches). How can you expect cops to be successful when the law has abandoned them and middle class families.

I know several people (and have thought about it myself) who are very close to just walking away from their Old Library Village or West End homes because of the crime. Your property value isn't coming back, you job isn't coming back, and if your neighborhood becomes a shooting gallery are you going to stay? You gonna drop 700 - 800 dollars on re-doing the landscaping in your front yard to see your sidewalk outlined in chalk?

Growing up I watched the slow death of a city I love in Detroit. It's got the water way, existing manufacturing capacity, a cheap labor force, major airports and transit all the things Toledo is now putting on it's resume but the crime is what really killed the city. Crime is THE ECONOMY stupid. When middle class families (like mom2) leave because they don't want to get shot at, they take their money with them, leaving those who can't escape with the tax burden, meaning taxes go up driving more people who can afford to leave out. You think a Fortune 500 company is going to drop shop in a war zone? Really think about it, Detroit has everything you could ever want to start a business and they can't give land away! Above all else personal safety is key, it's drives everything else.

It goes so much further than a couple of black kids shooting at each other on the North End...

MrsArcher - We understand where to funding comes from (taxpayers, all tax dollars are local), I'm saying that people are getting ventilated, raped, and victimized across our city and you don't think the 20 cops checking papers on the side of the road would not be better served being in the communities that pay their salaries and being an active criminal deterrent?

Apparently reading comprehension isn't dbw8906's strong point.

I'm sorry if I read it wrong, but the essence of your post seemed to be that you moved to the burbs to pay higher taxes because you believed that equated to better police protection. I'm sorry thats a fake, it's not about better cops, more cops or less cops it's about being further from the criminal element. Move to BFE south or central Ohio as the ratio of cops to residents is even lower than T Towns but they have less criminals to death with because they are not saddled with poverty. They are only better cops because they have to deal with less criminals.

No. Actually, I did not move from Toledo to the suburbs. I moved from another area to NW Ohio.

What I said was that I have considered moving from my suburb to Toledo. (Since I don't have the school system issue to worry about, the idea of paying lower property taxes to live in Toledo is certainly appealing.)

However, the biggest factor that has stopped me from making serious plans to move into Toledo has been a concern about response times if I needed the police.

I know that crime happens everywhere. However, at the present moment, I can have a police officer at my door within 5 minutes if I need one. I'm reluctant to give that up, so we stay where we are.

From SensorG: The kid never had a chance...

As usual, it's everyone's fault but the perpetrator - and, as usual, you are full of crap. This little gangsta wanna-be had a chance every single morning he rolled out of bed. He didn't have to go from rags to riches, all he had to do was study in school and do a few common sense things - such as not developing a meth habit, not stealing and not dealing. He didn't. He chose not to work at life, and now he is half way screwed. He can still turn his life around.

(I should add that I work in a high-crime area of Toledo. The overall crime rate in the city still affects me, and I understand many of the points that you made about how crime can slowly bring down an entire region. Its just that some of your particular assumptions don't apply to me, as I didn't "flee" Toledo.)

Sorry about the mix up.

I don't want to leave Toledo as I choose to come here for affordable middle class living, but now that I have to drive 60 mins one way to make real money, I've lost my 20% down payment on my home plus further equity, if my area becomes crime alley I'm out!

Mad jack, did you really expect different results from the crappy parents he had?

Not a problem.

I have a good, stable job situation, but my husband has been having issues in that department. Right now, it wouldn't make financial sense for him to look as far away as 60 miles. (Commuting expenses, plus extra child care we'd incur if he was traveling that far for work. For the time being, makes more sense for him to be closer to home even if he makes less.)

Not to hijack the topic, of course.

Not a problem.

I have a good, stable job situation, but my husband has been having issues in that department. Right now, it wouldn't make financial sense for him to look as far away as 60 miles. (Commuting expenses, plus extra child care we'd incur if he was traveling that far for work. For the time being, makes more sense for him to be closer to home even if he makes less.)

Not to hijack the topic, of course.

If you can get a cop to your front door in 5 minutes, I would never complain. In fact, I'd be baking the closest police station chocolate chip cookies daily and delivery them warm to the station.
That is really an unrealistic expectation.
At any given time there are things going on that officers and cars are assigned to. Unless your call is of upmost importance over the rest, and the officers can respond, you aren't going to get that 5 minute response time.

While a tragedy, this event could have easily been prevented.
First, when you encounter some idiot getting "overly" upset over something as stupid as a card not being approved, beware. That person already has issues.
Second, if said person is much bigger than you, keep a safe distance, or carry a big weapon. Don't confront, engage, antagonize someone bigger than you.
Third, Even if those events didn't change, never ever ever get in front of any vehicle to try and stop it from moving. It will not work. Heck, even if you are helping someone start their car, do not stand in front of it. You never know if it's in gear and/or could move.

I realize hindsight is 20/20 and I do not want to criticize those standing up for others. They were brave in doing what I consider the right thing. I wish I would have been there to help or at least prevent this needless loss of life by what appears to be 2 complete losers.
I really feel as though not enough people stand up in these situations. But be smart about it. Getting the license number of a car and a thorough description would be great. Getting in your vehicle and blocking another vehicle would be another option. Taking pictures with your phone is a good idea.
Please do not take this as a "I'm not getting involved" event because see what happens.

