It’s easy to blame others. In one squawk in the Squawkbox, there’s someone who apparently blames the City “leaders” for the level of crime in this town. As someone who is notoriously critical of government, and usually feel compelled to blame them for just about anything, I’m going to do a 180 on this one.
Understanding who is at “fault” for our violent crime rates isn’t an easy task. There’s a lot of factors in play, and obviously I’ll put the libertarian take onto the issue, but it bears some looking in to. Our town is dangerous, or so it seems, when you look at the number of crimes.
To blame our elected officials is easy, especially since they routinely promise to do things like lower crime. But the truth is that there’s not much they can do. While WALB has been all abuzz with tales of arrests made in drug cases and the recent recovery of firearms from various burglaries all over town, there is something that often gets missed. That is, this is what the police are supposed to do.
Despite protestations to the contrary, the primary responsibility for the police is to catch criminals. Most every police officer you see may want to prevent crime, most who are rational understand that they really can’t. Let’s crunch some numbers that are partially made up.
Within the city limits of Albany, you have about 75,000 people. Let’s just assume that you have 1,000 officers in the APD. That leaves you with one officer for every 75 folks. But wait, there’s more. APD runs three shifts, meaning only one third of those officers are on duty at any one time. That leaves it to one officer for every 225 citizens. Unfortunately, this doesn’t cut into days off, vacation, sick days, or anything else.
Either way, it’s pretty obvious that the Albany Police Department can only do so much. They can catch criminals, and frankly it sounds like they’re doing a pretty good job. It can also be argued that an increase in officers will help, and it’s true that law enforcement presence will help deter crime, but is that all?
The answer is, I figure, something else. While the police must do their job correctly, we as citizens must step up as well. The police can not protect us from criminals, so we must do it ourself. Neighborhood Watch programs are a popular way to get involved, and the idea that every eye in a neighborhood is watching them can serve as a great deterent.
Also, I’m a proponent of personal defense. Don’t wait for someone to save you, be prepared to save yourself. I personally believe that every household should have a firearm and a person prepared to use it to defend themselves. A burglar who enters your home while you are there is a very real and potential danger to you and your family. In the gun community, there’s a phrase about a situation like this. “When seconds count, police are just minutes away.”
Also, we as a community can also help prevent kids joining gangs, a major source of violence in this community. Community outreach isn’t something an organization has to undertake, but you can too. Just talking to the kids in the neighborhood may be enough to help bump them to the straight and narrow, though others may require more.
Honestly, this is a topic that could easily fill up volumes of books, and there is no easy answer as to who’s at fault. But to blame the city officials is simply to take the easy way out. The truth is that we, as a community, are to blame and asking government to fix it isn’t going to cut it. We the People have to step up and make it happen.
I can tell you EXACTLY whose fault it is. The MOTHER’S. From Day One of an infant’s life, it is the mother and father’s DUTY to teach that child right from wrong and to use good judgement and to make sound, well-informed decisions. And seeing as how probably at least half of the babies born in Albany today don’t even have a father in the picture… well that proves right there that the MOTHER didn’t make a very wise decision as to who she laid down and made a baby with. Stupid breeds stupid, criminal breeds criminal. It’s a never-ending vicious cycle that we’ll suffer with until the powers that be finally stand up for mandatory birth control for public assistance.
That’s very true as well. Parental involvement is very important, and to blame the government for the failure of the individual is idiotic.
Here at SWGA Politics, Jeff and I tend to take a libertarian approach to things. That approach is, in it’s most basic form, that it should be about the individual over the state. In this case, the responsibility of the individual and they’ve shirked it. The parents have dropped the ball.
However, the only way to fix this isn’t for government to step up, but for people. Recently, one neighborhood held a march against violence. Frankly, I was tickled to death with it because it was people stepping up and trying to take charge rather than enlisting the government. We need more of that.
