Taking a short break

It seems to be one of those days. I'm going to be busy this weekend so I thought I'd post a reminder to you people who think this crime thing is new. The following is from around 2002, and I believe it was in the QC Times, but I am correctable. Comment on it or whatever, and I'll check in occasionally. Till Monday.

Davenport crime continues to climb
By Todd Ruger

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Crimes reported in Davenport increased in all but one category in 2002, increasing by 6.1 percent from 2001 for its fourth straight yearly increase, according to an annual crime report released last week by the Davenport Police Department.
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Crime in 11 categories — federally required as part of an annual Uniform Crime Report — has risen more than 26 percent since 1998 and frustrates the Citywide Crime Commission and Neighborhood Watch groups, according to Jackie Bostic, commission chair and watch group organizer.
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“I don’t know if we’re ever going to put a handle on it. It’s up and it looks like it’s going to stay there,” Bostic said of the city’s crime. “We’re short of police officers. We need more officers out there.”
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The report confirmed previously released numbers on overall crime statistics in Davenport and added more details as to trends in individual crimes.
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Davenport police had more homicides, drug crimes, fraud, burglaries, larcenies, assaults, robberies, child abuse and sex assaults in 2002, but fewer stolen vehicles, the report said.
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Davenport Police Chief Mike Bladel said four out of five on the Uniform Crime Report are property crimes, more widespread with Davenport’s growth in business and the downturn in the economy.
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“There’s the economy, the commercial growth,” he said. “There are more commercial victims and more opportunities.”
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Drug offenses took one of the largest jumps, increasing 24.3 percent from last year, or from 585 reported in 2001 to 727 reported in 2002.
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Bladel said the increase in drug offenses is a good thing, in that a greater percentage of offenders were caught because of a fully-staffed vice squad and the neighborhood watch programs, which have made citizens more eager to report drug-related activity in their neighborhoods.
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“The reality is the vast majority of drug offenses are generated either by our undercover officers or about community members who are not afraid to call us,” Bladel said.
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Bostic agreed that active neighbors have contributed to the increase in drug offenses.
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“The majority of those people are out of town people who come to Davenport because they’ve heard its easy to set up shop,” Bostic said, adding that she has drug activity across the street from her. “Especially Castlewood, Goose Creek Heights, and we have it here in the inner city. They’re not afraid because they deal during the daytime.”
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Homicides in Davenport rose from two in 1998 to seven in 2002. Bladel said killings are impossible to predict and often occur between people who know each other.
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Reports of fraud jumped 35.4 percent from 246 in 2001 to 333 in 2002, reflecting criminals who can use technology in committing identity theft and computer crimes and an awareness by the public to report those crimes.
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Police also saw a second straight year of decreasing aggravated assaults, or those that produced serious injury, the report said.
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“If people are reporting assaults at an earlier level, then the probability will be reduced,” for committing aggravated assaults, he said.
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Bostic said she is concerned by juvenile crime.
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“We can’t solve it, we don’t know the solution,” she said, alluding to the extensive police record of the seven Davenport men found guilty in last summer’s fatal drive-by shooting of 9-year-old Deanna Shipp. “They’re more or less getting their hand slapped or turned loose.”
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Bladel said officers responded to a record-setting numbers of calls for service last year, including responses from the new mobile precinct vehicle, when the department also had to deal with preparedness for domestic terrorism.
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Despite that, he said, only 40 citizens filed complaints last year, or a ratio of one in every 3,464 contacts with the public.
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“We’re doing it in a very professional manner at the same time,” he said.