The intern police chief, Michael Rallings, decide that police presents on the roadways was very important. He positioned multiple squad cars on the expressway and main streets during the high traffic hours. Now this decision did allowed police to write a number of speeding tickets and also help to maintain the flow of traffic. Police presents helps residents feel safe so I believe Michael Rawlings had a good idea but there should be more police in the neighborhoods. More police present in the neighborhoods would cut down on the senseless murders and robberies. The neighborhood gas station and dollar stores have been the targets of robberies lately. Police present in the neighborhoods may deter those looking to do these foolish acts. Today around noon, the Citgo gas station at the corner of Cherry and Dunn became a crime scene. This Citco gas station is located down the street from Willow Oaks Elementary school where there is police presents at the school in the morning and afternoon hours. Now it is report that this gas station has been victims of multiple robberies in the past weeks. If the police were in the area more often, that 20 year old clerk might not have lost his life today.

http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/31255669/multiple-people-reportedly-shot-at-memphis-intersection

During the last election of 2015 in Memphis, a scandal arose out of the shadows of the so many campaigns and so may issues that plagued this city of 646,889 in population. A little fact about Memphis TN. is that many really never think about is its total demographics. I researched and discovered that Memphis is predominantly an African-American city with the Female African American as the majority. Even though an African American woman is a majority in the city, they remain a minority of the nation. Being a Minority was this premise behind this scandal. The news headlines read “Wharton’s campaign manager Deidra Malone gets $880,000 from police body cam contract.” … FOX13 emailed Taser to ask why it chose the Carter Malone Group … It was said that Deidre Malone being campaign manager really doesn’t mean anything.  The politicians will use any angle in order to make dollars and the buck never stops there.  They attempted one more sandal before the end.  Dollars seem to roll in and out this city like a wide open faucet. Like in the body cam scandal, when discovered, all hands were quickly hidden. I wonder what else is hidden in the city of Memphis. Many will use the disparity of others or play the minority card in order to pad their pockets. It is time to make the City of Memphis Govt. totally transparent and let the citizens and tax payers decide where the money is sourced and spent. It is ridiculous that the city is a giant cesspool and the streets look like Beirut.

It is time to start investing more into addiction treatment instead of continuing to lock people with addictions up in jails and prisons. It cost more to house inmates in prison than it does to provide addiction treatment for addicts. if we would take a small percentage of the money invested in prison and jails and invested it into addiction treatment, we could help so many more people overcome their addiction and become productive members of society. By continuing to lock up addicts we are not helping them in any way. We are only teaching them how to become better addicts and criminals. Providing more funding for treatment would also relieve a lot of the overcrowding jails and prisons are experiencing today. As a substance abuse counselor, I se first hand the effects substance abuse has on an individual and their families. Most addicts want to change and overcome their addiction, but are unable to find treatment due to the limited resources. To add to that most courts would rather continue locking up addicts, than to provide treatment for them. If the tax payer can provide the funding for a $47 million dollar boat dock in downtown Memphis ( which, to me, is nothing more than a metal ramp waiting to rust away into the Mississippi river) then surely we could find a way to provide addiction treatment to help save a human’s life. No this not a fix all. However, it would be a start into something a hell of a lot more positive for people with addiction problem, than to continue to lock them up in overcrowded jails and prisons

Our Children is our most valuable possessions. When leaving your children at day care make sure that the day care follows safety and proper guidelines. Parents should leave their children with peace of mind, knowing that their children is left in good hands. You should always make sure that the day care is licensed by the state. Also, staff and other employees should have undergone background checks. Day cares should make sure that proper cleaning polices are used to prevent sickness and transferring of germs. Day care facilities should have an emergency plan for natural disasters and health related accidents. Always keep Adult supervision for each group of children and infants, at all times. Parents should ask a lot of questions. When meeting the day care director and staff members, ask as many questions as you need to in order to feel comfortable about leaving your child in their daycare. It’s a good idea to have written a list of questions and bring it with you. Therefore, you don’t forget what to ask the director and staff members, such as: How long the day care has been in business? What are the hours of operation? Are children asked to stay home when they are sick? How does the day care discipline children? What is the Visitation Policy? How many children per staff member? Are there sleeping or napping rooms cleaned and disinfected daily? How safe is the day care? Does the day care discipline and how? Therefore, parents will know if this day care is the right place for their child to be.

Over the last year or two Memphis has lost over 400 police officers to other cities across America. Our police department is currently under staffed and it shows with the increasing crime rates in Memphis. Currently of the 32 murders that have occurred this year 10 have not been solved. Though police officers do not solve murder cases having police present in our communities does help to lower crime. We have seen the City take away some benefits and they are not payed appropriately so it is very easy for them to be lured away. Memphis is known for having one of the top academies in America so we are basically training great officers for other cities. Who wants to risk their life everyday to be under payed and barely have enough benefits if something were to happen? Hardly anyone wants to be a police officer anymore in the city of Memphis because it isn’t worth it. We have to raise our pay rates and give our officers great benefits if they want to keep our officers here in our city. The current police chief claims he knows what needs to happen in order to get more officers lets see if he will actually put into action what needs to be done.

