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PA: Gun seizures on rise in Pittsburgh (1/10/2002)

Josey1Josey1 Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
edited January 2002 in General Discussion
Gun seizures on rise in city Wednesday, January 09, 2002By Michael A. Fuoco, Post-Gazette Staff Writer Pittsburgh police seized 364 illegal guns in arrests last year, part of a stepped-up effort to get firearms off the streets.The number of guns recovered in arrests was 95 more than the 269 recovered in 2000, the first year the Police Bureau began keeping such statistics.Another 254 guns were recovered without arrests, including weapons seized during service of protection-from-abuse orders or found discarded on the streets.Police Chief Robert W. McNeilly Jr. said the statistics indicate officers have become "more proactive in looking for guns. With the increase in violence we had in the past year we've put an emphasis on trying to find illegal guns and get them off the street and to arrest the people carrying them."The pace of gun seizures has doubled this year. Through Sunday, Pittsburgh officers had arrested 14 people with illegal guns. Fifteen guns were seized because one of the suspects had two, said Assistant Chief William Mullen of the investigations branch.Part of the increased vigilance comes from hundreds of the bureau's officers taking part in a seminar in April by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on telltale signs of those carrying weapons -- including body language and how clothing bulges. Mullen had requested that the ATF put on a local seminar after attending one in Atlanta.The three officers who led in weapons arrests will get commendations and the next seven will receive letters of recognition, McNeilly said.The top three officers were Lt. Kevin Kraus of the Hill District station with 20 arrests and detectives Kevin Ghafoor and Terry Holland of the narcotics squad with 18 each. Six of the other seven top officers are also assigned to the narcotics squad.They are Brian Daley, 15 arrests, Norm Klahre, 14, Michael Hoffman, 13, James Joyce, 13, Ed Fallert, 12, and Kenneth Kohnfelder, 10, all of narcotics; and Jason Snyder, a K-9 officer from the Hill District station who had 12 arrests. http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_city/20020109guns0109p2.asp
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Comments

  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thats a shame. Pittsburgh must be turning into a trashbin. When I lived there the crime rate was the lowest of just about any big city in the U.S. I think in 1990 they had Three murders inside the city limits for the whole year. What the Hell happened.
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  • jdb123jdb123 Member Posts: 471 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    well getting guns from crooks is a good thing.I will tell you what happend Pittsburgh by the way they are still mad at Neil O'Donnell for handing Dallas the superbowl.Of course the Cowboys would have won anyway.
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  • hyperspacehyperspace Member Posts: 91 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Royc38, Pittsburgh has been turning into a trashbin since the early '90's, along with most other mid-size east coast cities. Baltimore really went in the can about the same time. I watched it progressively slide from '88 -- '96. Every year, a lil' bit more. In Pittsburgh, the best heroin dealers in the city were the police. Might very well still be.I thought that earlier this year Pittsburgh introduced some sort of reward for people turning in "tips" on people that "might" be carrying firearms "illegally"? I bet that might have an influence on the number of siezied guns increasing.I still hope The Steelers take the Super Bowl. Growing up back there, I'd be labeled a heretic by the family if I felt otherwise....And even with all its downfalls, Pittsburgh is still a good city when compared to almost any of its east coast cousins...
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  • salzosalzo Member Posts: 6,396 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hyperspace- I seem to remember hearing about that "reward" also. I seem to remember something about how an anonymous "tip" was enough to get cause warrant. I cant understand how an anonymous tip would be constitutional, considering the 6th amendments "The accused shall enjoy the right...to be confronted with the witnesses against him".
    Happiness is a warm gun
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  • hyperspacehyperspace Member Posts: 91 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thinking about it, I'm dang near certain that it was Josey1 that posted the thing about Pittsburgh having the reward program. Hell, he's about the only one that could have. That was a while ago, though, and I'm sure the post has been deleted.
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  • gunpaqgunpaq Member Posts: 4,607 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    How many of those protection-from-abuse orders are legitimate? How many prized possessions and family heirlooms were lost forever because a jilted girlfriend or crazy wife wanted to get even? The law is very one sided on this issue and makes an easy gun grab.
    Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.
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  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I got off the phone last night with my business partner who now lives in NC who also grew up in Pittsburgh and went home to see his mother there. He said basically the same thing. He said he noticed a lot of talk shows on tv that were very racially biased. The black elders in Pittsburgh all have their won talk shows and describe in detail about how Pittsburgh is behind in civil rights and should look up to Philadelphia (lol). Can you imagine looking up to Philadelphia? That would almost be like trying to get your son to admire Jefferey Daumer as a role model. It is my understanding that the Pittsburgh Police are under federal guidelines or something to that effect. And Jb as far as the Steelers losing to the Cowboys anyway, the Cowboys were in the skillet and ready to be cooked extra well. Neil Odonnel let them escape. This year I hope the Steelers win it all. You are going to have to trust me people Pittsburgh at one time time was one of the best kept secrets in the U.S. Nightclubs, Primatti Bros at 2:30am Station square, the Pirates 70's, the Steelers 70's. I have fond memories and you could walk the streets at night with your woman and not have to worry about being jumped or acossted. AND not so long ago either.
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  • royc38royc38 Member Posts: 2,235 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I got off the phone last night with my business partner who now lives in NC who also grew up in Pittsburgh and went home to see his mother there. He said basically the same thing. He said he noticed a lot of talk shows on tv that were very racially biased. The black elders in Pittsburgh all have their won talk shows and describe in detail about how Pittsburgh is behind in civil rights and should look up to Philadelphia (lol). Can you imagine looking up to Philadelphia? That would almost be like trying to get your son to admire Jefferey Daumer as a role model. It is my understanding that the Pittsburgh Police are under federal guidelines or something to that effect. And Jb as far as the Steelers losing to the Cowboys anyway, the Cowboys were in the skillet and ready to be cooked extra well. Neil Odonnel let them escape. This year I hope the Steelers win it all. You are going to have to trust me people Pittsburgh at one time time was one of the best kept secrets in the U.S. Nightclubs, Primatti Bros at 2:30am, Station square, the Pirates 70's, the Steelers 70's. I have fond memories and you could walk the streets at night with your woman and not have to worry about being jumped or acossted. AND not so long ago either.
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