Police Archives » Lynda Waddington

04May 2015 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa advocates push for police oversight, accountability

Gazette Column

This column would have been less difficult to write earlier in the week, before Baltimore was engulfed in flames. But it wouldn’t have been as important. On the surface, Bob Babcock and Felicia Jones have few similarities. Although they both are residents of the Quad Cities, they represent different generations. Babcock leans on a wealth of hard-earned life experience, and now is of the age when the past often intersects with and gives clarity to the present. Jones still is figuring out the world, testing how she fits and what type of difference she can make. On Saturday, April 25, the two stood together at Rock Island Township Hall, a computer presentation as their backdrop, leading a small but engaged group of Quad Cities residents through possible solutions to what…

14Dec 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Coffee (and more) with cops

Gazette Column

It may have hit a nerve. My column last Saturday focused on recent demonstrations and how they are evidence that certain segments of the population are feeling excluded. While several responded with their own stories of how they’ve been or felt isolated from the larger community — especially bodies that make policy decisions, others insisted that “some people” need only get off their … ahem … rear ends if involvement is truly a goal. As is typically the case, most feedback was somewhere in the middle, with readers wanting more participation but remaining too cynical to believe it will or can happen. Within that pile, three responses by area police officers caught my eye. The officers generally agreed with my assessment that more community business needs to be done within neighborhoods, allowing…

28Sep 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Too many questions on MRAP

Gazette Column

Back during my college years, when there seemed to be unlimited time to sit with friends and discuss hopes and dreams, I once expressed my desire to go on a game show and win a new car. “It would be cool,” I dreamily pronounced, envisioning hugging Bob Barker in multicolored confetti rain, and never again searching for rides home. One of our friends — an economics type not adept in dreaming — snorted and began a now legendary rift on hidden costs of “free” things. It was the first time I understood the saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” It was also the night I made a promise I’d never purposefully be that economics friend, always pointing out the down side. I’d be positive and find solutions. That night,…

11Aug 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa can learn from the Missouri tragedy

Gazette Blog

Michael Brown was an 18-year-old black man who died Saturday, gunned down by police outside his apartment complex. He was scheduled to begin classes at Vatterott College today and, according to friends who agreed to interviews, Brown wanted to be a business owner. News of the shooting spread quickly through the Ferguson, Mo. neighborhood. Brown’s body had been left in the street for hours, according to media reports, and photos of the scene were circulated. While there are conjectural stories of a struggle, that perhaps Brown, who was unarmed, tried to take a gun from the officer who ultimately shot him multiple times as he ran. a full investigation is not complete and likely won’t be completed for weeks. Mourning began on social media, rumors were circulated and those local…