Little Rock Crime

[bigboyz05]

Little Rock has 22 homicides so far this year and may break the 1993 record according to my local NBC news station. I hope it doesn't get that bad.

[Architect]

Little Rock has 22 homicides so far this year and may break the 1993 record according to my local NBC news station. I hope it doesn't get that bad.

Yes, its weird - like all of a sudden. Initially, most were domestic issues..but lately several have been pure crime related. Don't know why its shot up all of a sudden this year. Time for another jail expansion (when that was done in the mid-90's, it dramatically lowered the overall crime rate).

[bigboyz05]

With all the good things going for Little Rock the last thing it needs is high crime.

[dimebag1980]

Little Rock has 22 homicides so far this year and may break the 1993 record according to my local NBC news station. I hope it doesn't get that bad.

Darius... just out of curioisty, what is your local NBC station? I thought you got Shreveport-Texarkana's KTAL Channel 6?

[dimebag1980]

With all the good things going for Little Rock the last thing it needs is high crime.

Did you never see the HBO special "Bangin in Little Rock?" Seriously, it was an HBO special dedicated to the gang violence in Little Rock. Now that is bad publicity.

I think Little Rock is a beautiful, progressive city... it just struggles with the same problems that other cities its size are suffering from, even if it might be a little worse in Little Rock than others. I've seriously never felt totally unsafe in that city and I've been lost in some rough areas off the interstate before.

[bigboyz05]

I remember that HBO special. About 3 years ago they did another one called 10 years later or something like that. I lived in Little Rock during that time. I went to Forest Heights Junior High. When we got off the bus in the morning, security made us empty all backpacks and purses to make sure no weapons made it in the school. Even big hair was prohibited because there were a couple of instances where students hid razors and switch blades in their hair.

Darius... just out of curioisty, what is your local NBC station? I thought you got Shreveport-Texarkana's KTAL Channel 6?

I do get Channel 6 but, since this is the L.R. forum posters here probably wouldn't know that. So, that's why I said that.

[CentralArkansas]

I remember that HBO special. About 3 years ago they did another one called 10 years later or something like that. I lived in Little Rock during that time. I went to Forest Heights Junior High. When we got off the bus in the morning, security made us empty all backpacks and purses to make sure no weapons made it in the school. Even big hair was prohibited because there were a couple of instances where students hid razors and switch blades in their hair.

I do get Channel 6 but, since this is the L.R. forum posters here probably wouldn't know that. So, that's why I said that.

If you stay out of the "hood," you are perfectly safe in Little Rock. None of the murders have been random - they've all been related to drug deals an whatnot. If you aren't trying to buy crack or hustle someone in a rough part of town, you've got nothing to worry about.

[skirby]

The crime rate is not up in LR. The problem is the homicide rate with 90% + of those involved knowing each other. These are not random acts. There is a group that puts up crosses for every murder victim. Maybe the state sould bring in "Old Sparkie" and place it next to the crosses. Let everybody know that if your actions produce a new cross then you get a visit with "Old Sparkie".

[dimebag1980]

I remember that HBO special. About 3 years ago they did another one called 10 years later or something like that. I lived in Little Rock during that time. I went to Forest Heights Junior High. When we got off the bus in the morning, security made us empty all backpacks and purses to make sure no weapons made it in the school. Even big hair was prohibited because there were a couple of instances where students hid razors and switch blades in their hair.

I do get Channel 6 but, since this is the L.R. forum posters here probably wouldn't know that. So, that's why I said that.

Oh okay, I just thought maybe you were getting a Little Rock TV channel or something. I was wondering about that...

[tim2462]

Basically just like several others have said, these murders aren't random. Only like 2 or 3 have been random. They are all in the bad parts of town between people that know eachother. It's mostly to do with drug deals gone bad. I never feel unsafe here. Just about everyone that has commited these crimes has been caught. I do hope that it slows down soon though. Most people from out of town see channel 7 plaster it all over and think people are just going around shooting people here, and that's not the case.

[Aporkalypse]

Basically just like several others have said, these murders aren't random. Only like 2 or 3 have been random. They are all in the bad parts of town between people that know eachother. It's mostly to do with drug deals gone bad. I never feel unsafe here. Just about everyone that has commited these crimes has been caught. I do hope that it slows down soon though. Most people from out of town see channel 7 plaster it all over and think people are just going around shooting people here, and that's not the case.

Along the same lines, Dallas has the highest crime rate amongst the nation's 9 cities with over a million people. That seems completely insane, I feel much safer here than New York, LA, or other cities. There are a couple of areas of town that are sketchy but you know where those areas are and steer well clear, which is not the case in many cities that feel generally unsafe.

The same is true in Little Rock - stay away from College Station, Granite Mountain, the Central High/Roosevelt areas and more recently Barrow Rd and you'll almost never run into crime. Most people I know living have never been to most of these areas save a trip to Central High.