The College for All Act was recently introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders. Today in the United States there are over $70 billion dollars put into a four year college or university. Through this process the Federal Government will take more than half of the cost of tuition and the rest is left to the states to pay. Now the students future is up to the tax payers in their state. If the tax payers don’t want a increase in the money taken from them how does Sander’s plan flow.

Sander’s idea could also benefit the education for several students. This process will help hire more faculty to hold every position needed at a four year institution. There will be smaller classrooms and more hands on work for the students. Then in return there will be better funding for clubs and activities at the universities and sports teams as well. In this issue Bernie noticed that the good out weighed the bad and in hoping that so will the others in passing this Bill.

Violence has always been evident in our culture. However, there has been a significant increase of the amount of violence we showcase through different aspects of media. It feels as though everywhere we turn, we see a portrayal of aggressive behavior and violence through advertisements, video games, internet, and social media. Today, children are exposed to an inappropriate amount of violence in our society. The amount of a child’s violence exposure can be cognitively, emotionally, and socially damaging to the child. Early exposure to such violence results in aggressive behaviors and actions, aggressive thoughts, aggressive emotions, and an increased risk of an unrealistic depiction of reality. Children who spend hours a day consumed in iPads, television, movies, video games, etc. can easily begin to associate fantasy with reality. When so often, a child is exposed to fictional violence through media, he or she gains a distorted view of reality and may start to overlap fictional violence in the real world. Young children are still developing not only physically, but cognitively. If we overexpose them to fictional violence and aggression while they are still developing, how can we expect children to not become aggressive and develop an unrealistic depiction of reality? Sometimes overexposure to violence results in a strong sense of fear in a child, rather than aggression. Children may become fearful of the world around them and not feel as though they are protected by anyone or anything. I do not feel as though I was “sheltered” growing up, but my parents did protect me from overexposure to violence and aggression. My parents monitored mine and my sisters’ access to the computer and internet, television, and radio. Of course, technology has advanced since I was a child and the media is more accessible today than it was when I was growing up. However, in order to keep our children safe, we must monitor their social media, internet, and television use. Even some children’s movies and television shows contain violence that may negatively affect a child during the developmental stage. When children hit the “age of reasoning” and begin to easily separate fantasy from reality and understand the concept of fiction, there is less of a sense of urgency to monitor their violence exposure, yet there are still negative effects associated with exposure to violence that we must be mindful of. I believe “it takes a village.” A balance of monitoring in the school and home environments will make a difference in protecting a child from violence exposure. It is unrealistic to think that we can COMPLETELY shelter our children from today’s society’s violence in media, but parents can monitor their child’s exposure in the home and teachers and administration can monitor student’s exposure to violence and aggression in the school environment.

I have heard plenty of people’s experiences with unmarked police cars, some where actual cops were involved and some that were not. Recently in Bartlett, a few blocks away from my house, there was a Bartlett High School male that was driving down Yale Rd when a unmarked dodge charger used a loud speaker to ask the young man to pull over, “or I will call for backup”. He pulled over but did not roll down the window. Instead he asked the “officer” if he could see his badge. When the “officer” would not do so the driver drove away and call in his experience. It turns out that this man was not a officer, just a man that was probably looking to do harm. This story of this high school student was a close call that recently happened. There have been other times when the driver was not aware of the situation and actual harm was caused. I believe unmarked police cars are a real problem because many people feel obligated to pull over even though the car is not marked because they are thinking, “I should pull over just in case because I do not want to be in trouble for running from police.” I also believe that there should be a better system for this problem instead of just “spreading awareness”.

The town of Collierville decided to create their own school district after the merger with Memphis city schools and Shelby County schools. This change in distracts has drastically changed the way the public school runs. One of the biggest changes is the amount of students that are now attending Collierville schools. The district now consists of eight schools and approximately 8,000 students.

Tennessee board of education classroom regulations only have one teacher per classroom. Each grade has to a max number of students, K-3 can have 25 students, 4-6 can have 30 students, and 7-12 can have 35 per classroom. I find these numbers of students per classroom unrealistic. I do not believe that these students are getting a solid education if the teacher is being pulled in every direction with all of these students. I read an article that if a classroom has over 20 students than a teacher assistant needs to be in the class. Students need to have a relationship with their teacher so they are comfortable in asking questions and feel like they belong in the class. Having so many students in a classroom does not let that teacher have that close bond with his or her students.