The Statue of St Monica is Being Used as a Drug Drop - And So is the Rest of the City

Dear Chief Batista,

I am pointing out the activities shown in the following photos contained in the link below, asking for your help.

Since you say you have a full staff at night from 12 midnight to 7 am, would you please authorize your officers to patrol these areas? The photos and video clips are not in order, but tagged with date , time and location. And I have more images showing disgusting and illegal activities. We need your attention Chief, and City Manager David White and our City Council to support you.

1) The Saint Monica statue has become a drop-off and meeting place for drugs. The stuffed animal left there was full of fentanyl pills and the back of the "art work" had a clear written message.

2) Too many people are doing crystal meth and crack in the open night and day in the parks, I was offered some in exchange for the empty water bottle I was holding. They don't even want the water. The empty plastic water bottles are more valuable because the plastic can be turned in for funding their next fix.

3) The Main Public Library should be in full use as a "cooling center" for those without air conditioning at home and for our kids who have returned to school who require use of the computers inside and a place to stay until their parent(s} arrives home from work. The photos at the Main Public Library are from 2 pm and 4:30 pm yesterday, and 5 am this morning. Sadly the Library seemed empty during the day, and those entering and exiting knew exactly what was going on and looked scared.

4) We have had a stabbing murder at the Library, and now we have a pimp car delivering drugs to those who stop by and those who hang out there.

5) Lastly, the photos show a guy doing a line of coke, right outside your SMPD Substation on the Promenade.

Chief, is it or is it not a crime to use and block public space to intoxicate one's self?

Our City Council restricts you from hiring great potential SMPD Officers if they are not vaccinated for Covid. Yet almost every Councilmember had been vaccinated and sick with Covid, not once, but twice. And the human waste left behind by the drug addicts in our public spaces contains infectious disease. Doctors on the scene have told me such.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, what makes you and your team unqualified (from the point of view of our City Manager and Councilmembers) such that City Staff has the right to 'vet' potential recruits prior to your team conducting the interviews and reviewing the applications? Why wouldn't YOUR staff vet and investigate potential recruits before the City Staff?

Worse, why do we need our City Manager David White (who voters DID NOT elect, and was a 3rd choice), to add yet another layer of vetting? City Manager White just hired a $!50,000 a year salaried person to make sure those hired follow his or her "inclusionary" guidelines. The salary and perks are a lot more than many sworn and unsworn Officers in your Department are paid.

We need your help, Chief. Unfortunately we have over 3 months remaining on the "no-bid contract" with Allied Universal Security, the private security company the City Staff recommended, the City Manager hired and our City Council approved.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hcJ2jxS6KRVRJWqB6

Respectfully,

John Alle