Are Charlotte officials using crime concerns to push a tax increase? (10-03-2025--Hour2)

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpekclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet, And again, thank you so much for your support. I knew this was going to happen because I can't stop commenting when I watch these things. It drives everybody nuts. That's why I can't watch any news programming with anybody, like in the living room with me, because I just I will pause it and just start. Yelling at the TV. I know it's something that like I think only comes when you turn seventy or something, but I don't know. I've been doing it for years and I've turned it into a successful career, so it can't be all bad. So the City of Charlotte holds a news conference to show everybody the new bikes and UTVs that will be patrolling along the light rail stations and the rail trail and the transit center where the buses go. So they got new vehicles and this is going to make everybody feel much much safer. They look very expensive, but when you're giving eighteen million dollars a year to the private contractor, I guess they can afford this kind of equipment. They do look kind of military e So I'm not sure if that's going to engender some protests, some maybe fiery but mostly peaceful riots or something like. I was just out here walking over and then I saw this. Then I saw this UTV and I had to burn it down, you know, because that was what we were told during the riot season. So just the mere sight of the police presence wearing particular gear or driving particular vehicles, it prompted people to get violent. So I don't know if that's the case here. So the mayor in the first hour we listened to the mayor's opening statement, not very good. I have a ton of messages. The text line is blown up here. It's basically, let's just say it is being universally panned. Her comments are being panned. Then the mayor of Davidson, Rusty Knox, he spoke assuring everybody transit is safe and I also saw. Who sent it to me? Was it a I've lost track of all the messages here. This is from Cohen who said, Hey, Pete, did you notice that it took the mayor about two full minutes before asking the voters to vote for the additional penny sales tax. Yeah, she did mention that very early on in her comments. And that's why I think, like that's the tell. Every time they talk about this, they're trying to shoehorn the safety issue into the one sent sales tax. They want people to think, if you vote for the tax, then things are going to get safer. Right. This from an anonymous seven oh four number. What angered me the most about the city's response to the violence on cats was the mayor of Davidson saying the murder on the light rail probably could not have been prevented. Wrong, Mayor. If the judicial system really did their job, the legislature stopped no cash bail, or stopped cash bail, cashless bail, and the City of Charlotte was really serious about security on the cat's system, this murder definitely could have been prevented. Right. This has been a not so clever rhetorical trick that they have been using since the murder, which is that it happened so fast, it came out of nowhere, it was completely unprovoked, that there wasn't any time to intervene. Right, once the attacker stood up, it had opened the knife and stood up. It happened in a second. So to that extent, right, you probably could not have stopped him from doing it because it happened so fast. However, that ignores all the time prior. It ignores years of him going in and out of the court system, right. It ignores his mental health issues that his family tried to get him help and they never could get it. It ignores the lack of a security officer or an armed security on that train at the time. It ignores the fact that he was able to get on the train without paying a fare and there was no fair enforcement. So it ignores all of that. So to say it was unpreventable, like I said, it's a not so clever rhetorical trick. I don't fall for it. You don't fall for it, but they keep saying it for some reason, I don't know why. City manager then gets up Marcus Jones and he's talking about, oh, we're you know, getting more police trained up, and we're retaining them, We've increased their pay and all of this. But he has now broadened this press conference out into something other than simply the cat's security, the transit security. Now he's talking about pay for cops in general. And you know, if you open that door, counselor I'm walking through it as a reporter, I'm sitting there, I'm going to start asking questions about the safety outside of cats too. We'll come in the next week or two, but I want you to know that we've focused on various areas in our city. We're stalking with the uptown, but not limited to the uptown. We have additional resources in our central division. We have targeted patrols, and we have targeted response for intervention and outreach. We're working more to make sure that we can keep our community safe. Now, Brent is going to talk about transit and some of the safety measures there, but I want to assure you that we're not limiting it just to trans it. How can we make sure that our entire community feels safe and we have the resources to make sure that we can back that. Up, lock up the offenders. That's how you make people feel safer you lock them up for long period. Warning everyone, I'm Brent Kagle, interim CEO of CATZ. Thank you everyone for coming out today. I'll keep my comments brief so that we can move over to questions. Good than you I think today, this is what we're talking about visual presence. We see PPS officers here. You also see the equipment behind me that they are deploying. It