Bangin' in LR was meant to illustrate that gangs in the early 90s had infiltrated ordinary middle America, not to single out LR. LR's crime rate was never worse than neighbors in Memphis, Jackson, and Shreveport.

It's thought that the resurgence in crime in LR may be linked to the release of many of the gang members imprisoned during that stretch of considerable crime in the early 90s. Certainly almost all of the crimes are related and ironically if you're white and living in LR you're just as safe as you are in Ft Smith or NWA. Virtually all LR homicides are black on black crime.

[dimebag1980]

Bangin' in LR was meant to illustrate that gangs in the early 90s had infiltrated ordinary middle America, not to single out LR. LR's crime rate was never worse than neighbors in Memphis, Jackson, and Shreveport.

I suppose I took the title of that show out of context, sorry. I definitely don't want to give Little Rock a reputation it doesn't deserve.

It's thought that the resurgence in crime in LR may be linked to the release of many of the gang members imprisoned during that stretch of considerable crime in the early 90s. Certainly almost all of the crimes are related and ironically if you're white and living in LR you're just as safe as you are in Ft Smith or NWA. Virtually all LR homicides are black on black crime.

I'm hoping this same thing doesn't happen in Shreveport. In the mid-90s, many of the city's most well-known gang members were locked up in a one-day sweep. Most of these people are still in jail... the most dangerous of the bunch anyway. I fear for the day they're released back onto the streets.

[vbfl85]

Is 22 homocides really that bad, Jacksonville had 49 and that was 2 weeks ago. Jacksonville is larger but I still feel relatively safe their as well as in Little Rock.

[Aporkalypse]

Is 22 homocides really that bad, Jacksonville had 49 and that was 2 weeks ago. Jacksonville is larger but I still feel relatively safe their as well as in Little Rock.

I bet that's another example of minority on minority crime where the perpetrators and victims are mostly gang members or criminally affiliated.

I remember during the peak of the gang problems in LR there were only 2-3 murders in LR West of Mississippi Ave per year althought that was where 100,000 of the city's 185k residents lived.

The weird thing about LR is that so many of the "bad areas" are actually on the fringes of town - College Station and Granite Mtn are almost rural. Neither place is really on the way to anywhere and I went most of my life without seeing them until I made a point to go out that way.

[bigboyz05]

That is weird because usually the bad parts of town are in the inner city and the fringes is where a lot of newer neighborhoods sprout up.

[tim2462]

as of this monring, there have been 23 now. Everyone keeps saying that at this rate, it would break the record from 1993. This is incorrect. First of all, it isn't going to continue at the same rate. Even if it did, it still wouldn't surpass 76 murders. There have been 23 in 4 months. At the same rate, in 12 months, that would only be 69.

edit: now they are saying the count is at 25. I still don't think it can pass up the old record, unless it starts happening more frequently.

[Aporkalypse]

That is weird because usually the bad parts of town are in the inner city and the fringes is where a lot of newer neighborhoods sprout up.

Little Rock's westward imbalance is the reason why. College Station, Sweet Home, and Granite Mountain lie near the airport. That area is not terribly far from downtown but there's almost no development that way - the city moved West towards the scenic hills. Southwest LR also has a lot of crime and is on the city's fringe. Much of the city's core - Hillcrest, Heights, Fair Park, Leawood/Tanglewood, etc has maintained itself very well over the years though the Central High area has a high crime rate and is genuine "inner city".

[dimebag1980]

The weird thing about LR is that so many of the "bad areas" are actually on the fringes of town - College Station and Granite Mtn are almost rural. Neither place is really on the way to anywhere and I went most of my life without seeing them until I made a point to go out that way.

That's really not too different from here. North of downtown Shreveport, heading into rural areas of north Shreveport, the crime skyrockets. Also, extreme west Shreveport, which borders Texas and is pretty rural, and Cedar Grove, which used to be a separate rural rown, are rough areas.

The Bossier neighborhood I grew up in was bad and it was nearly rural... back then. It's still bad, but it's pretty much a typical inner-city neighborhood now, as the city has expanded out all the way around it.

I will say, though, I was very shocked to see that Little Rock has had 22 homicides so far this year when Shreveport has had only 7.

[tim2462]

I'm not sure how many murders Memphis has had so far this year, but apparently they are having the same problem as Little Rock this year. I'm going to try and find the numbers for them.

[Aporkalypse]

I'm not sure how many murders Memphis has had so far this year, but apparently they are having the same problem as Little Rock this year. I'm going to try and find the numbers for them.

I heard the same thing, I think all of this is tied in together.

Little Rock SURE doesn't need the bad publicity, it's really been re-emerging out of the slump all of that crime threw it in back in the early 90s.

[sleepy]

I'm not sure how many murders Memphis has had so far this year, but apparently they are having the same problem as Little Rock this year. I'm going to try and find the numbers for them.

According to a cached article from Ch. 3 in Memphis, Memphis had 52 murders as of April 26.

[vbfl85]

Memphis does have over 600,000 residents though.