Charotte 8th Most Dangerous city for Violent Crime in USA

[Vitamin_N]

In her latest column, Tara Servatius says the problem isn't enough resources directed to prosecution, which seems to be in accord with what a lot of people on this thread are saying:

http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrob...oid=oid%3A94764

Interesting quote: "Cities that systematically track and target the one to three percent of criminals who commit 10 to 40 percent of most cities' crime see drastic reductions in their crime rates within a year or two." Don't know much about that stuff, but it intuitively makes sense to me, as it sounds like a variant of the 80/20 rule.

[lukedog]

QUOTE(monsoon @ Oct 31 2006, 09:33 PM)

I don't think the problem lies as much with enforcement (police) as it does prosecution (court system). I think the police in this city do a pretty good job, but that job, as Dubone pointed out, is negated when the courts choose to drop the case and/or let people out of prison early. I think the focus should be more on Peter Gilcrist, the district attorney, who ultimately decides which crimes get punished in this county.

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Just to add to what Metro said above (also others) and to add another real life example about our justice system- My girlfriend bought in and lives in a transitioning neighborhood in Lockwood- a quarter mile north of uptown between Graham and Tryon. Imagine this- there are at least two crack houses that have people driving up in front of these houses all day every day to buy crack. Drive down Sylvania Ave. if you would like to see. A guy runs out of the crack house to the car that pulled up and the exchange is made. The police KNOW this is happening, they know it is a crack house, and they can't shut it down. When they do raid the house it is back up and running within a week or two...sometimes with the same people. When talking to the police about this (the guys who patrol the area) they sympathize but talk about how hard it is to get these guys put away.

Of course we all know that if this was happening in Dilworth or Elizabeth the thing would be shut down right away. The police would park a police car in front of the crack house if they had to in Dilworth. So what does that say about our justice system? Crime is tollerated in some places but not in others. I guess it says juctice isn't blind...it sees what it wants to see...when and where it wants to see it.

[monsoon]

That would seem to be true. There was a gun battle in First Ward on Saturday evening and a teenager got shot. At least one apartment had some bullet holes in it from stray bullets according to the news. This made the 6:30pm news on channel 3 tonight. I can't say that I have ever heard the news do a story on the part of town that you mention.

[Charlotte_native]

I can't say that I have ever heard the news do a story on the part of town that you mention.

[voyager12]

Lukedog's example typifies the plain truth of American society today when it comes to law enforcement in neighborhoods. The wealthiest areas get the most attention because the residents there have the power to make waves if they don't like what's going on : DCDA. Poorer neighborhoods are pretty much left to fend for themselves. This is not to say that some residents of troubled areas are not concerned about crime and not willing to fight. Many are. But they face an uphill battle against entrenched drug fueled violence and a myriad of socioeconomic obstacles in their resident's households that keep the problems going from generation to generation. The police eventually throw up their hands because they can't make a difference unless the majority of residents work with them and they don't. That is where we are today. Sad.

[lukedog]

Lukedog's example typifies the plain truth of American society today when it comes to law enforcement in neighborhoods. The wealthiest areas get the most attention because the residents there have the power to make waves if they don't like what's going on : DCDA. Poorer neighborhoods are pretty much left to fend for themselves. This is not to say that some residents of troubled areas are not concerned about crime and not willing to fight. Many are. But they face an uphill battle against entrenched drug fueled violence and a myriad of socioeconomic obstacles in their resident's households that keep the problems going from generation to generation. The police eventually throw up their hands because they can't make a difference unless the majority of residents work with them and they don't. That is where we are today. Sad.

[monsoon]

...

One thing I have done to try to help is I wrote an email to the charlotte observer (crime watch) to try to get them to do a story about crackhouses in Charlotte. You hardly ever hear about crackhouses in charlotte yet there are several neighborhoods that have them. ....

[reverbandwhiskey]

a group of people have moved into one of the rental houses on Ideal Way. In the 6-8 weeks they have been there the police have been called out to their house over 20 times. That is just the number of times I was around to see it. They have multiple cars pull up at night and stay for 3-5 minutes each. They have even threatened to hurt their neighbors.