really is a visual way to show our commitment to safety and security throughout transit. The partnership with PSS is growing and evolving as we work together to ensure the safety of our operators, our customers, and as we work to reduce or eliminate fair EVA throughout the system. All of these are top priorities and cats with PPS and in partnership with CMPD, we're ready to implement and execute. On these plans. PSS PPS continues to increase staffing, with personnel now at approximately two hundred staff hired and available. Who whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. I thought you guys said you were you were at full staff at two nineteen. Now I thought that. I thought they said they were fully staffed up the other day. Have they lost position. Maybe they have, I don't know. Including over forty armed personnel that are part of the PPS contract. All of these personnel are backed up and supported by twenty four fte or nine hundred and sixty six hours per week of off duty Charlotte Mecklenberg. Police Department officers. I think it's also important to note that all of the personnel receive extensive training, including unarmed personnel, before they go out to serve the community and transit, and all of the unarmed personnel are fully supported by armed personnel with PPS and by CMPD. Adding the bike unit and UTVs really makes PPS and CATS more mobile and capable to protect our system going forward. See I've heard other things about the extensive training. We will open them up to questions if you could tell us who you are, what outlet you're with, and we'll try to get through as many of these as we can before the pile driver turns back. On and we're directing the questions since. Audio is terrible. He's they're in a construction zone. Why would you do this in a construction zone? So the auditor dignotion is report one element of the contract armed security. I think it's important to remember that one element of the contract doesn't represent the position entirely on how to provide proper security throughout the system. We know visible presence is important, and so what we have is a more than one increase in staffing across certified law enforcement, armed security as well as unarmed security, all serving working together to protect the system. No, that's not true. He just rolled all of those categories into one universal figure. We've heard this is what the city is now doing. They're saying, oh, we've had a one hundred percent increase in the private contractor personnel count, right, but the number of armed guards went down. The number of unarmed guards went way up. So while there are now yes, two hundred personnel, the number of armed went from sixty eight or eighty eight under the old contract now down to forty. It dropped. You know, stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life, and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video started in nineteen ninety seven and Minhill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos and albums. The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories, all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you. And they will tell others to come who you are, visit creative video dot com. They're listening to the press conference that the City of Charlotte held this morning at eleven am. I have not heard this press conference just because of the timing of it and me coming into the studio, so I have not heard this, and I am I have the same reactions that you guys have. Your just blowing up the text line and there is a real sentiment here that we are being told to approve move the one cent sales tax in order to have security on the transit system. That is the feeling that people are getting that you are using the fears and concerns about safety in order to promote the sales tax increase, and people aren't taken to kindly to that. Okay, that's just a heads up. There a piece of unsolicited feedback, as I am known to provide frequently to the City of Charlotte. Right here is Brent Kagel talking about the security plan and how they've been making improvements, and he was asked a question. I didn't hear the question because it was off Mike, but he's responding to the state auditors report, the preliminary report that came out on Monday. We talked to the state auditor about that report that identified the staffing changes that occurred in the last six years where there's now a heavier reliance on unarmed personnel versus armed personnel, and that they had split the contract in half and then awarded the unarmed personnel contract to PSS and they said that they would not entertain any bids from basically white male owned businesses, and then the armed personnel contract they gave to another company, and then within a year they scrapped that said that they weren't fulfilling the terms of the contract, and then they folded that into the PSS contract. So in essence, they had a split contract for purposes of getting a minority owned business to win part of that contract, and then they turned around and gave the other contract. They folded them back together. We do believe that this is a solid strategy. The other thing I'll say, and others have talked about this, as we think about staffing, we also know we need more staffing, and so we're committed to growing that contract as we move forward. But when we entered into the agreement, the partnership with PPS, it was about creating that right mix to create better visible presence and a stronger security position across the entire system. Mary Well, I are up the sign Zier with Channel nine. I have a question for you in. Regards to the Fraternal Order of Police have requested that the National Guard now come to