Playing With Crime

So, I've been pretty busy here of late and haven't been really able to post much - which is unfortunate because I really wanted to keep his more current, but that's the way it goes sometime I suppose.

Anyway, I have been thinking about national crime trends recently, and some of them are worrisome. For a whole slew of reasons, experts are thinking we're heading toward another violent crime surge. Hopefully this will be averted, but that is yet to be seen.

I have always felt very safe in Louisville. In very few parts of town have I ever felt uneasy or worried about violence against me - but I have found I am an anomaly. Most people seem to always be worried about the next mugger or murderer who is just around the corner. I usually disregard those people as too easily swayed by the sensationalism they find on WAVE 3 or WLKY. But to make sure I wasn't the foolish one, I wanted some facts and figures to see which way violent crime is moving in Louisville, and perhaps some comparison to other areas.

Violent Crime Numbers from 2005 for Louisville-Jefferson County:

Forcible Rape: 209
Robbery: 1,822
Murder: 55
Aggravated Assault: 1,810

TOTAL -

Violent Crime Numbers from 2006 for Louisville-Jefferson County:

Forcible Rape: 217
Robbery: 1,762
Murder: 51
Aggravated Assault: 1,867

TOTAL - 3,897

Based on violent crimes (the ones people are truly scared of) we can see that between 2005 and 2006, Louisville saw no significant changes in it's crime rate - for the better or the worse. (Which is surprising, considering last Fall there were a slew of stories saying how Louisville had fallen into the depths of a massive new crime wave, with robberies being on a major upswing. - that proved false, like so many stories related to crime from the local media)

With the above numbers, we find Louisville having a crime rate of 557.3 incidents of violent crime in 2005 for every 100,000 inhabitants. In 2006 the rate is 557.5 incidents per 100,000 inhabitants. Not a significant change. When compared to other peer cities, we see Louisville ain't doing half bad (2005):

Indianapolis: 989.7
Nashville: 1,602.5
Memphis: 1,857.2
Cincinnati: 1,184.5
Columbus: 837.6
Louisville: 557.3
UNITED STATES: 469.2

Again, keep in mind, these are VIOLENT CRIME RATES, not total crime rates. (I tried to pick cities that are near the same size as Louisville, and also encompass at least some suburbs)

The data helped to reinforce my general feelings about crime in Louisville versus other cities - It's not the absolute best place, but it is definitely a safer city than most other peer cities. Memphis particularly amazes me - that is just out of control! Their violent crime rate is obscene.

Besides comparing Louisville to other cities, I also was interested in seeing if the old stereotype is true that the West End is the WORST place in Louisville for violent crime. Surprisingly enough, it was not the worst according to 2006 numbers from Louisville Metro Police - but it was pretty close.

Louisville is divided into 8 Police Divisions, and they encompass the following areas:

The First Division includes the following neighborhoods: Butchertown, Downtown,
Phoenix Hill, Portland and Russell.

The Second Division includes: California, Chickasaw, Hallmark, Park Duvall, Park Hill, Parkland and Shawnee.

The Third Division includes: Auburndale, Iroquois, Iroquois Park, Kenwood Hill, Southland Park and Southside.

The Fourth Division includes: Fairgrounds, Germantown, Iroquois, Limerick, Merriwether, Old Louisville, Schnitzelburg, Shelby Park, South Louisville, University, Wilder Park and Wyandotte.

The Fifth Division include: Belknap, Bonnycastle, Bowman, Brownsboro Zorn, Cherokee Triangle, Clifton, Clifton Heights, Crescent Hill, Highlands, Highlands Douglass, Irish Hill, and Tyler Park.

The Sixth Division includes the following neighborhoods: Audubon, Bashford Manor,
Bon Air, Camp Taylor, Edgewood, Highland Park, Hikes Point, Klondike, Poplar
Level, Prestonia, Saint Joseph, and Standiford.

The Seventh Division includes the following neighborhoods: Fern Creek, Highview and Okolona.

