The Wall Street Journal reported that violent crime is down in the big cities in the U.S., saying this breaks the pattern between economic downturns and an increase in crime. Supposedly this is because policing has advanced, not because human nature has changed. I do not believe the article is plausible.
If Chicago is any indication, it is much more likely the statistics are being doctored and that the public is being lied to in a profound way. Many cities and states are strapped for cash and the public doesn't want to hear that crime is up while police budgets are being cut.
Chicago wasn't mentioned in the article, but violent crime is way up, and the police force has been cut. I believe this increased violence is related to the economy, and it is not mere crime, it is civil unrest. The city of Chicago is being wrecked, and tourist attractions like Navy Pier are unsafe and lack police support.
Last Summer Was Bad, This Summer Will Be Much Worse
Last summer gang violence ruled the night at Leland and Sheridan, a neighborhood in the process of gentrifying.
In the upscale Lincoln Park area, just a little further south of this unrest, men alone at night were accosted by groups of three to six men and severely beaten, robbed, and hospitalized. Seven muggings occurred in a five-day period from July 30 to August 4, 2009.
This kind of activity was unusual for these areas of Chicago until last summer.
Current Escalating Violent Crime and Chicago's Prime Lakefront Areas
Shootings are way up in Chicago, and ordinary citizens -- along with shorthanded police -- are angry. Chicago has a gun ban, yet on Wednesday, May 19, Thomas Wortham IV, a Chicago police officer and Iraq War veteran, was shot when four gang members attempted to steal the new motorcycle the officer had brought to show his father, a retired police officer. Shots were fired, and his father saw the skirmish, ran for his gun, and managed to get off a few rounds. Two gang members were shot while two sped away dragging his fallen son's body some distance in the process.
Nine people were shot on Sunday night (May 24), and Chicago is currently in the grips of a massive crime wave that has overwhelmed our under funded police force.
Gangland violence and shootings now occur up and down Chicago's lakefront. An anonymous Chicago policeman reports what most of the mainstream media fails to report at secondcitycop.blogspot.com. The comments under the section titled "Lakefront Problems" are particularly illuminating.
I don't believe that Chicago is alone in having a recession-related escalating crime problem. High unemployment combined with under-funded shorthanded police forces make for a toxic brew. No matter how "advanced" the police force, men cannot outrun bullets.
During a recession, the police force requires a larger budget, not budget cuts. Since the money has been spent, I suspect the public will be fed cooked statistics instead of being given the facts.
Coming Soon to a City Near You: Additional Comments added May 26, 2010:
Violence in Chicago public schools and minority neighborhoods has been well-publicized in recent years. After the September 2009 beating death of Derrion Albert, a 16-year-old Chicago honor student, rapper Nas's Open Letter to Chicago's Young Warriors was posted at CNN, MSNBC and media sites. Nas, who is from Queensbridge, New York, stepped up for Chicago.
The problem has festered and recently spread due to what appears to be a lack of resources. ("Chicago Violence: Is the National Guard the Solution?" CNN - April 26, 2010):
A violent crime wave in Chicago prompts a call for the National Guard to step in. Two Illinois lawmakers, State Reprepresentatives John Fritchey (D) and LaShawn Ford (D), are urging Governor Pat Quinn to deploy troops following a recent surge in violent crime. "We're not talking about rolling tanks down the street," said Fritchey. "If we bring them in to fill sand bags and pick up tornado debris, we can bring them in to save lives."
Previously relatively crime-free minority neighborhoods like Chatham, where police officer Thomas Wortham IV was killed, have experienced new recession era violence. Moreover, violence has recently spread to Chicago's prime lakefront and tourist areas.
This escalation and geographical spread of violence is new, and I believe it is related to our Great Recession and budget issues. I don't believe that Chicago is alone in its budget problems. If new patterns in Recession-related-violence have not yet affected other major cities in the U.S. the way they have affected Chicago, they may affect them soon. It is also likely that crime is being underreported as crime-fighting budgets are cut.
Janet Tavakoli's book on the causes of the global financial meltdown and how to fix it is Dear Mr. Buffett: What an Investor Learns 1,269 Miles from Wall Street.
Janet Tavakoli: Third World America 2011: Forget "Fast Tracking to Anarchy" We've Arrived
Rev. Romal J. Tune: Gang Violence: How the Church Can Help
It happens more than you think.
Go to Detroit, go to the fringes of Chicago - these guys are pros. You'd lose your big hat AND your pretty little nickle-plated Colt as you're fleeing town with your tail tucked, if you get that lucky.
Sorry, but Texas is in a police-state bubble, tucked far, far away from reality........
.....for now.
People don't come to this area to commit crime because we don't burden our police officers. They have enough to do so we don't call them. We have no crime at all.
There is no way we can keep importing despair, violence, death, exploitation and war to other countries and not have it become *who we are*. The culture of violence, chaos, fear--the culture of "shock and awe" --that we've imported for decades, is finally coming home to roost.
Poverty and exploitive occupation are the main reasons "they hate us" and that Al Queda gains a foothold--not religion, though the right wants "jihad" to be the talking point that rallies fundamentalist fear in this country.
Oil-oligarchs and oil-politics are devouring the world on every level.
Hmmm, this is like the financial companies being paid by the companies they rate. In this case, the police report on crimes, percentage unsolved, in effect grading their own performance. What ever happened to the local newspapers, the tough reporter on the police beat? Oh, yeah, the papers have been bought up and shut down and the reporter is online blogging to 500 other impotent people.
All the institutions that used to provide information and checks and balances in our society are breaking down or being shut down. Our democracy appears to be doomed.
I disagree with you on some points in your article, especially about the recession applying to "minority" communities. Minority communities aren't even in a depression, because depressions usually diminish after a while. We are stuck in a financial curse that is supported by subtle and institutionalized racism. It's not so much about blacks not having initiative, when most can't see anything to aspire to be. The Department of Labor has done very little to ensure fair hiring practices and the customs officers allow drugs to flood this country. So, what can most folks do?
Everybody's not a nerd like me. They feel like their talents are worthless if they can't find a "regular" job. But blogs like yours give hope. They show that some good people still exist in this world. I just wish more of them were apart of the U.S. government (both parties included).
Great job!