Charlotte after all of this and recent file crime. Do you believe the National Guard should come to Charlotte? All right, So the question from Channel nine was do you believe the National Guard should be called into Charlotte because the Fraternal Order of Police is asking the federal, state and city leaders to authorize the National Guard to respond to violent crime in Charlotte. I have the letter from the FOP, so here's the mayor's response to that. I believe in Charlotte first and foremost Hunter not really that we have the ability in this community. The number of people that are engaged now to make this a safer city is from every part of our community. It's from the business community, it's from our educational works and all of that. So what I believe is that given the time that we have to work with the White House and the federal other federal offices, that we will not need the Guard to come to Charlotte. Miss Artagel's David Hodges WSTV to the point of the. Auditor was making about the amount of armed security professionals and training. We see an armed security officer on every single pass light rail PAB moving forward. After this, all right, So that's David Hodges at WBTV asking could we see an armed security guard on every one of the forty eight cars on the light rail system. Yeah. As I've said before, we don't believe that that is feasible. We also don't believe it creates a force that can stay mobile to respond throughout the system. If there are significant numbers of security on every vehicle, if those trains need to be stopped for some reason, that means those security are stationary with that train. And so again, it's not about are there personnel on every vehicle every day, all day long. It's are there personnel visibly present throughout the entire system always throughout the day. All that intersects with the bus system because this remind everyone to Carlos Brown Junior jobs in the light rail by riding the bus, he entered the stop floats us to group above. There are assaults our viewers have seen on buses frequently. How all this taskfort to address safety issues on buses where some of. These people are often entering the Oh so that's interesting, Carlos Brown, Carlos, Carlos Brown, whatever's name was. I don't care. The attacker rode the bus. I guess he did. I guess he didn't pay there either. I don't know, but he rode the bus. And the follow up here indicates that it was from a roof above shelter right or homeless services, and that there are fights out there, right, there's criminal activity going on, assaults or whatever. So okay, I just have this idea. Come, I just have the idea. It just came to me. Like I said, I have not heard this full press conference, so I'm just spitballing here people, And there are no bad ideas under the cone of creativity, as I always say. So I'm just going to throw this out there. How about a bus service or van service for the homeless and only the homeless, Like we have separate lines, separate vehicles. One that is fair free, So it's a free ride for the homeless people to move all around wherever, you know, from one shelter to the next whatever, and that's separate from the cat system. Yeah, no, no, I think that that might not be a great idea. Uh. I'm just I'm just trying to come up with a solution, because you know me, I am all about solutions. I don't know what Kagle has to say here. Yeah. So, buses are the backbone of every transit system, and just like light rail, buses need to be safe. Passengers need to feel safe when they're riding buses, and so these measures aren't just about the Blue line or the rail it's about buses as well, and again I'll reiterate everyone needs. To have a ticket. Fair evasion. We will be focusing on reducing or eliminating fair evasion as we move forward, and that is across the entire system, whether it's buses, rail, all of our modes. Martha, Okay, wait a minute. So nobody's talking about putting a guard on every bus, right, because there's almost four hundred of them. I think, So, how exactly do you get security on the bus? Because what if a homeless person has a bus ticket? Because there are organizations that give bus tickets out. So then what so many questions. So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's, and before he died, my mom and my dad took care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family. But things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years. This cause means a lot to me. I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a Charlotte team again this year, and it's called once again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash Walk and then you can search for my team name Pete's Pack. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com. There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also, I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh, and so you can make a team and join that one too, or make a donation and help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot org slash walk for all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families, for more time for treatments. This is why we walk. I did get a text here listening to the government redirection of current events and facts. If the public transportation system is so safe, then why do they want tax money. I'm convinced more by the results we have now than the promises they make. See. Yeah, so here, let me see if I can summarize this. The safety plan, the security plan that they're rolling out will improve security, which is good but could be better. But if you vote for the ones in sales tax, it'll improve security. But we're still good, but it could be better. But the new plan is totally going to