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Charleston's Rising Crime Rate


Donny James

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Has anybody been reading about this in the news? Right now Charleston, North Charleston, and the whole tri-county metro area are approaching their highest murder rates ever. Berkeley County I think has already surpassed its highest recorded total. The night before last they had three shootings Downtown alone. The worst part of it all is that its still September.

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^ From what I've read, it is the ever-present drug crime that is starting to spin out of control. Many of the murders are gang or drug-related, according to the P & C. However, Chas still has an interim police chief, so maybe the lack of strong leadership is also affecting police patrols and policy. The new police chief is supposed to take over in 2 weeks...hopefully, he will be as strong or stronger than Greenberg.

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I like Mayor Riley. He has lots of good ideas, and I think that this is one of them. I just saw on the SC AP wire that there was yet another shooting in downtown... thats not good news for the city. They need to do SOMETHING, but the answer won't be to arrest them if they will just be put back on the streets. SC needs a change at the state level.

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I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. On the day that Chas' new police chief, Greg Mullen, was sworn in, the city had its 18th homicide this year. :angry:

Folks, this s--t has got to stop. There is a zero-tolerance policy within the police department against crime, but it needs to be enforced with harsher penalties, and I mean really harsh. Whatever happened to penal colonies or facilities where criminals were forced to do manual labor? The death penalty should be enacted quicker for these murderers, as well. We're losing our fight for safe streets, folks, and our PC methods are not helping at all.

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Does anybody know what the population is of Downtown ALONE? Just the peninsula. Im curious to know what that is.

And the answer to this has been known for years. The question is are we, and when are we willing to implement serious change in the educational system. I dont see anything changing until that changes. I think South Carolina has the worst public school scores in the entire country. We really need to get serious about putting more funding into our school systems. That is really the root of the problem.

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Does anybody know what the population is of Downtown ALONE? Just the peninsula. Im curious to know what that is.

And the answer to this has been known for years. The question is are we, and when are we willing to implement serious change in the educational system. I dont see anything changing until that changes. I think South Carolina has the worst public school scores in the entire country. We really need to get serious about putting more funding into our school systems. That is really the root of the problem.

the population downtown/peninsula is something in the area of 40,000 - 45,000

Densely populated places are not hard to patrol... but densely populated poor areas are.

The ironc thing is that downtown's gentrification might be the only thing that stop the crime rate from increasing. I'm certain that they can keep it down. It will just require agressive policing of that area.

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It's a sure bet that as gentrification increases the crime rate downtown will decrease. People that spend hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars for a home aren't going to tolerate that much crime and neither will the city and county that is benefiting from the increased tax revenue that such people and their homes bring into their coffers.

the population downtown/peninsula is something in the area of 40,000 - 45,000

Densely populated places are not hard to patrol... but densely populated poor areas are.

The ironc thing is that downtown's gentrification might be the only thing that stop the crime rate from increasing. I'm certain that they can keep it down. It will just require agressive policing of that area.

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the population downtown/peninsula is something in the area of 40,000 - 45,000

Densely populated places are not hard to patrol... but densely populated poor areas are.

The ironc thing is that downtown's gentrification might be the only thing that stop the crime rate from increasing. I'm certain that they can keep it down. It will just require agressive policing of that area.

I thought so. That means that the murder rate Downtown is something like 33.33333333 per 100,000 residents.

That is EXTREMELY high. As in the top 5-10 in the country high.

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Does anybody know what the population is of Downtown ALONE? Just the peninsula. Im curious to know what that is.

And the answer to this has been known for years. The question is are we, and when are we willing to implement serious change in the educational system. I dont see anything changing until that changes. I think South Carolina has the worst public school scores in the entire country. We really need to get serious about putting more funding into our school systems. That is really the root of the problem.

Thats part of it. I think, well I KNOW its the educational system. But thats not everything. Thats the main reason. The primary reason. But when you add in the values that alot of our kids are growing up with. Parents getting younger and such, and add that with the fact that the minimum wage and the average wages for the common man are completely unacceptable, you get a community of kids growing up with no hope, and see drug dealing as their only option.

Whats particularly sad in Charlestons situation is the fact that the majority of these kids are growing up together, and have known each other all their lives. At least in other cities where the murder rate is comparable, theyre bigger cities and alot of the murder/crime is amongst people that havent grown up together all their lives.

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It's a sure bet that as gentrification increases the crime rate downtown will decrease. People that spend hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars for a home aren't going to tolerate that much crime and neither will the city and county that is benefiting from the increased tax revenue that such people and their homes bring into their coffers.

Yes and no.

I beg to differ because the crime was NEVER this bad when we lived amongst the blight and urban decay and their WAS NO gentrification. There was much more people. And we still didnt have the problems we have had SINCE the gentrification has been taking place downtown.

If you look at the trends, the years when Downtown gentrification really took off, so did the murder rates. I dont think that gentrification is the only reason, but I think that reasons associated with the gentrification aid the cause.

Mainly the fact that the communities that existed are broken up. All the activities and after school programs, park basketball and football, schoolteachers being actual members of the communities they teach in, things of that nature that helped maintain a real community, all helped keep things better. And things werent nearly this bad. EVEN at the height of the crack epidemic.

As soon as these things got neglected and thrown out the window, and alot of other things they gave up on in the name of development, they neglected the community kids in the process. And now they have nothing to do but more idle time to get into trouble.

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Youre right. But from what I understand, she, nor did anyone else in the area, know about his record and him being an ex-convict. I also understand that the lady was kind and good-hearted. So even though from the surface its easy to say that, Ima reserve judgement because we really dont know. Its just a sad case all-together.

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I don't know. This man was on parole from the time of his release in August 2004 and it would have lasted until 2012. It's rather hard to hide such a situation from close family and friends. I know from personal experience because I've taken an uncle and a cousin to parole check-ins, plus if the parole and probation officers are doing their job than they are likely to stop by the offenders home any time of day and night. When my uncle and I lived together he used to get visits from his officer quite often and was eventually reincarcerated for violations. But either way this is a terrible situation. According to the inmates that work for me this Simmons used to be at our prison and that I should remember him but I don't.....maybe when I see his face again.

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More evidence that Detra Rainey was fully aware of this man's criminal past and unstable behavior. I'm really upset about the choices in men that some women make and how they put their families in danger. Being that he was unable to work, crippled, had mental problems and an extensive criminal meant that this Simmons was nothing but an albatross on her back from the very beginning. I always tell my single female friends, don't settle for men with criminal mentalities.

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^ It makes you wonder that with all of the good, available men around in the city women still settle for men with questionable backgrounds. IMO, one of the reasons for this is that women don't think about the implications of relationships with these men in the long term. The another reason is that many women go into a relationship thinking that they can change their men. This is highly unrealistic and dangerous in many cases.

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Unfortunely I have to counter that. There's been a rash of car break-ins at the parking lot located at the foot of the Ravenel Bridge on the Charleston side. One or two muggings too if I'm not mistaken. The city responded by saying that it would increase the presence of law enforcement in the area. I don't know if the city followed through or not.

With this recent crime wave occuring, as far as I know, it has not affected people riding their bikes or walking across the Ravenel bridge between the city and Mt Pleasant.
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I don't know about the rest of the state but the Charleston area is definitely out of control. Here's one suggestion by a Charleston city council member to remedy the problem.

North Charleston had another murder last night. And a childhood friend of mine got robbed and shot at the Hardees on Spring Street last night also.
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