I don’t know how R.E. Graswich gets the quotes he uses for his bits, specifically the ones from local newsmakers and politicians. But I’d like to thank him today for giving Police Chief Albert Nájera a chance to show his true colors.
“Without context, crime statistics mean nothing,” the chief said. “It’s too easy to come out and scare people by saying, ‘The murder rate is up.’ In Sacramento, the vast majority of murders are committed by drug dealers and gang members and felons. Take away those categories and domestic violence, and you are left with maybe four people a year killed by random violence in Sacramento. That’s four too many, but it gives perspective.”
So by “context” you mean “ignorance”? That is really helpful. Especially to the families of the victims of domestic violence (you have to be kidding me! did he really say that Bob?) and any innocent victims of drug dealers and gang members and felons (seriously Bob, you’re putting us on, right?). Murders committed by gang members don’t count? What if they take place in broad daylight in front of a crowded shopping mall? That seems like the kind of thing you think, but don’t say outside the police locker room. I’m going to go ahead and speak for all citizens everywhere: We are concerned about murders commited by gang members, drug dealers, and felons. Go ahead and include those when you run the numbers.
The idea that this might be a put-on is backed up by the placement of Graswich’s piece on a Metro section front page that has an article about the 4 gun murders committed this weekend now being investigated by Police and Sheriff’s investigators who are working hard but “stretched thin by the numerous homicides.”
Which brings up another point. Why is this in the Metro section? The Bee’s other published article on the shootings also appeared in the Metro section, but not on the front page. Is it a coincidence that the Police Chief wants to downplay the region’s murder rate spike and that these articles are relegated to the Metro section (nothing against the Metro section, Metro section staff. Once I realized that this is often where the important news is, I usually turn to it first)? Is the Mayor’s much talked-about round-the-clock police escort also a coincidence?
The more I think about Nájera’s quote the more inflammatory I think it really is. What sorts of murders does the Chief thinks are really troubling? Does he think people need only concern themselves with “random violence”? How does he propose to deter random violence? Isn’t that the sort of crime that is almost impossible to fight, since there is no MO, no planning, no known accomplices, etc.? Feel free to respond, Sac PD. What sorts of murders should we really be scared of, if murders by drug dealers, gang members and felons should be taken out of the equation.
If the murder rate is up, the Police Chief should say so, without relegating it to a hypothetical detail in a sentence designed to direct the public’s attention elsewhere. The police chief should let us know what is being done to reduce the murder rate. The police chief should remind us that there are bad people out there committing crimes, and that the police are here to protect victims and deter criminals. He should not be in the habit of literally downplaying the crime stats.
Something is wrong, Sacramento. Undoubtedly RunnerGirl’s law-enforcement friend gives us an important insight, that meth use is most likely a major factor. I’m a pretty law-and-order, respect for authority guy, but I’m going to go ahead and add the establishment in Sacramento to the list of problems: Police Chief Nájera and Mayor Heather Fargo. Fargo’s welcome message on the Mayor and City Council website says “One of the realizations I have come to is that we have to start acting like a Big City and not a big town.” It’s time to start cracking down on violent crime like a Big City. The Mayor is up for reelection in 2008. I’ll be watching the Police Chief more closely, too… if things don’t improve, it might be time to lean on the City Council to bounce him out. He thinks we’re stupid. If your city council person is up for election in the fall, and you’re as fired up as I am about this, let’s see about getting some serious people in those seats.
The Sac Rag 
What a shameful comment for a police chief to make. It almost sounds like he figures those involved in what he considers to be the majority of murders deserve it – after all if ladies weren’t tangled up in domestic violence murder wouldn’t happen to them. So much for “protect and serve…”
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In defense of the PoPo chief, I have a feeling that his comments are aimed at a segment of the population that probably hounds him about crime rates and who are rarely affected by it. Yes, crime of any type is a blight on our city, but odds are, the people who clog up the phone lines at HQ are undoubtedly folks with too much time on their hands, and who are statistically the least likely to experience violent crime.
Let’s face it, the folks who have the time to get their complaints aired and their concerns heard by our leaders (elected or otherwise) are normally not representative of the overall population. The overall population usually has too much sh!t to do to everyday. It’s an unfortunate fact of our current political system.
While his comments may have been a little dismissive, I don’t think they go as far as being negligent. Keep in mind too, that if your daily existence involved death, rape, murder, robbery, suicides, manslaughter and drug overdoses, your bedside manner would probably not be super duper sensitive either.
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sac-eats: I’m definitely *not* calling for more sensitive bedside manner. I’m simply asking that the police chief not bullshit us. He’s literally asking that we ignore all murders committed by felons. That is the stupidest thing i have ever heard!!
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OK, I’ll give you the point that the comment itself is a little strange and not quite right, especially the concept that murders are committed by “felons,” which is a somewhat redundant concept. I have a feeling though that the Chief was a little unclear in his reasoning. I bet what he meant was that murders that were gang-related, drug related or committed by felons on felons make up the majority of the crimes, and that unless you’re in a gang, dealing drugs or committing crimes yourself, you don’t have much to worry about.
Of course, I could be wrong, and as a solid citizen I don’t need to worry about being killed unless I happen to run into a felon, in which case my chances of being killed go up exponentially.
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Before somebody else says it, clearly one possibility is that he meant when drug dealers kill drug buyers, gang members kill other bangers, or felons kill each other in some sort of caged match on an island in the river, it should not matter as much to the law-abiding citizens. Like I said, that seems like the sort of thing you say in the locker room. Citizens are hardly placated by that, especially if those incidents are on the rise.
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And what, may I ask, happens when you accidentally cut off the aforementioned drug dealer, gang member or cage-fighting felon on the freeway? Do they smile and wave you on because you are a good law abiding citizen who offended them accidentally?
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Statistics that anger me-
Sacramento,CA
Population 2006- 457,514
Sworn Officers 2005- 682
Ratio of Sowrn Officers per 1000 citizens- 1.48%
Why would anyone be suprised?
There are more guns and badges at City Hall during council meetings than on the streets in Oak Park. I’ve seen two or three sworn SPD officers ON DUTY inside council chambers. They weren’t there for council testimony. Add to that, two full time armed uniformed security officers (retired cops) AND two or more contracted civilian security officers. Now this? For the past six budget cycles, this Mayor has allowed cuts to patrol staffing in this city. (14 more in the current proposed budget) She allowed $30-50 million in new COPS grants to pay existing cops. Only one former council member fesses up on the record: “We all understood what was going on,Kerth said. “The city, the [federal government] … these weren’t additional cops we were hiring.” No wonder Fargo needs protection. What about us? Will Fargo say, “Let them eat cake!”
When the reality of Sacramento’s upswing in crime lands on the doorsteps of our city’s swankyest ‘hoods, will be the only time Fargo and the rest of the City Admin wake up and take some action.
Too bad really, but thats reality.
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The swankyest hoods are not immmune
Granite Bay
http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/placer/story/14272146p-15082578c.html
Fair Oaks & Eastern
http://www.kcra.com/news/9431345/detail.html
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This is a damn good post. Props to you Cool for telling it exactly like it is. I read the same comment yesterday morning and thought –
– how nice…crime is only crime when its inconvenient.
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re: domestic violence
Somebody should ask the Police Chief if he ignores all victims of domestic violence or only the ones who sassed back the most.
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