make it better. Are we clear now? Okay? Good breaking. Brett Jensen from the WBT News Center is now joining us. Brett was at this dog and Pony show or I guess UTV and bike show. I guess it would be. So were you in a construction zone? Did? They did? Like? Where were you? You're on a rooftop or something. So we held it on the top floor of the Sugar Creek parking deck at the light rail station there at Sugar Creek Road, and in the background they're building all these brand new apartments and all these brand new apartments, and so they actually had it set up that they would stop all the construction noise at eleven o'clock so they could hold the press conference, and then one hundred and fifty yards behind them at eleven thirty or so or eleven forty five, I guess around eleven forty five, the construction and all the noise would amp back up. So we were on the top roof, yeah, of a parking deck, right. I could tell that. I almost thought you were out back at our building here, because we've got a similar kind of view. But so that was a very helpful way for them to limit the Q and A and to keep this thing to just a half an hour. Yeah, well, Date, Well, I mean, Pete, I mean the Q and A was fifteen minutes. They spoke for fifteen minutes, and then the Q and A was only fifteen minutes, and we had many more questions that we wanted to ask, and they immediately cut it off. Yeah. No, And then I mentioned this at the beginning of the show, which was I caught the very end of the press conference where they were shutting you down from the Q and A. And then the mayor gets up there to close it out and says, that's why we're out here. You know, safety is important. We hear you, and that's why we're here to answer all of your questions and I'm screaming at the live feed, but you didn't answer all of their questions. They're still asking you questions as you're trying to wrap the thing up. Just I don't know. I don't know if that was intentional or if they were just working with it because they wanted to have the vehicles out there, obviously they wanted Did anybody stick around for the b roll shots? Did people actually do that? Well? Afterwards, like you know, there were a couple of city council members there, Edwin Peacock and Malcolm Graham, so they were doing interviews with everyone and. And then afterwards they got. In their little vehicles that almost look like a beach doom buggy. Yeah. I don't know how that helps the light rail. But okay, they keep saying presents and presence, but okay, m m. But they you know, they had. Their bikes and they had their little doom buggies and they showed them and a couple of people got b rolled and then they put on the sirens to make it sound all official, and that lasted, I'm not even joking, twenty seconds. Yeah, and everyone got their b roll and then. But again, I don't know what the purpose of all that was for. But they wanted to show off their brand new toys that they got for eighteen million dollars. Right, Well, they're also paying for a whole bunch of unarmed security. So it's not it's not because did anybody ask or did they divulge, like what the cost of each of these vehicles were. No, nobody even cared about the vehicles, Like that wasn't even a center of topic. Well I see everything. Yeah, yeah. When I saw that, I was like, they're calling this press conference and they're they're labeling it like bike and UTV rollout or something, and I'm like, the media is not there to see the bikes and the and the UTVs. You if if Arena Zarotska was not murdered four weeks ago, this thing would get maybe a line in a newscast, a local newscast, like maybe a photog would come out and spray the scene, just get a couple of shots and move on, Like this is not a newsworthy And people were there. You guys were there to ask questions. So what did you learn that you didn't know before the press conference? Well, the one thing, and it's encouraging to hear. Let's just say from a citizen standpoint, it was encouraging to hear that Brent Kagele, the CEO of CATS, finally recognizes the need for fair enforcement because afterwards, after all the Arena Zaruska stuff and with you know, just not being able to read the room and understanding the situation, he said, we will never check. Every single fare. You know, him and the the PPS Security group said, we will never check every single fare. And the the overwhelming theme today was we're doing better. We're going to do better. The one sent sales tax has to pass right and all by the way, we're going to try and figure out how a way to. Check all the fairs right. And that's when I asked my question because you know, the thoughts of that it just might be you know, people that they hire, could be women, it could be older men, it could be whomever. And that's why I asked the questions, like, how are they going to be able to protect themselves against someone like you know, uh, you know, de Carlos Brown who insists that he's not paying and he's going to get on the train. I said, how are they I said, I said, how are they going to be able to protect themselves. I said, are you, I said, or. Because if you don't, if they can't protect themselves, then we're going to be And I said, we're going to be right back here next year or in two years about how a ticket checker was assaulted or killed, right. Because we'll be right back here. Yeah. If you get a if you get a group of of mis Koreans that get on and refuse to pay, and then that fair enforcer is going to be calling, I guess to the dune Buggy Brigade and they'll be you know, riding up to meet her at the next stop. But in the meantime, she's still now trapped on a train with you know, like six seven of these miscreants that are going to you know, beat