Sometimes Columbus police officer Chris Graham feels like he is a dentist hovering over an out-of-control patient as he patrols the streets of Weinland Park.

Every day, the officer of two years sees two groups of people – those who seek out his help as a keeper of the peace and those who want nothing to do with him.

“It’s frustrating sometimes, but the people who are willing to talk have to live here and worry about the people they are reporting,” Graham said. “Even if they decided to talk, a lot of the time it’s like pulling teeth from a rabid dog.”

On May 31 at 7:45 p.m., Graham was dispatched to Courtland Avenue to take a report on a threatened assault.

The female victim had given an interview to a local television station the week before about her neighbor’s alleged involvement in pit bull fights. She called police after the suspect threatened to beat her up.

Three hours before, Graham had encountered the other end of the spectrum. A social worker asked the police to investigate problems with one of his cases.

Graham arrived and learned of alleged drug deals taking place in the apartment of a man with a mental illness on Indianola Avenue. While the man did not want the people in his apartment, he was unwilling to do anything about it.

“You’ve got people here who want to turn things around,” Graham said. “Those are the people who are willing to help us to make things better, but we just don’t have enough of them.”

Graham advised the man to seek the help of police patrolling the area the next time any activity occurs, but the resident seemed unwilling to do so.

Getting residents to report criminals in the area is one of the biggest obstacles the officers have to overcome in combating crime in the area. The day before, the community aided the search for Quan L. Tatum, who was arrested for a shooting.

That community involvement was far different than after an incident on March 13, when a gang-related shooting killed 21-year old Richard Choice. Those who witnessed that shooting, in front of the D & J Carryout at the intersection of North Fourth Street and Eighth Avenue, did not cooperate with the police investigation.

A pair of traffic stops drew some interest from residents who were out on their porches or on the sidewalk during the early evening hours.

Several people looked on as Graham went about his work, but he said they did not bother him.

“They usually stick to themselves and don’t bother us as we are trying to conduct our business,” he said. “Overall they can be a little nosy, really.”

Typically, the 2 to 10 p.m. shifts in the area can be adventurous, but this night, action was relatively calm. It was nice for the understaffed patrol officers, who were picking up the pieces of the shooting a day earlier.

Another of the big problems facing the officers is a depleted police department. During the shift, Graham was dispatched on nine runs, a number he said was somewhat high for him.

Each shift for the precinct is slated to have nine officers working, but because of short-handedness, the number of officers is rarely higher than eight.