OK, are we all just going to pretend that the Bee didn’t scare our pants off yesterday with this “biggest crime increase in the state” business? (Also, is the local media just going to pretend our own SinghCity didn’t predict it?) Some staggering details–the crime increase was more than 4 times higher than the national average, for example. I also think this quote from the police chief is weird
“What I’m drawing from that, is that the answer is something beyond the Police Department. Clearly, as a community, we need to think about this.”
Clearly, when we are victims of violent crime, we need to look inside and ask ourselves whether we were asking for it. Or perhaps Najera is slyly pitching the blame upward to Fargo? Or asking us to patrol our borders to keep out trained thugs from Chico? Not sure. But clearly we need to think about it. And clearly we should as a community start that thought process in the comment box at The Sac Rag. (Note: If your comment includes the word “immigrant” it will probably be deleted, unless you are an immigrant and you’re saying you’d feel safer in Jalisco.)
The Sac Rag 
As a community I think we all need to consider cutting back a little on our violent crimes. I tried to do my part last year by taking up baking in lieu of armed robbery but apparently no one else followed suit. Come on, people. Who’s with me?
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According to “Freakonomics”, apparently, not enough people are having abortions.
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John L – I haven’t read it; is that a serious suggestion made by the authors?
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Use your head. The police don’t stop crimes from happening, they enforce laws when crimes are broken. There is obviously something more deep seated going on in Sacramento that is causing this crime escalation.
Whether it’s too much growth too quickly or just people feeling abandoned while wealth and money is poured into areas like Natomas, Elk Grove and Lincoln, we are looking at a symptom of a problem, and all the police can do is treat that symptom as best they can.
As a community, if we ignore it, we will never get to the root of the problem, and the police will just keep throwing people in jail after the fact.
I’m a little appalled that critical thinking is that foreign to all of you.
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Cooldmz
Yes, it is. Almost, Bill Bennet worthy but without the malice.
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John: there’s no malice involved in suggesting mass abortion to limit aberrant behavior?
thanks for reading and being patient with the Post button!
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No, Bill Bennet showed malice (I don’t even want to repeat what he said). This guy (I could look his name up but am lazy) was saying that the crime decrease in the 90’s was brought on by the legalization of abortion in 1970(?) due to Roe vs Wade.
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Amen to Runnergirl. This is just for fun, isn’t it? Can’t we all just get along?
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runnergirl… something to ask your friend in law enforcement: is the “gang colors” concept still as simple as it was in 1989? do we need to be afraid of a group of 2 or more young people all wearing a red garment or accessory?
i feel like a 63 year old resident of South Natomas (quoted in the article) might not be as hip to what the kids are wearing these days as she thinks she is, and i would hate for us to be out of touch because our understanding of gang culture didn’t progress past “Colors.”
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I have a different take on the report in the Bee.
Criminals who commit violent crimes are not transformed from “Dennis the Menace” to “Murderous violent street thug” overnight. If you have lived on the same block for years like I have in Oak Park, you will notice as I have that the same people get arrested for the same dirt almost weekly.
The problem that as I see it relates to the the DA’s lack of prosecution for lower level street crime. When people figure out they get almost no Jail time and that the DA will not prosecute them, what incentive do they have to stop doing what they do?
These types of criminals commit so called “victimless” crimes. Selling dope, pimping, stealing other peoples shit, etc.
It’s the type of criminal that they have graduated to that we can thank for the increase in crime, as well as the flood of parolees at large that get dumped in Sacramento every day.
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Just reading the Metro section of the paper has been scary, especially with the escalation of the types of crimes — most notably home invasion robberies and random shootings of innocent people. What’s truly scary is that I didn’t know about a home invasion robbery in my neighborhood (the otherwise-safe Pocket area) until R.E. Graswich wrote about it in his column because it happened to KCRA newsman Tom DuHain — why wasn’t this in the actual news section & relegated to the gossip column?
A good friend of mine in law enforcement blames the spike in crime on meth use. He says that it’s becoming much more a widespread problem across socioeconomic boundaries than ever before, and it’s like nothing else he’s seen in his 30 years of law enforcement.
We’ve all known for some time that murders are usually committed by someone who knows the victim, and robbers typically scope out homes whose owners are away. However, when people are strung out on meth or other drugs, it adds that whole “random” factor to crimes and seems to make the crimes more violent in nature.
And here’s a special note to Kit with your proclamation of, “I’m a little appalled that critical thinking is that foreign to all of you.” Critical thinking isn’t foreign to any of us — I think the readers/contributors of the sacrag are educated, responsible, and hard-working citizens who use this site to discuss local issues in a light-hearted (some may even say “snarky”) forum. I don’t think its intent, correct me if I’m wrong DMZ, was/is to replace the 2am discussions we all had in the dorms when we thought we were so smart because we quoted Kierkegaard (or was it Dick Van Patten?) in context.
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Correlation <> Causation
That is all
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Runnergirl et. all,
I apologize if the “critical thinking” line was a little terse. That said, I politely ask you not to ignore the rest of my post.
As for DMZ’s question about gang colors, I’m fairly certain that most gangs no longer use colors to identify themselves with the exception of a few like the Norteños.
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Law enforcement answer on crime identification:
“Gangs still wear their colors, but mostly down in the LA Area. Here in the Sacramento area, we have several gangs. We have the Nortenos (Hispanic gang), several types of Asian gangs, the Oak Park gangs, and of course still around are the Hell Angels who are becoming more diversified and allowing different races into their gang. The Russian gangs are mainly into stealing cars, and there are a few white supremacy gangs. So, gangs still exist and are growing. Some wear their colors, but mostly they are represented by tattoos, branding, and self inflicting mutilations — such as scarring of the arms, chest, back, and neck area. I think the bandanas are out. Most wear baggy pants around their knees.”
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The principal of a South Sac high school said that he was most afraid of the Asian gangs because they were quiet. The Hispanic gangs, he said, would make a big racket, talking trash and making threatening gestures, but the Asia gangs would just attack out of the blue, with no warning. just a note.
About the crime rate increase, I’d like to put pins on a map of the area for where the murders took place. are there specific areas we should be paying more attention too? almost certainly in the poor areas, but some more than others?
Also within the last 4 years or so, many social services were cut. When you’re on drugs and you’re looking for a way out, social services help a lot, so without them people may feel hopeless & thus may result to crime.
It’s obviously not a simple issue, with one single solution. I agree that we should get more involved as a community, encourage more neighborhood watch programs.
Ok, here’s a question: Would you be ok with the city running a network of outdoor security cameras, if all the footage was made available, real time, to all the public?
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