her or something if she if she pushes them too hard. That's exactly right, And that's exactly right. And they said, you know, we cannot have people on all the trains and the cars of the light rail station. And just so the listeners, I've been saying this a lot of my show, just for the listeners to understand. With the numbers that we're talking about, there are ten trains and each train has two cars, so that's a total of twenty cars. So all you need at any one time is twenty one per car if you want to have because you cannot walk from one car to the next, so you eat like the New York subway, you can't go in between cars, and so you would need twenty And you would think for eighteen million dollars a year they would be able to have twenty people on the light rail, you would think. So I'm thinking another idea. I'm just spitballing here, but how about an air marshal model right where you don't know who the security, the armed security is and word spreads that we've implemented an air marshal kind of a program. So there's somebody on the train and you don't know who it is, and that person's going to be armed in an officer, and they will they will take you down if you cause any problems. Well, I mean, I don't have I actually kind of like that, you know, but you know, unfortunately with air marshals, obviously they're not on every single correct and every single place. We're not getting that anyway. Well, if we're not going to get it anyway, I'm thinking, well, why not just put them all under cover. You know, I don't mind the undercover. I actually kind of like that. But then they'll say, but the argument is, we have two. Hundred and we're hiring more people because it's all about having a presence. It's about a presence. If we have a presence, and it'll be a deterrent. So an unarmed presence, gotcha. Okay, right, somebody to call CMPD to meet them at the next stop, which is fine after the fact, but it really did, like, and that's really what kind of chat mee was I heard, you know, Rusty Knox, the mayor of Davidson, you know, and he's saying this was unpreventable. And this is I called it, this not so clever rhetorical device that they keep saying, because, yes, when the guy stood up and stabbed her, it would be very difficult for somebody to recognize what's happening and to react within that one or two second window. Yes, However, there were all these steps ahead of time that were not taken that could have prevented that guy from being on the train in the first place, right right, And if there was yeah, if there was somebody present, uh, you know, a security personnel present, maybe Brown would not have stood up and stabbed her at all. Well, no, if there was a security presence, And maybe he doesn't even get on the train because he didn't have a ticket, right, and he rode the bus free to get to the light rail station. This was another idea I just tossed out. I'm gonna throw it at you. Let's see what you think. How about a separate bus system for homeless people. Oh, well, we can't afford that, we would need a two cent sales tax. Oh you should run for office. That is the other thing that I'm seeing on the text line. People are bristling at the appearance at best, but the intent at worst to use the crime concerns as a way to get people to approve the one sent sales text. That's the way people are feeling. They're feeling this pressure campaign that's being waged. I can't say I disagree. Well, I will say this real quick because I know you're up against it, But I will say this real quick about the ones sent sales text. Well, people need to understand there wasn't. A lot of the first proposals and everything before it was reworked and reworked. The first proposals did not include anyone for security. Right, yeah, it's like none zero. Yeah. So this was just after the murder of Arena Zarutzka, and they're scrambling because they're in a panic. I think there are a lot of people panicking that this is going to tank their vote and the referendum, and I think they're trying to now they're doing damage control. You know, that's what That's exactly what it is. Yes, all right, Bret Jensen. You've got a show tonight or are you off tonight? I have a show tonight and I have interviews with Malcolm Graham, Edwin Peacock and a lot as well as the Fraternal Order of Police president that put out the letter this morning that I broke. And so he's coming on air and. We'll play highlights or low lights, whatever you want to call it from today's press conference. All right, breaking with Brett Jensen. Thanks, Bred, appreciate you, Thank you, sir. 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Choose from thirteen cabins, six cottages, two villas, and a great lodge with eleven king sized bedrooms. Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion, and they have pet friendly accommodations. Call or text eight two eight, three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at Cabinsofashville. Dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Alan says, why haven't the City of Charlotte not mentioned working with the sheriff? Stop? Stop, no, no, let's not give them any ideas. Why isn't the city working with the sheriff and partnering with the sheriff to provide additional law enforcement officers for the trains and buses. I think we know why. No, I don't know. A city manager needs to understand the main way to attract and retain people is to go make them feel appreciated and valued. Pretty sure he's trying to discuss what they have done to try and attract officers, which is obviously not working. That says so, says Tom on the text line. The second most liberal mayor in Mecklimburg County is Rusty Knox. He and Anti VII are two ps in a pod. That's