Thoughts On Urban Crime...

Note: This blog was originally posted January 4, 2008 on MySpace.

It seems at least two to three mornings a week, as I watch the morning news, I hear a report about a shooting or a robbery. Thankfully, not all of these shootings are fatal. As the city has just ushered in a new mayor whose top priority in his new position is to fight crime, I have been thinking about my city's crime problem. You see, every evening as I leave work, I drive through many neighborhoods that could be categorized as rough or bad parts of town. I know what a bad neighborhood looks like: side streets with a few too many potholes, houses in disrepair, young men and women walking the streets late at night. There are areas of the city that just seem to stay drug-infested and crime-ridden. My brother-in-law and I have wondered from time to time, "How do you clean-up a bad area of a city?" Police certainly cannot patrol the streets every hour on the hour. Jails are over-crowded as it is. Guns are easy to buy. Parents are not always home to enforce the discipline that could prevent criminal leanings. Clearly, the problems outweigh the solutions.

So what are some solutions? Are there any? Stricter law enforcement? Curfews? Neighborhood watches? These things exist, yet crime continues strong.

Suggestions, Not Solutions
I do not have a solution. What I have is a suggestion—a suggestion that I would like to send to the city's new mayor. It seems all of us have ideas and some of them just might help social systems that need improvement. In my neighborhood, we have a homeowner's association. Many modern neighborhoods require the establishment of them. A homeowner's association's purpose is to keep a neighborhood a safe and respectable place to live. The thought is that safer neighborhoods equal a place where people want to live.

Could this idea be applied to older neighborhoods, neighborhoods that have a reputation for crime?

My suggestion is that cities require mandatory homeowner's association meetings, facilitated every month by a police officer. It would be irrational to suggest that residents be forced to attend these meetings. I do believe, if offered, residents would choose to attend. These meetings would allow residents to discuss problems in their neighborhoods, from crime to upkeep of sidewalks to speeding issues in residential areas. In turn, more residents are watching for crime and alerting one another and the police about suspicious activity. I recently heard an ad council radio spot featuring McGruff the Crime Dog. He said one of the easiest ways to prevent neighborhood crime is to get to know your neighbors. These meetings might create a sense of community among residents. Community, that is, a feeling of belonging, might weaken crime in a neighborhood. Safer neighborhoods would raise property values and attract new tenants, further weakening crime's hold on an area. Mandatory homeowner's associations would be no small task. It would require zoning and funding. More police officers on the streets also require more funding. Research always requires much funding, but if it's important to a society, it happens, sometimes regardless of the cost.

Would this idea curb the problem of crime? No. Would it weaken crime? It's worth a fighting chance.