I contacted the owner of record for the house, but he has not returned my phone calls.

Any suggestions?

[Charlotte_native]

I contacted the owner of record for the house, but he has not returned my phone calls.

Any suggestions?

[Charlotte_native]

One thing I have done to try to help is I wrote an email to the charlotte observer (crime watch) to try to get them to do a story about crackhouses in Charlotte. You hardly ever hear about crackhouses in charlotte yet there are several neighborhoods that have them. If you ever find out where one is, it is the most obvious thing in the world that they are drug houses. Everyone around including the police know they are there and what they are doing. I would like the Oberver to point out the areas where some of these houses are so the Mayor and police chief can't pretend they don't know they are there. I feel if you expose this problem on a larger scale it becomes harder for our leaders to turn away. Last thing...I truely believe if regular cocaine, meth, or maryjuanna (however you spell it) was being sold out of these houses they would be shut down right away as opposed to crack being sold. I never would have said that before but it seems to be true as crack is so easily and obviously sold.

[Charlotte_native]

Maybe they also don't enforce as much in certain neighborhoods because they don't want the crime or drugs moving to anther part of town.

[lukedog]

Maybe they also don't enforce as much in certain neighborhoods because they don't want the crime or drugs moving to anther part of town.

[lukedog]

a group of people have moved into one of the rental houses on Ideal Way. In the 6-8 weeks they have been there the police have been called out to their house over 20 times. That is just the number of times I was around to see it. They have multiple cars pull up at night and stay for 3-5 minutes each. They have even threatened to hurt their neighbors.

I contacted the owner of record for the house, but he has not returned my phone calls.

Any suggestions?

[lupitachica]

On a side note, I would encourage y'all to watch the Wire for a dramatic representation of what's going on in the criminal justic system & poor neighborhoods. Very accurate portrayals.

[monsoon]

WSOC TV has ranked the malls based on police calls.

Rank, Most Crime to Least

1. Concord Mills

2. Carolina Place

3. SouthPark

4. NorthLake

5. Eastland

They say that NorthLake has the most violent crime however.

Of course this was typical of their reporting as they did not normalize it against the visitors to each mall.

[A2]

WSOC TV has ranked the malls based on police calls.

Rank, Most Crime to Least

1. Concord Mills

2. Carolina Place

3. SouthPark

4. NorthLake

5. Eastland

They say that NorthLake has the most violent crime however.

Of course this was typical of their reporting as they did not normalize it against the visitors to each mall.

[kmccloud]

Right away people start shouting the same same thing, more police! More prosecutors! What do you people want, a full-blown marshall law police state? How about giving a little thought to the bigger picture every now and then? How about some real solutions, like a public school system that isn't a complete joke just for starters. You can't just lock everyone up, do you realize how many people this country has in prison? "Not enough" is probably your answer. If you want to get rid of the down-and-out, nothing-to-lose people you see on every other corner that scare you so much, it's going to take some real changes, not just more police and more prosecutors.

[dubone]

More police and prosecutors are at least a tangeable, practical answer. We already spend a lot of money on the school system, and at this point, there is now a social or cultural impediment to educational progress. When children actively refuse to attend class or pay attention in class, there isn't much tangeable we can do. That's not to say there aren't tangeable ways to improve the system, which is extremely bureaucratic and reduces quality, but primarily it is a game to win the demographics battle.

But as long as we have a society that doesn't punish most criminals, then a life of crime is a fair option. Especially with most of society buying drugs with high profit margins.

[monsoon]

Now this story is really bad. Apparently the blogger that runs the CrimeInCharlotte.com Blog had her car stolen from the Mecklenburg county courthouse parking lot. Amazing.

[dubone]

- Car theft is not a violent crime.

- The courthouse parking deck likely has the highest percentage of criminals than any other parking area in the city.

- A single incident does not indicate a pattern. Violent crime was reported earlier this year as being down last year.