Hi folks, BadBadIvy here.
It was recently brought to my attention that there is no jail in La Vergne. I knew that, somehow, but it never really occurred to me how important it is that the City of La Vergne has a jail.
My source tells me that police officers are spending a lot of time transporting the prisoners to Murfreesboro (That’s right! All the way to M’boro!!!) and that cuts down on how many police officers are on the street.
Now, this part is something I cannot corroborate, but apparently there used to be people hired by the city just to transport prisoners. They didn’t deal with the prisoners at all- the police officers put them in the car (with a cage between them) and the jailers in Murfreesboro would deal with the prisoner when they got there. That way, the transport people didn’t have to have any police powers or have to have been sent to the police academy.
That part I am unsure of its veracity- so regard it as just a rumor, however: If these transporters did once exist, what happened to them? Why don’t we do something like that now?
Crime has moved to La Vergne from Antioch, but the amount of police we have on the streets has not caught up with the amount of crime. Part of the problem is the fact that police in La Vergne have dismally low salaries. One would think that perhaps with such low salaries we would not have the very best police officers we could get for this city. One might also think that perhaps this could lead to corruption within the police force.
Now, I’ve only met a few La Vergne police officers personally- I had one that lived around the corner from us until he moved, and he was a great guy. Other than that, I don’t know any police officers, so I cannot say whether or not our police force is not very good, or is corrupted. But I do know they are seriously overworked and underpaid and this is not a good thing.
Add to this the fact that we are having to leech off Murfreesboro’s jail, which is already full of Murfreesboro’s prisoners, and we have a very serious problem developing. I’ve already written a post about how the City of La Vergne can raise revenue. I was being jokey about getting a community swimming pool, but clearly our city needs a jail way more than we need a community swimming pool.
Will this post be heard, do you think, or will we have more “anonymous” commenters saying we’re all a bunch of whiners and complainers? Time will tell. Citizens of La Vergne, speak your mind on this subject!!
[Photo Credit: Special via Flickr]
Edited to add: Because of some unclear wording on my part and lack of reading comprehension on a commenters part, I wanted to make it 100% crystal clear that the jail they are taking prisoners to is the Rutherford County Jail. In Murfreesboro. Additionally, I never said that the La Vergne Police Department is corrupt, what I said was, corruption often comes hand in hand with low police pay. I have no idea whether the La Vergne Police Department is corrupt or not.
Filed under: City Police, Crime, Editorials, Public Safety
The officers take prisoners to the RUTHERFORD COUNTY jail, located at 940 New Salem Highway. The police department in La Vergne does have holding rooms for prisoners and quite a bit of the time the Sheriff’s office (or other departments) do come and pick the incarcerated people up. But yes, the LPD officers do take prisoners to 940 (as it’s known in the police department). Don’t know what happened to the transporters, but seems to me that has to do with Truman Jones, Sheriff, and his budget problems. Check with Dan Goodwin at the Sheriff’s office. Smyrna officers do the same as La Vergne. They have holding cells and take the prisoners to 940. And how can you assert that LPD is corrupt when you don’t even know the officers? That’s how rumors are getting started. Not checking your facts before you write is libelous. And that’s the reason the Mayor and Aldermen (most of them) no longer give this site any credit for being a legitimate news source.
The officers take prisoners to the RUTHERFORD COUNTY jail, located at 940 New Salem Highway.
In Murfreesboro. Right.
Smyrna officers do the same as La Vergne.
I’m not writing about Smyrna. I’m writing about La Vergne. Please try to keep up.
And how can you assert that LPD is corrupt when you don’t even know the officers? That’s how rumors are getting started. Not checking your facts before you write is libelous.
1. Check on your definition of “libelous”, I don’t think “not checking facts before you write” is in the definition.
2. Try to read for comprehension- I never said the La Vergne police department is corrupt. I said the La Vergne Police Department needs more money. Low pay + a position of power often leads to corruption. I have no idea if this has happened in the LPD because I don’t know anyone in the LPD.
