City crime declines

[Police Moderator]

City crime declines
By: Jacqueline Koch

Citywide crime, including homicides, burglaries and auto thefts, decreased during the first three months of 2009, according to Chattanooga Police Department data.

Overall, crime was down about 9 percent compared with January, February and March 2008, statistics show. But thefts from motor vehicles increased nearly 50 percent and thefts of motor vehicle parts went up 16 percent during that time period.

“The economy plays a role in that,” police Chief Freeman Cooper said, because when the economy is down, some people will get money any way they can and as quickly as they can. When school lets out for the summer, crime also tends to rise with more young people on the streets, he said.

Violent crimes reported in April 2009 rose to 143 from 116 in April 2008, according to department data.

times free press

The CPD has nothing to do with this.

[Police Moderator]

Detailed Breakdown of Chattanooga Crimes

[el Gusano]

The economy was so bad that no one could afford bullets.

[BlackFox]

Doesn't the crime rate have more to do with society in general, rather than the effectiveness of the police? I mean, how much crime, or which crimes in particular, do you guys prevent?

Your clearance rate should be the true measure, in my opinion.

[rstewart]

Blackfox,

I believe an increased LEO presence does prevent crime. I mean if you have one of Tim Gobble's finest cruising by your house every 15-20 min don't you think you are less likely to be a victim of a break in? I do, but I have nothing anybody would want to steal except may a couple of cheap guitars. It would be a damn poor thief who would take my stuff. LOL

[BlackFox]

I think me and my neighbors pistol range behind our houses is an effective deterrent.

[rstewart]

But at 11 AM on a Wed is it a deterrent?

[gridbug]

I believe an increased LEO presence does prevent crime

If that increased presence leads to more arrests this would be reflected in the statistics, increasing crime as it is reported.

[rstewart]

I didn't say more arrests. I said prevent crime. Big difference. If somebody looking to break into a house sees cops driving up and down the road they are less likely to commit the crime in the first place.

[Bryan Stone]

if someone is looking to break in a house on any given day a police officer isn't going to keep him/her from doing it.

Might stop 'em from doing it right then and there.

It's not like a criminal sees a cop and goes "oh shit, there's a cop,... better not commit a crime,... forgot about those dudes"

if they are gonna do it,... they are gonna do it

[BlackFox]

May 28, 2009 10:56:17 GMT -5 rstewart said:

But at 11 AM on a Wed is it a deterrent?

Mean dog and alarm system the rest of the time. The cops don't patrol where they can even see my house.

[el Gusano]

Better aim reduces the number of criminals.

[Tsavodiner]

May 28, 2009 12:27:49 GMT -5 Bryan Stone said:

if someone is looking to break in a house on any given day a police officer isn't going to keep him/her from doing it.

Might stop 'em from doing it right then and there.

It's not like a criminal sees a cop and goes "oh shit, there's a cop,... better not commit a crime,... forgot about those dudes"

if they are gonna do it,... they are gonna do it

Which is precisely why Tennessee should abandon it's present catch-and-release scheme and adopt realistic, mandatory-determinate sentencing.

[el Gusano]

If only we didn't have all this wealth, they wouldn't have anything to steal.

Oh, wait: We elected just the guy to get this job done!

[professorx]

May 28, 2009 12:27:49 GMT -5 Bryan Stone said:

if someone is looking to break in a house on any given day a police officer isn't going to keep him/her from doing it.

Might stop 'em from doing it right then and there.

It's not like a criminal sees a cop and goes "oh shit, there's a cop,... better not commit a crime,... forgot about those dudes"

if they are gonna do it,... they are gonna do it

You opinion does measure up to studies done on the subject. In general crime happens as a matter of opportunity and convenience.

If a person is planning on robbing a house, they are usually not targeting a specific house, only a house that is easily robbed, and where they are less likely to get caught.

If someone was going to rob your house and saw something that would hinder them (cops, neighborhood watch, nosy neighbors) they would move on to another house.

The same is true of all crime... If someone was going to rob you at the parking lot at Hamilton Place mall and saw a cop, or an easier person to rob (old woman, etc.) they'd leave you alone.

Think of criminals just like anyother predator. They only go after easy targets unless they are desperate.

[magichamster]

Desperate is a key word there, Mr. Stone. Many of the people that police catch in the act or follow up on with warrants after identifying them commit crime to support their drug habits. They can't afford their drugs, so they have to break into our homes, our cars and rob us on the street. I'm glad that there are officers out there looking out for us.

