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Danger
City Usa Get Charlotte out of the top 10 crime cities in the nation
If your house has been burglarized or your neighbor robbed at gunpoint, you don't need statistics to know there's a crime problem here. That unfortunate reality is why most won't be surprised that our city ranks among the 10 most dangerous big cities in America. Pay attention, Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. This is an important benchmark. As Police Chief Darrel Stephens points out, the report's methodology is questionable, but the underlying point is not: Public safety needs to continue to be the top priority when decisions are made about city resources and city spending. Charlotte ranked eighth in danger in 2005 among cities with a population of at least 500,000, according to Morgan Quinto, a company in Lawrence, Kan., that rates cities' danger based on FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Overall, the city's crime ranked 43rd out of 371 cities. To put that in perspective, here are some of our peers in the top 10: St. Louis and Detroit. For more perspective, consider this: No other city in North Carolina even came close to Charlotte's deplorable ranking. Two N.C. cities -- Cary and Raleigh, the state capital -- ranked among the safest in their categories. There's ample room to pick nits with the report. It did not include Chicago, for example, an odd omission. The FBI also specifically cautions its data shouldn't be used to compare cities. Yet the ranking is less important than what the numbers say about Charlotte in 2005: --The number of violent crimes (homicides, rapes robberies and aggravated assaults) rose 9 percent here, compared to 2.3 percent nationwide. --Charlotte-Mecklenburg set a 10-year record for homicides, ending the year with 85 killings. Charlotte is a big place. Its population has grown fast -- 26.7 percent between 1990 and 2000. You expect a certain amount of risk. But it should not rank among the most dangerous cities in the nation. This is a critical issue. For growth to be sustained, this must be a place where people want to live, work and visit. They must feel safe. City Council took an important step this year by funding 70 new police officers. That meant increasing property taxes. Yet doing nothing would cost much more. Public safety must remain Charlotte's top priority. City government can't build an effective court system or fund an adequate number of prosecutors and judges. That's the legislature's responsibility. But it can invest in prevention and provide a sufficient supply of well-trained cops to track down and arrest the bad guys. And citizens can do a lot to deter crime. This is a community problem. It requires community solutions. |