For the person who asked about OVI Checkpoints, the people who work them are not people who would be working a normal shift. They are on overtime, from multiple departments (not just the one who's holding it), and are paid for by the state. Or at least every one I've been involved with has been like that.

I'm also not surprised that TPD had all their crews out on calls. That was happening before the budget cuts of the last couple years and before the people of Toledo apparently decided a few weeks ago that shooting people was going to be our local hobby.

If you can get a cop to your front door in 5 minutes, I would never complain. In fact, I'd be baking the closest police station chocolate chip cookies daily and delivery them warm to the station. That is really an unrealistic expectation.

Hockeyfan, just to clarify, its not an expectation. That's what my actual experience has been. Sylvania Twp police are very prompt. I've never waited more than a few minutes. (And I've never heard anyone else complain about waiting more than a few minutes.)

Obviously if there was some sort of major incident that was tying up the police resources, that might change their response time on that day. But their typical response time is incredibly fast.

P.S. I feel like this should go without saying, but since I know someone may misinterpret what I said I'll clarify: Clearly I understand that its not that one police force has "better" officers than the other - its just the ratio of officers on patrol vs. crime they have to handle.

I have a friend who is a dispatch supervisor with TPD, and a family member (on husband's side) who is a long-time TPD officer. They're both hard-working individuals, and I know some of the awful stuff they have to deal with on a daily basis.

DBW - I never said more cops on the street is worthless. I said DUI check points don't pull cops from other duties. While I understand that all tax dollars are local the reality is that if the local law enforcement does not apply, get and use the DUI checkpoint grants the local community won't get the money for other purposes such as putting more cops on the street. And what about the victims of DUI? They matter too and they are the ones the grants are seeking to protect.

And what about the victims of DUI - MsArcher

DUI is a serious crime with serious repercussions and I don't take it lightly, but things like this are lipstick on a pig if urban crime destroys the city. So when business refuse to relocate to Toledo because of gang violence our City Council members can stand up and say "But we get those evil drunks and speeders on 75". They will need more check points because people will be racing to GTFO town.

40 or 50 something "Union guy" who has been living in T Town his whole life and has never seen real crime will not stay if we don't do something. Cincinnati was Toledo 30 years ago, but as business left crime crept in and everybody said "it's too mighty whitey here to have that kinda problem" or "just a couple of bad yutes, nothing to worry about" and now I think a DUI would be the least of your problems. Do you not see the hypocritical approach? When the law has abandoned middle class families in the name of social justice, law enforcement doesn't do it's job (or isn't backed properly) what are middle class families left to do but leave?

Show me where a city declines overtime for a DUI checkpoint and funds for other police operations are shorted? Not being snotty but just can't find that anywhere, because if that where true people should be outraged. So your telling me the State would ransom your money for police patrols because because we didn't want to put up a 20 man papers check stop?

Let me repeat I don't understand how we can back overtime funding on a holiday weekend to run a revenue generating operation (which is what those stops are) in the guise of public safety but cant get overtime for extra patrols. Do you not see the folly?

"In 2009, about four people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving fatalities for every 100,000 Americans." http://www.centurycouncil.org/learn-the-facts/drunk-driving-research

"There were an estimated 429.4 violent crimes per 100,000 inhabitants in 2009." - http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/violent_crime/index.html

Don't believe the hype, where is the real problem?

I didn't expect anything, SensorG. 18 year old Jacob Dupuis allegedly committed an assault and battery, and no one but Jacob Dupuis is responsible for that. Likewise Geoffrey Dupuis allegedly ran over and killed Randall York, and no one but Geoffrey Dupuis is responsible for that. Blaming society for the choices that these two made is illogical and unreasonable.

As for the Toledo Police not having a crew available for an assault in progress, I'm not surprised. I did a ride along (click here) and there wasn't any down time the entire evening. In this case (Dupuis and York) the whole thing would have been over and done with if York hadn't chosen to stand in front of a minivan, pound on the hood while yelling threats about police and, as a result, getting himself run over and killed.

I think HockeyFan makes a few good points here, to which I'll add that even if the guy is smaller than you are, unless you are ready, willing and very able to adjust his attitude into a new and more pleasing configuration, do not get involved. Jacob Dupuis has likely been in more fights in the past month than most of the readers here have had in their entire lives. Think about that, and remember that size matters as does experience.

Standing in front of a car under any circumstances is not a great place to be. Watch while a tow truck driver jump starts a car - they all work from the side, not the front.

DBW8906 has a good point about DUI vs. serious crime. Sure, drunk driving is a serious crime but look at the statistics - we are much more likely to be injured by a violent criminal than a drunk driver. Given that police resources are finite, doesn't it make more sense to concentrate on violent crime at the expense of drunk driving? Because, you see, you can't have both.

"18 year old Jacob Dupuis allegedly committed an assault and battery, and no one but Jacob Dupuis is responsible for that."