And that’s the reason the Mayor and Aldermen (most of them) no longer give this site any credit for being a legitimate news source.
Funny, “John”, you can speak for the Mayor? The mayor doesn’t care about the La Vergne Police department needing more money or a jail? Ronnie Erwin is against funding the police? You know this for a fact and are speaking for him? Very interesting.
I don’t think it’s such a big deal that La Vergne doesn’t have a jail. As the John said in relation to Smyrna, many cities don’t have a jail; they simply have holding cells and share a county jail. Is this not the case in Williamson County, where Brentwood uses the Williamson County jail in Franklin?
I do agree that it seems like crime is moving into La Vergne from Antioch. There are 2 reasons:
1 – La Vergne is a desireable place to live
2 – La Vergne is an affordable place to live
If we are not careful, La Vergne will become Antioch. Crime is moving here because parents who have kids in Antioch see La Vergne as a safer place for their precious babies and move the family here. In the meantime, thier ‘precious little babies’ are in reality, hellions, and so the crime ‘mysteriously’ shows up in La Vergne.
Unfortunately, LFE has been so poorly developed that home values there will stagnate compared to the rest of the city, making that area even more affordable for Antioch escapees. The city needs to QUICKLY come up with a way to save that area, including better road access and some type of community retail.
Also, as far as the police, I heard from a police friend that he made $12k a year on the LPD. That is ridiculous. Our police force needs to be paid the same as or more than MNPD. We need to allow La Vergne to be affordable, but not so ‘cheap’ that we’re considered the projects. What can we do to steem the tide?
Interesting discussion going on here! Two questions really jump out for me… 1) How much time are police officers actually spending to transport prisoners and would it be more cost effective to negotiate with the new sheriff about bringing back the transport folks? And 2) What is the starting salary of officers and what is the average salary of officers? If the starting salary is really $12,000 p/year, that’s shameful. Or could that be the salary during the “training” period only? I’d be very interested in hearing from Angie Mayes about this.
Oh and one more thing… John said, “And that’s the reason the Mayor and Aldermen (most of them) no longer give this site any credit for being a legitimate news source.” Go back and read the terms of use.
Why is the city of lavergne using everyone elses resources? Those of us living in the county need our deputies on the streets, not transporting lavergne’s prisoners. sounds like the city needs to get its shit together and transport their own damn prisoners.
I raised the police pay issue several weeks ago in a comment on this site (thanks BBI for the great post in revisiting this issue). I also truly believe that the “LA” in La Vergne is rapidly becoming synonymous with “Lesser Antioch”.
The following statement may not sit well with many of you. All I ask is you take a moment and think:
“Raise property taxes enough to fund pay raises for LPD officers to a level greater than or equal to those of Metro Nashville, Smyrna & Murfreesboro. Include in the property tax increase the funding to increase the size of the LPD to per capita levels greater than or equal to those of Metro Nashville, Smyrna & Murfreesboro.”
The effects of doing this will be far-reaching:
1. It will make La Vergne less “affordable” thus greatly reducing the flow of low-income individuals and families into La Vergne. Your head is buried in the sand if you think this is not the root cause of the recent crime conversations that are tremendously tarnishing La Vergne’s image.
2. It will drastically reduce the LPD being viewed as a mere “stepping-stone” to another PD with higher pay for less than or equal work.
3. It will increase the quality of officers on the LPD. Not that they are ALL bad, but the recent image problems the LPD has had (Tartt, M’boro Rd ticket girl, unexplained resignation of Chief Lindsey, etc.) cannot be overlooked and swept under the carpet. I was recently stopped by a LPD officer on Fergus Rd for having a headlight out. The officer failed to ask for my license/registration and then got in his squad car and left without giving me any inclination that I was “good to go”. Kinda left me hangin’ there twiddling my thumbs thinking of The Clash song lyrics “Should I Stay or Should I Go Now”. Not very good police work, IMHO.