[Longshot! [ Saint ]]

Few people have even the slightest grasp of the lengths police go to prevent crimes, and not just the 'grant' based community initiatives. I mean, sit down and formulate a multi-tiered strategy over short or long periods of time.

I don't blame some of you or thinking cops don't prevent it...because you cannot measure that which they have prevented from occurring. As soon as the cases are adjudicated, I will tell you how my guys prevented two drive-by shootings in the last two weeks alone; not just about the rifles guns and ammo, but the confessions. And this is just one shift of seven teams and four specialized units that do this full time...don't even get me started on the Intel officers and Fugitive intelligence networks locally.

If you had a grasp of what -really- goes on behind the scenes and beyond the concept of a guy in a marked car driving around, you'd probably be really disturbed.


It's easier if I just say "You're welcome."

[bhmc449]

I think most people forget one key thing "We are constantly outnumbered" How do you expect four guys (the average number of officers per shift in a given area) to watch everything that occurs within the mix of 10-20 thousand people. Despite the odds I say that police do a pretty damn good job. Saying police don't prevent crime is absurd. People just don't know how to measure the effectiveness. You have to factor that if there are less police or even no police crime would sure occur more often than not. Take for instance when police were pulled from certain sections of the city during the Rodney King riots crimes soared. People knew the measure of effectiveness at that point in time.

Police work a lot of the time is plugging holes and holding the reigns from coming down on all of our ears....

[Justin Thyme]

I think most people forget one key thing "We are constantly outnumbered"

Okay, I say you aren't outnumbered. You have at least a good quarter of the citizenry able and willing to assist and probably more being your ears and eyes in the places you can't be. Yeah, you were hired for the job but fighting crime is each and every citizens job. Its my neighborhood so I've got a more vested interest in protecting it than anyone who is being paid. I'm also not restricted by a dashcam on what I can do when I catch the son of a gun who busted out the window in my truck. It is my truck, after all.

[bhmc449]

I see what your saying; however that is not what I am talking about.

When good citizen sees a crime being committed they generally dont come out of the booth wearing a superman outfit and apprehend the criminal, they usually break out the cell phone and call us (which they should). The general public do help very much, but even still as a whole we are outnumbered. In saying that we seem to prevail....

[Justin Thyme]

May 30, 2009 19:18:21 GMT -5 bhmc449 said:

I see what your saying; however that is not what I am talking about.

When good citizen sees a crime being committed they generally dont come out of the booth wearing a superman outfit and apprehend the criminal, they usually break out the cell phone and call us (which they should). The general public do help very much, but even still as a whole we are outnumbered. In saying that we seem to prevail....

Generally I confront the person and then call the police if the matter can't be resolved. But then the problems I generally run into are minor. If they got major I would probably call the police first and monitor things to see if I was needed. If things were urgent I'd do what I had to do. I don't think I'm unusual in that. It's my neighborhood, they are my neighbors, its' our problem.

Of course in my neighborhood if there is drug dealing occurring, and I don't doubt some does occur here, it is so low key that it doesn't raise suspicion. If it did we would take care of it either by reporting the activity to the police, if it was going on within a house, along with video of the cars involved and a list of license plate numbers or, if it was on common property like the lake, the playground or the pool, the offenders would be politely but sternly asked to leave by some very large homeowners.

We don't have very many problems here but when we do there is active involvement from the homeowners in resolving the issue. Personal weapons have only been brandished once in the seven years I've been here and that probably wasn't necessary but the guy felt better asking the teenagers to quit tearing the shingles off the pool house while he was leaning on his sons ball bat.

Now, you might be saying, "Yeah, but you live in a safe part of town." There is a reason it is a safe part of town. A mile away things are different.

[Longshot! [ Saint ]]

I'm also not restricted by a dashcam on what I can do when I catch the son of a gun who busted out the window in my truck. It is my truck, after all.
--

I always find more and more reasons to like you, man.


JiT is speaking of creating an atmosphere that is not conducive for crime to flourish in; that's the heart of something you have all heard of called 'Community policing', to a 't'.

The prior poster was saying that police don't prevent crime, period, only respond to it. I have proof they do, despite the fact you cannot measure something that didn't occurr in order to prove such from that particular limited dimension of thought.

I also meant it when I said because of such, I completely understand the mind set. It's issues like these that inspire me to post here in the first place.

[LimitedRecourse]

It is probably more comforting to believe that the police merely drain resources from those who really pay their salaries.