He absolutely responsible and should be charged accordantly. All I’m saying with the creatures he had as parents, this was pretty much the inevitable conclusion of this kid’s life.

DBW - you are ignoring the difference between local and state budgets. If you want more local government to fight violent crime, then up you taxes and lobby Columbus. But to rail against the DUI checkpoints az being the problem ignores the issues that are truly at issue - over regulation, failing schools and no jobs.

And why don't you compare DUI accidents to violent crime or in the alternative DUI deaths to murders. But comparing just deaths to all violent crime isn't a fair comparison.

That's pretty good MrsArcher; you make a nice point.

Clearly we have too much regulation, but only in some areas. Other areas or industries, such as banking and insurance, can not possibly be over regulated. Failing public schools are a major problem and I do not see any correction or solution in sight. The jobs are gone. Kaput. Fini. Thanks in part to NAFTA, in part to unreasonable labor unions and over taxation by government on all levels.

I suppose we could compare traffic accidents to violent crime, but I don't really think that's accurate. By definition traffic accidents do not happen purposefully while violent crime does, in fact, happen with purpose. Faced with these things, where should our tax dollars be spent? The current administration (_The Anointed One_) advocates spending money everywhere, and since there isn't enough money to go around we'll just ask VISA for an increase on the old credit limit. Again.

MrsArcher you make a great point, but it's an ideological point that doesn't play out in the real world. I'm making a guess that you live in a relativly low crime area and DUI might be the biggest threat to your personal safety so I can understand where you are coming from.

Just because someone doesn't murder you and leaves you to pickup your teeth up off the sidewalk, doesn't mean you life is not shattered. Try taking your child to therapy after some thugs kicked them in the head and robbed them at gun point for their backpack and now their afraid to play in their own yard. Violent crime tears the heart out of the people and breaks their spirit. How can you have pride in your neighborhood when Johnny on the corner will give you extra breathing holes when you ask him not to peddle his shit on your street. No cops will come when you call them and alert them of the drug trade because their to busy generating revenue and checking papers on the side of the road.

Your 110% correct that the real problem is "over regulation, failing schools and no jobs" but all problems are "local". People don't give a damn about the quality of the school when the kids are too afraid to walk there. What business will succeed in raising tax dollars when customers wont come. There are no real business in Detroit and it's not because of "all the blacks" but because of all the crime. I'm sorry MsArcher I've heard people like you talk about solving crime with jobs for the last 40 years, it doesn't work. There are no jobs where there is no safety.

Personally we should solve crime by increasing sentences and no early release for 'good behavior' but this wasn't a discussion about how to solve crime. Let's be real you can take all of the money that is spent on the one or two DUI checkpoints a month and add I'm guessing the equivalent of one or two officers 24-7. That's not going to solve Toledo's crime problem either. (just for disclosure I've seen the grant reports and payouts to the participating jurisdictions so I know the dollar amounts we are talking about).

So again instead of railing at the grant project tall to your elected officials about where they are spending your tax dollars ( and mine - I work in Toledo but do live in the burbs). Get them to shift spending from the erie streetarket, pools, etc. Lobby Columbus and DC. But don't jump all over me for clarifying that a state grant is being spent in this community and if we don't use it it will go elsewhere in Ohio.

People need to take responsibility and be accountable. If you want to lower crime, take action. That doesn't mean get a gun and watch from your roof top. That means, get together with your neighbors and discuss what crimes you want to stop and if there are certain ones going on right now in your neighborhood.
If you want better schools, get involved. Take an interest in your kid's education. Go to school activities and functions and be involved. Have an idea of what goes on in your school.
People have got the "It's not my job" attitude. Everyone wants someone else to do it for them. They know what they want, but no one or very few of us is willing to do what needs to be done to get it. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it can be thankless. But, if you don't try to change something, everyone else is also waiting on you.

MsArcher I agree with the vast majority of what you are saying but it's a complete spit in the face of us who have to watch out neighborhoods fall apart.

Speak of the devil, last night my neighbor and I had to break up a fight where a group of 12 or 13 year old kids who where fighting in our lawns, no shit. The kid at the bottom of the pile I'm sure got taken to the ER. He wouldn't tell us where he lived so we could take him back to his home and explain to his parents he was the victim. He said he "I just don't want anymore trouble", what life does this poor kid face when he can't even walk to Bowman park? You think he is going to value his education? You think he sees hope in this world getting his ass beat walking around his neighborhood? Tell me about jobs and hope all you want when you hope to get home with out catching a beating.

We called TPD and they said they would "get right on it", no car showed up. No overtime to help us, but plenty to write tickets to cover the police man's ball.

He wouldn't tell us where he lived so we could take him back to his home and explain to his parents he was the victim.

Unfortunately, if the kid didn't want to talk to the cops, then what would be the point of the cops coming out? You're being a great Samaritan, but what could the police have done had they come out?

_[W]hat life does this poor kid face when he can't even walk to Bowman park?

What life does he have now when he can't/doesn't tell his parent(s)/guardian(s) that he can't walk the neighborhood without getting beat up? Parents who give a shit still have options...how about crash courses in self-defense or some blast knuckles