4. It will increase La Vergne’s image to attract higher-income individuals and families who have little or no issue with paying higher property taxes (i.e. – maintaining a “you-get-what-you-pay-for” mentality). In turn, this will make things much easier to attract “desirable” retail to the area instead of all the “nail salons” (c’mon ladies, guys don’t really care what your nails look like). If you were a national chain looking at the demographics of an area to set up shop, would you choose an area that has a lower average household income and rapidly growing crime rate over an area that has a moderate average household income and a stable crime rate?
Now I’m NOT saying we should try to be “Brentwood”. We AREN’T Brentwood and I don’t want us to be Brentwood. What I DON’T want us to be is “LESSER ANTIOCH”.
We need a property tax hike, we need it NOW, and it needs to be earmarked specifically for increased police officer pay and increased police force size.
Period. Plain and simple.
I’m Just Sayin’…
Regarding the starting salary for police…if I remember correctly from looking at the city of lavergne website a while back, the starting salary was $12.50 hour. I don’t believe for that wage you will get anyone who is interested in staying any lenght of time.
Yes I can speak for the Board…they are friends of mine and I’ve asked them if they read the blog. They said not anymore because of the controversy and all around bitchiness. They simply think of it as just another bitching web site. If you want real action, stop griping on this site and write them directly. That, they pay attention to. If you don’t know the addresses, they’re on lavergne.org. I only read the site because one of your contributors sent me the link. Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.
If you want real action, stop griping on this site and write them directly. That, they pay attention to…. Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.
Good to know that the leaders of the La Vergne are only interested in the concerns that come through proper channels and can’t be bothered with a website created by concerned residents for fear of encountering occasional “controversy” of “bitchiness”.
ok, according to Will, a lavergne cop makes $26k per year. Still too low, but not $12k.
Speaking of retail, it’s very sad that every day from Sam Ridley to Waldron road on Industrial Blvd. Their is a line of trees seperating Smyrna and La Vergne. On the Smyrna side, they are building retail anchored by Target. On the La Vergne side: nothing…
La Vergne is in most peoples opinion the number 1 spot in Tennessee for industrial and warehouse developement, and that’s GREAT! But for the 27,000 of us who call this place home, we need more. We need retail. We need to attract companies and people who want to live in Tennessee
john duncan,
Instead of being negative, why not make this into a positive. This site (I do not live in La Vergne) is very interactive in being connected with its community. You can tell the people who write for this blog care about their community. They talk about being involved with this community, which is their home.
If you’re a “friend” of your local government, why not create a bridge of communication discussing some of the issues brought up here. Citizen journalists are not going away. Help them instead of blog yelling at them. Being dismissive gets you no where, but you post over on this blog quite a bit. YOU ARE reading it.
So turn what you think is negative into something that is more friendly. If you are representing the local government, I would take pause as a tax-paying citizen that the local political infrastructure is dismissive of citizen concerns.
Now don’t go misreading that. I don’t know if you are a representative of the local gov. or not. Just an observation.
Communication is important. Criticism shouldn’t be dismissed by local municipalities, it should be addressed and then everyone gets a better understanding of what’s going on from a political AND A community perspective.
Communities, all of them, need interested local citizens who create a dialogue. The government doesn’t run the people, the government is for the people.
The post and other posts here are clearly trying to create a dialogue.
I like this site and may do one for my community. Great job and keep it up, moderators of this site.
Anyone can sit behind a computer and be brave and say strong things, but why not write the officials directly and use your real name (and include an address and phone number). It’s easy to use stupid names to express your opinion, but stand up and be a real person and take action. Better than that, start showing up for the Mayor and Aldermen workshops. Get on the citizen’s agenda (to speak on camera to the board). Sit during the meeting and see what happens. Get out of your house and start helping to make this city a better place. Anyone can hide behind a keyboard. And that’s pretty obvious.