The Eighth Division includes the following neighborhoods: Barbourmeade,
Bellemeade, Briarwood, Douglass Hills, Glenview, Goose Creek, Hurstbourne,
Lyndon, Middletown, Rolling Hills, Westwood, Wildwood, Woodland Hills and
Worthington Hills.

I was surprised to see that according to LMPD, it was the Fourth Division that had he highest number of incidents of violent crime. To me, the Fourth Division is the "South End" of town. With 1,879 incicents of violent crime, it stood well above the "West End" - Second Division - total of 1,302 incidents.

Another surprise to me was to see that the safest division was not some far-flung suburban division, but was the Fifth Division that serves the inner-city neighborhoods of the Highlands and Clifton. With only 407 reported crimes last year, it was "safer" than the Eighth Division which includes the stereotypically safest parts of town like Hurstborne and Middletown.

Overall, the data supported my generally notions of crime in Louisville, with some unexpected surprises. Crime is a social ill that the community must strive to reduce to the lowest levels possible by building a city that offers basic education to all citizens, a job that offers a full day of work for a fair wage, and bestows dignity and respect to all people, regardless of race, economic status, age, religion, or sexual preference. Louisville isn't going to ever be perfect, but these are ideals and things that we certainly can do -now- if we all just wanted to do it.

Few Random Stories from the River City

Today, like all this week, has been an incredibly slow news day in Louisville. But in spite of that, there were a few small stories that caught my attention.

Firstly, the city of Jeffersonville, Indiana is yet again contemplating selling land at the corner of 10th and Spring Streets directly off of Interstate 65. For those of you who don't know, this piece of land is a "gateway" into Jeffersonville and for many years has been in legal limbo. Several years ago Jeffersonville tried to sell the land to retail developers; that fell through. Then they had an AmeriSuites hotel prepared to build on the site; this time they were sued by a private citizen and that deal never came to being. Now, for a third time the city has two developers on the line, one of whom wants to build a Starbucks.

Now, the reason this story even caught my attention was because I once lived in Clark County and the piece of land in question has been an eyesore for as long as I can remember. That area is also a hodge podge of uses: industrial, retail, even some historic structures such as the newly renovated Quartermaster Depot and an older inner ring suburban neighborhood.

What really confuses me is the way Jeffersonville has, all these years, only tried to get the easiest types of developments possible for an important property in the city. To be incredibly honest, Starbucks can be built almost anywhere in Southern Indiana and do perfectly well...there are Starbucks in towns much smaller than Jeffersonville. But Hoosiers have a fascination with saying, "Look! We have ___________ too! We're just as good as Louisville!" Instead of promoting a project to compliment and enhance the urban nature of 10th and Spring, they're simply going to fill it with Starbucks and McDo. Jeffersonville surely has arrived!

Secondly, Baptist Hospital East will ban smoking on all of their property in St. Matthews. Sometimes I think that only in a place like Kentucky could it still be possible in 2007 to smoke around a hospital. Smoking has been banned inside the hospital for quite some time, but I do expect hospitals to show more leadership on health issues such as this. It is how I think having a McDonald's in Kosair Children's Hospital downtown is a bad choice. I don't think that McDo or smoking should be outlawed...but hospitals shouldn't be the place where these things are eaten or inhaled.

Third and last story is the slow way in which MetroSafe is being completed. MetroSafe is one of the mayors major initiatives from his first term in office when he was concentrating on finalizing all merger problems. MetroSafe, when completed, will finally give all first responders, from paramedics to firefights to police officers to disaster workers, all the same radios and the ability to speak to each other all across the county. This will be in the first time in the history of Jefferson County that there will be a seamless communications systems for all agencies in charge of public safety. To say the least, this is an important project for the community!

You can't blame the mayor for this latest setback, but Louisville was dropped from a federal program that grants money to urban areas for terrorism response. Granted, Louisville is not a huge target for terrorists, but this system could one day prove lifesaving to many of the 700,000 people who call Jefferson County home.

This initiative has been fermenting for four years now. As a total cost, it is 70 million dollars...which is about how much the city is prepared to give the developers of Museum Plaza or how much they spent to have the Marriott hotel built. The city simply needs to get this project completed for the good of all Louisvillians.