from Bubba, anonymous seven oh four number. The mayor can talk all she wants. Nothing is going to change until we all wake up and vote. We need a new city council and sheriff. For too long, Charlotte has allowed a small number of voters to decide our future. We have arrived at that future, and it is not good Mead says, if the mayor of Charlotte, or sorry, if the mayor of Davidson calling all the people that felt unsafe riding trand sorry, let me start this again. Is the mayor of Davidson calling all the people that felt unsafe riding transit liars? Just because he says it's safe doesn't mean it is seven oh four number. Doesn't Mayor of Viles have armed security wherever she goes? Where's my security? Charlotte needs to hire two people, Harry Callahan and Paul Cercy. If they are short three hundred police. Who's going to ride the bikes? Says Doug. Yeah, that's a fair question. Hey Pete, what's the over under number of days before one of these new fancy bikes or UTVs are stolen? Yeah? Uh, it says here. How does Okay see when you text me lots of texts and short little bursts, It's hard for me to see where the bursts start. How does yer Mayor Lyles keep getting elected? Please don't feed the homeless. He is just running out the clock. They are letting us know how competent they are in every way except law enforcement. My nephew was a cop for three years in Charlotte. He left the force because it was impossible to do the job unless one of the people sitting next to him saw him open the knife and they jumped up to stop and see this. So you're kind of all over the place there, Pete. It also ignores the enforcement would be a deterrent. Yes, so, and that's the thing too, is right, you know, lock up the repeat offenders. Right. So when when the mayor of Davidson's is that this was unpreventable, it was not if we had a local court system that was not doing cashless bail for misdemeanor classes two and three, and we were just letting people out with a promise to appear for some charges that are sometimes pretty serious charges. I mentioned this the other day because I went and I looked up the bail schedule and in Mecklimber County, and that is set by the local judges Democrats, right, the Democrat controlled court system in Mecklinber County. They set their bail guidelines. And our bail guidelines are pretty weak. Like you can walk if you're if you get charged with stalking, you can just sign a written notice to appear or promise to appear. You can walk on a cashless bail for stalking and assault. You can walk for an assault. I don't know. I mean, call me crazy, but I think that when you beat up on somebody, I'm thinking, maybe no, you don't. You should at least spend a day, maybe two in jail. You should have to post a bond. Something like that seems pretty serious if you're going to injure somebody. Right, it's not like the broken windows policy. We'll just call it the broken faces policy. How about that? Right? Not once have I heard them talk about the judicial system. Ridiculous. How do these people keep their job? Total failure of our city. Another Texter, Yeah, there was not a single mention of the court system. And I could guess why. I understand, like the the cover story would be right officially for the record, it would be that, like, we're the city. We can focus on this stuff because this is our jurisdiction, this is under our purview. We're doing these things and all. But it doesn't work if you are then scooping people up for violating the laws, putting them into a courthouse controlled by your fellow Democrats, who are then allowing all of the people that just got scooped up to be released. Like, that's the breakdown in the system. I've been saying this for years. This is the breakdown in the system. The cops are doing their jobs. You can have all the pss pps, whatever private contractor you want, phoning in and calling people, calling cops in to arrest people. But if there is nothing on the other end of that stick, it's not really a stick. It's not. Let me get ray on before the news. Hello, Ray, Welcome to the show. Ray already right, good talk back to the text line. The guy speaking has given me no confidence in the city of Charlotte. I believe that would have been Brent Cagel, the interim CEO of Cats. Why not bring back the old fashioned police baton. A nice whack to the kneecap would work. It's going to go old school New York Irish cop on him. It couldn't have been stopped, and it could not have been stopped unless he never got on the train because he didn't pay for a ticket, have to pass through armed security on the platform or the entry to the platform, or lest we forget, if he was in jail serving time for all the previous crimes. Well, and it's not like the attacker in the Zarutzka murder to Carlos Brown Junior. That guy, he did go to prison, he served his time, he was released. But then remember he also got picked up again for the misuse of the nine to one to one system where he was obviously insane, and when he called nine one one again in the presence of the cops who had arrived for the first call for service, then they were like, that's a misuse of the system. So the cops then take him to the courthouse, where the nature of the case, the details of the arrest should have set off every single red flag for the magistrate, for the court personnel, anybody looking at that should have said, this guy is exhibiting signs of mental illness. What's his rap sheet? Look at his rap sheet? Holy cow, he's got assaults. We're gonna order a mental evail right now. We're gonna hold him for an evail that did not happen. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecallnershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.