Irrational fear of crime

[Syd]

I'm reading for the first time and I'm curious to know:

do you spend any time posting the pictures and results of trials of people you have posted on this blog who were acquitted of all charges?

Or don't you care about the fact that millions of people a year are arrested and that just being arrested doesn't mean you're guilty.

Do you spend anytime examining the shoddy police work of the Charlotte police? Or the failures of the court system?

Do you have any suggestions for how to combat crime other than "someone needs to do something" that you were quoted in the paper?

I realize being a victim of a crime is a scary, frustrating and angering thing, but do you really think sites like this do ANYTHING except but reinforce the myth that crime is out of control that is perpetuated by the salacious coverage in newspapers and on TV. If you really dig deep, the increase in crime is directly proportional to the increase in population. So per capita, crime has not really increased. It's certainly not out of control, as you put it.

However, people see nothing but crime stories on TV and see sites like this and get an irrational fear that they are going to be murdered in their beds.

You offer no perspective here and shouldn't be proud of that.

Would you approve of burning scarlett letters into people's chests or putting people in blocks in a public square? Just because you can post pictures of people accused of crimes, doesn't mean you should.

[DMD]

You are right we need more programs. Yes programs. These people need programs. I for one am going to do something. Tonight I am going to light a candle and if that does not work I might even wear a ribbon.
DD

[SKNL2]

Syd,

I would like to know what part of town you live and work in. Also, I would like to know what city you moved here from. I think the answers to those two questions could provide some perspective on your point of view.

[larry]

Syd is good.

He gives facts without backing them up.

He does the, attack the messenger instead of the message, bit.

By not signing in, he leaves no way of this getting back to him.

His successful career in politics is assured.

[marybland000]

sorry to say but syd is partially right if yall think u have a crime problem here in charlotte go to where my cousin lives in west baltimore u go to sleep to the sounds of gunshots and sirens every night and wake up the next day to see another person murdered it's terrible and junkies are everywhere dopefiends jus go to sleep on your porch u have to shoo them away with a bat or a broom

[OnCrime]

marybland000 said:

sorry to say but syd is partially right if yall think u have a crime problem here in charlotte go to where my cousin lives in west baltimore u go to sleep to the sounds of gunshots and sirens every night and wake up the next day to see another person murdered it's terrible and junkies are everywhere dopefiends jus go to sleep on your porch u have to shoo them away with a bat or a broom

Of course, many cities are more dangerous compared to Charlotte... That doesn't mean we shouldn't be seriously concerned about the growing crime rate in Charlotte.

Do you want Charlotte to end up like Baltimore? I don't!

[newcomerjerseyboy]

i just moved here from New Jersey, to the suburbs outside Charlotte and I believe this is a Great city, but what a shame with the stupidity of crime here, such small population and so much crime, we need Rudy Guliani here to clean house, in order for this City to go ahead into the future this problem must be solved, too many low life scum bags are out of control, they should be put in a meat grinder and dispose of, they are truly human trash!! there is Fine people living and working in such a beautiful Queen City!!!

[SKNL2]

"Nothing is bad if you compare it to something worse."

Same logic the chief used to explain away how a sleepy little southern town made 8th on the most dangerous list (I refuse to argue the validity of the list here. It would be a thread hijack).

Just because others have it worse than you, shouldn't make you relax until you have it as bad as they. That's just stupid.

[marybland000]

well I get what your saying but I doubt charlotte could ever get as dangerous or as bad as baltimore the crime is embedded in the culture here u got 4th and 5th generation gangsters here now it's like the black mob.but yea if it's growing it needs to be controlled before it gets too bad on a side note what are the gun laws in charlottle nc (I'm not takin anybodys thread jus wondering)?

[SKNL2]

I think the main complaint about crime here in Charlotte is the fact that nothing happens to the crooks that are committing them. Onus can be placed on many agencies for this. Attacking this blog for reporting it is not going to solve the problem. Saying, "Where I came from it was much worse so I don't care," won't solve it.

About the only thing that will fix it is getting tough on it. Look at their attitudes toward being caught and photographed. It's a trophy for their MySpace page. Come on. Is that how you want people to view the law?

Steal a car, go to prison. Rob someone with a gun, go to prison. Kill someone for their car, take a dirt nap. Bleeding hearts be damned. OOPS...back to the thread.

[OnCrime]

Syd said:

I'm reading for the first time and I'm curious to know:

do you spend any time posting the pictures and results of trials of people you have posted on this blog who were acquitted of all charges?

Sometimes. Please understand the court process is very slow and it takes a long time for those arrested to actually go to trial.

Do you spend anytime examining the shoddy police work of the Charlotte police? Or the failures of the court system?

No and Yes. I do not spend my time tracking the failures of the police department. I leave that to the professionals. However, I do track the failures of the court system in 90% of my posts by showing the amount of repeat criminals we have walking our streets.