Anyone can hide behind a keyboard. And that’s pretty obvious.
Yeah, that IS pretty obvious, “John”.
I DID write to city officials about the idea of a Farmers Market. I got ONE response. ONE. I used my real name, gave my real email, gave my phone number. Provided links about setting one up. Volunteered to serve on an exploratory committee. And I got ONE reply. I was happy to get the response, although it explained why the city would not be interested in such an endeavor. Maybe that’s why people don’t jump to volunteer.
Further, I’m pretty sure people can figure out who we are based on the multiple links to our other sites (real estate pages, links to articles about the blogs, etc.). Or if they really want to know, how about coming to our Blogger & Podcaster meeting this Saturday at 2:00 p.m. It’s going to be at Espresso Joe’s. I won’t be there, but I’d bet a large number of other folks who author this blog will be.
Finally – like Ivy implied – methinks “John” is the pot calling the kettle black when he/she speaks about people hiding behind “stupid names to express your opinion”. But you do help keep the site interesting, so you just comment to your heart’s content.
My name is John Duncan and I’ve lived in the Farmingdale area for five years now. At least I’m not going by BadBadIvy…that’s hiding behind a name.
Definitely makes the site interesting….and everyonehas a name…so does mean we hide behind ourselves? Her name is Ivy…I’ve known her for over 17 years..she doesn’t hide behind anything…she does her job…period.
John,
Why are you being so negative?
I think you can be a catalyst for positive change but you choose to fire grenades.
But, alas, you aren’t and that is sad in a community.
Very sad, but you lose any credibility for doing that by your random attacks.
Sad.
I think everyone needs to take a chill pill. I’m sure this is meant for positive discussion. I don’t know that “john” is being negative so much as playing the devil’s advocate. That’s what I got from his various posts at least. Never the less, I’ve never heard of him and I know quite a few people in town. I can say I’ve never seen him at a board meeting — that is to say, I know most people that attend the meetings. If he shows up, I’ve never seen him and he sure hasn’t gotten up to discuss anything.
I see that Alderman Mosley reads this blog and that’s a good thing. Vice Mayor Jerry Gann reads it, but doesn’t respond. I know that Dennis Waldron answered the e-mail about the Farmer’s Market, although he wasn’t for one being built. Of course, there’s always the land that Jerry Butler owns next to the Ferrell Building. A man already sets up there…and there’s the fish/BBQ stand there as well. That might be the best place for your market. Check with Mr. Butler and see what he says. I just don’t think the city is interested in takeing one under their wings, at this point. That’s the consensus I get from talking with members of the board.
Is there anything else I can help you with? Please let me know if I can answer anymore questions or help in any way.
Angie Mayes
207-4678
287-8690
By the way, Ivy, even if we had a jail in La Vergne, we’d still have to transport those arrested to court in Murfreesboro, so I’m not sure there’s a good answer to the situation. Our city court is just that — a city court. It’s not a general session court, which is where criminal cases are heard.
Plus, they’re trying to come up with how to add to/construct a new city hall (people are sitting on top of each other as it is). There’s no room for anyone else to reside. So I don’t know where they’d come up with the money for a jail or where they’d put it.
The park beside/behind City Hall has to stay a park, as per the grant regulations which were agreed upon when the park was built. So there’s really no room at the inn, as it were.
If you have ideas, please e-mail the mayor at rerwin@lavergne.org. He responds so much better to e-mails than he does this blog. No offense to the blog. I know he has a computer in his office, but dont know how much he uses it.
Ang
Angie, thanks for coming over and giving great input.
I just want to say to all readers here that I know sometimes these discussions get heated, just as they do on any blog that opens up the forum for opinions, but as I said on another comment, with growth comes growing pains…but it is all progress. What is so encouraging here is to see how much people really care about where they live and everyone’s desire to see La Vergne become the best place to live in Middle Tennessee.
On that we can all agree.