The Guardian Angels have sent a new release, so we thought we’d post it. There is more on the incident on Bard’s blog that we mentioned in an earlier post.
IMMEDIATE NEWS RELEASE
At approximately 02:15 am Sunday June 29th two Guardian Angels
disarmed and arrested a man armed with a loaded handgun during a
physical altercation with 2 other men on the 300 block of west
3rd street in downtown Davenport . The Guardian Angels will be
holding a press conference at 1300 hours (1:00pm) Sunday June 29th
at the Guardian Angels headquarters located at 230 west 3rd street
#200C in downtown Davenport .
June 29, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Great job to the folks who volunteer. But just one question. Why do you whore your actions out to the press like this? Makes you look like your there for the publicity and not so much for the good of the public.
June 30, 2008 at 8:20 am
Walnut, The Press will find out about the story one way or another. At that time, they will start calling the leadership of the group, and take up literally hours of their time over the next week telling the story over and over. It is much easier to simply call them all together and tell the story one time.
Folks like Cruiser avoid the camera at all costs. Most of us would much rather not be in front of any cameras, but then again, if we didn’t put stuff out on the news, or if we didn’t talk to the press, people would say “yeah, the Guardian Angels are here, but they don’t do anything.” simply because no one heard of anything.
June 30, 2008 at 8:25 am
Walnut, could you give some examples of the whoring you are referring to. Just wondering. It slipped past me. Don’t mean any hardwood whoring , just of the angels. But knock on wood if you have to. Thanks
June 30, 2008 at 10:39 am
Walnut,
Thanks for the nod. I don’t consider it as whoring to the press.
Bard,
You’ve said it better than I could have. I think there are people better suited for photo-ops than me. Unless the GAs want to recruit balding, tall, skinny, middle age guys..
D-32,
We agree that Walnut may be stretching the truth a bit. When the police get a gun off the street, they have a news conference.
June 30, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Cruiser,
The police absolutely do not have a news conference or press release every time they take a gun off of somebody. They do a lot of good things that are never in the media. I’ve never understood how they decide which things to publicize.
As far as the GAs, even Curtis Sliwa himself at the first meeting at United Neighbors admitted that he likes publicity because it feeds his ego. I think that the GAs do seek publicity a bit much, but this situation is a big enough deal that I agree it deserves some press coverage. If this incident had gone badly, it would have resulted in massive and national negative media coverage about crime in Davenport like the kind you sometimes complain about. Fortunately for everyone, the gun didn’t come into play.
June 30, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I agree with Bard that for a volunteer organization a press conference is the best way to go. IF this incident went bad it would make big news locally but maybe only a brief blip nationally. Even with the GA involvement the only national tie in would be the Supreme Court ruling and that would be a stretch. IMHO
June 30, 2008 at 4:27 pm
QCI,
The police did hold a conference after the drive-by and finding weapons in a van by St. Ambrose last summer. As for who is or isn’t seeking publicity, everybody knows it isn’t me.
Knowing the two Guardian Angels involved, I find it very hard to believef it could have turned out differently. This is a good example of where hours of training pay off.
joe,
This is one of the times it’s damned if you do, damned if you don’t. No matter what
the Guardian Angels do there will be someone who sees it as a negative. We appreciate your support.
June 30, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Yeah, the DPD sometimes make a big deal out of recovering a weapon, and sometimes they recover 3 and it doesn’t hit the press. I don’t really understand it.
June 30, 2008 at 7:31 pm
The Davenport PD love photo ops. That`s why they have a full time HIGHLY PAID (Captain Struckman) standing in front of the camera looking pretty is his only job. As for myself, I`d rather that instead of spending time on news releases, that they would quit that and just have him out on patrol getting guns and thugs off the street.
June 30, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Several months ago when Struckman sent out one of his media press conference notices he added a comment about reporters not being late for the appointed time. Anybody late was not getting in the door.
The Acting Chief told Struckman not to do it again after the email was forwarded to him.
July 1, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Cruiser: if the GA`s have time, they should start patroling around the 14th and Gaines area. Now that the weather has warmed up at night, they are setting out on the steps at that multiplex again. For awhile they had no loitering signs, but the tenants arn`t following the rules that were put in place. Also the house right across the street has had alot of activity.
July 1, 2008 at 5:10 pm
The point I was trying to get across is that having a gun fall from one’s pocket during a skirmish and be noticed by a GA doesn’t need a press release. I would think it would be classier if you kept your own stats and release them when asked. You are drawing way too much attention to yourself at the risk of harm. You travel as a group but live apart. Better to be safe than sorry.
And by the way, Struckman is the acting PR person when the media shows up, that’s part of his job.
Good job by the GS’s but use your head when dealing with the media!
July 1, 2008 at 6:26 pm
QCI,
It is hard to understand.
anonymous,
It is his job, he’s the PR guy. He does seem to get out on the street once and a while.
D-34,
Some of the things that go on down there don’t make sense to us either.
anonymous,
Thanks for the information. I’ll mention it.
Walnut,
Decisions like these are made by our leader. They have the option of how to handle it. We don’t know how ithe press conference went because we had a prior commitment. We’ll let the ones in charge deal with the media.
July 2, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Walnut,
As for Shadow and Myself, as soon as the 45 seconds of excitement were over, we were ready to simply be done with the whole thing. However, we had to do about a 90 minute follow up with DPD and make sure all the i’s were dotted and t’s crossed. During that time, the midwest coordinator called to see how our patrol went. He is the one who insisted on a media release and a press conference. Honestly, Shadow and I are not fond of being in front of the camera. I would much rather have a simple write up in a paper or something so the community knows we do more then stand around, but I surely don’t care for being on TV.
We report in with the people who run the group on a regional level, and they report into “Angel 1″ or better known as Curtis Sliwa should anything note worthy happen. You better believe that, I did not get to bed until after 6am that morning, and was woken up by phone calls by 8:30. The LAST thing I wanted was to be holding a press conference with 2 hours sleep, and a whole ton of house work to get done. Remember, I am a working guy like everyone else. I do my 40+ at a regular job, then do this on the weekends. I also still have to get out and mow the lawn like everyone else and do my honey do list each weekend. Tons of emails, phone calls, and interviews is never my idea.
Bard
Bard
July 3, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Im so thankful the GA’s are here!!!