Do you have any suggestions for how to combat crime other than "someone needs to do something"; that you were quoted in the paper?

You have to keep in mind the Observer article only quotes portions of what I said. I spoke with the writer, Melissa Manware, for over an hour. She could not possibly put everything I said in her article but I think she did a wonderful job of piecing it together.

To answer your other question... Yes, I have many 'suggestions' on how to combat crime in Charlotte- but it is another issue I leave to the professionals.

I am only one person and the main focus of my website is to inform people about crime in Charlotte. I would love to do so much more but I do not have the time.

In addition, I try and promote the public to do one simple thing... write an e-mail, letter or make a call to the Governor and NC elected officials asking for more funding for the Mecklenburg County court system, jails, and police department. Without additional funding, these agencies will continue to lack the resources to adequately do their job.

I realize being a victim of a crime is a scary, frustrating and angering thing, but do you really think sites like this do ANYTHING except but reinforce the myth that crime is out of control that is perpetuated by the salacious coverage in newspapers and on TV. If you really dig deep, the increase in crime is directly proportional to the increase in population. So per capita, crime has not really increased. It's certainly not out of control, as you put it.

Besides my added comments- my blog is pure fact. I do not think the crime problem in Charlotte is a "myth" as you say. If you took the time to read my blog before posting this comment, you would know that.

However, people see nothing but crime stories on TV and see sites like this and get an irrational fear that they are going to be murdered in their beds.

I think you are being dramatic.

You offer no perspective here and shouldn't be proud of that. Would you approve of burning Scarlett letters into people's chests or putting people in blocks in a public square? Just because you can post pictures of people accused of crimes, doesn't mean you should.

[RMU]

I agree with the person who says that you shouldn't compare us only to places that are worse. I have been told by many people that Baltimore is literally an armpit for crime, but that does not escape the fact that the crime here is really bad.
Here's a little perspective for you all... check the statistics sometime. Charlotte was rated, what? Tenth highest crime rate this year, right? If you look at the numbers and do the simple math comparing it on a per capita basis, Charlotte is not at all in good shape. In other words, compare us to NYC. If Charlotte had the same population as NYC then based on our current rates we'd have more than twice as many violent crimes. Its true. Look it up some time!

[marybland000]

yea and you shouldn't compare it to a place as safe as new york city they had around 42000 police last time I checked and it's much more dense then charlotte so the police have less ground to cover and that study was out of cityswith more than 500000 people ,so there are places much more dangerous ,but new york city went from have about 2200 murders in a year to having murders in the 500's and the population even grew during that time, they are a poster child for crime fighting theres no comparison ,yall have to think of the geography of the city toomost citys streets are in a grid pattern charlotte has a lot of winding streets and culdesacs which is harder for police patrolling and the citys population density is much less than most other citys nyc's is like 27000 per square mile and charlottes is around 2000 psm

[guest]

marybland000 said:

sorry to say but syd is partially right if yall think u have a crime problem here in charlotte go to where my cousin lives in west baltimore u go to sleep to the sounds of gunshots and sirens every night and wake up the next day to see another person murdered

I DO hear gunshots and sirens at night very often especially on the weekends and I don't even think my neighborhood is THAT bad! I'd hate to see some of these other neighborhoods.

[marybland000]

yea but in charlotte somebody doesn;t get bodyed every day in baltimore somebody does everyday

[Jim]

Syd said:

I'm reading for the first time and I'm curious to know:

do you spend any time posting the pictures and results of trials of people you have posted on this blog who were acquitted of all charges?

Or don't you care about the fact that millions of people a year are arrested and that just being arrested doesn't mean you're guilty.

Do you spend anytime examining the shoddy police work of the Charlotte police? Or the failures of the court system?

Do you have any suggestions for how to combat crime other than "someone needs to do something" that you were quoted in the paper?

I realize being a victim of a crime is a scary, frustrating and angering thing, but do you really think sites like this do ANYTHING except but reinforce the myth that crime is out of control that is perpetuated by the salacious coverage in newspapers and on TV. If you really dig deep, the increase in crime is directly proportional to the increase in population. So per capita, crime has not really increased. It's certainly not out of control, as you put it.

However, people see nothing but crime stories on TV and see sites like this and get an irrational fear that they are going to be murdered in their beds.

You offer no perspective here and shouldn't be proud of that.

Would you approve of burning scarlett letters into people's chests or putting people in blocks in a public square? Just because you can post pictures of people accused of crimes, doesn't mean you should.

...... ...... .......


I nominate this post ' dumbest of the year'.

And Syd, Yo Dawg, conversate wif your teacher and see if she will help you define 'salacious' in Websters.
Don King did not write the dictionary.

THANK YOU ADMIN!!!
WE NEED MILLIONS MORE LIKE YOU!!!