But what does marching accomplish really? They get a little write-up in the paper… but the ones targeted by the march — the criminals — couldn’t care less. They aren’t going to turn their lives around just because a few — or even thousands — people get together and march, although I agree with you that it’s a positive move for people to make their voices heard… BUT for something to actually be DONE about it will take alot more than just a few individuals walking down the street chanting and singing. It ALL begins in the home, and until each individual female stands up and changes her OWN ways, she will continue to breed unwanted babies that she is neither financially nor psychologically equipped to raise, and THAT is where the majority of our little criminals come from.
Tom: The same can be said about the smaller towns in southwest Georgia. You are so right and the money we spend on crime and judicial system ticks me off. Leaders won’t say publicly what they are really thinking: it starts in the home of half-raised people and south Georgia’s best and brightest often leave for other areas (ATL) after high school and college. Maybe they feel the toxic vibe and constant drama are negative to their spirit..who knows. I don’t know but I must say that these kids scary me and I am a big dude. Your honest analysis is the first step and I appreciate law enforcement for pushing punishment as well as prevention. Hey, police don’t really like locking people up but some folks need correcting. I know guys who will tell you they were out of control and getting arrested saved their lives.
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Well, in all honesty, there are some folks the police love to lock up
But yeah, the problem on this one ain’t with the government…at least not completely.
It’s really not a question of “blame”. The criminals themselves are the ones at fault, no matter who we blame. The real question is: What can we do to reduce criminal behavior in our community. Molly-coddling isn’t the answer. I like a hard-handed approach like that of the Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, AZ. That dude has the right idea.
Most definitely! I wonder if we could lure him down here to Southwest Georgia?
The city officials, the county officials and federal officials along with parents are ALL to blame. The officials that are soft on crime (many of them) and the parents that are always saying “not my child” have what led us to where we are today. Be tough on crime and teach your children personal responsibility (respect for others and respect for one’s self, body, mind and spirit). Geez the feds give money to planned parenthood by the thousands how about some money for more police?
Jim: Sorry I missed your second comment. The good thing about the march was really just that people in that neighborhood were trying to find a solution that didn’t involved begging government to help them out. Anytime people look for a solution that isn’t the state, I’m all for it.
Cartman: I agree completely about solutions. However, the city can only do so much in that regard. I personally believe that we need less laws but more draconian punishment.
Jane: Arrests are made constantly in this town. Every day, the news is filled with arrests. The argument “tough on crime” is usually code for destroying civil liberties in the name of safety. While there is much more that can be done, local officials aren’t to blame. More police often won’t stop the crimes since there’s not much the police can do to actually prevent crime.
Now, parents that say “not my child”? Oh yeah, I’m RIGHT there with you on that one. I remember one movie where a parent was screaming that their kid couldn’t be involved. Another parent looked at her and said “if my kid can be involved in this, then so can yours so sit down and shut up.” It was great because it happens all the time when a parent screams that their kid is an angel. Of course, since he was a gang member, that’s usually a sign he’s a “good kid”.
Tom: Here are some real numbers for you. The APD on average has about 220-230 officers (this is being liberal). Throw in the fact that the upper command staff don’t work cases, this number is smaller. At any one time during the day, there are about 20-25 officers actually patrolling the city. Albany/Dougherty County has about 100,000 citizens. Throw in the metro area and I have seen numbers that estimate during the day there are 200,000-300,000 people inside the city limits during the week. APD responded to over 150,000 calls for service last year. On most shifts, most officers are running from call to call, and writing up incident reports. They have very little time for proactive policing.
This ratio is horrible and if more people understood this, they would be less inclined to bash the police with every crime that is reported in the news.
I am the first to say there are somethings APD could do much, much better. But take into account what they have to work with and the local job pool they have to pull from, and things could be much worse.
Jason,
Thanks for giving me some better numbers to work with. I’d add that in addition to the command staff, you have special units that may not be actually patrolling as well, such as detectives, gang task force, ADDU, etc so that there may seem to be a lot of officers on the street, the ones actually patrolling.
I’m also sure that you’ll agree that there’s only so much you as an officer can do to police proactively. After all, you can’t stake out every house and business in Albany
[...] live in troubled times with troubled people. In a post yesterday, I spoke briefly on who’s fault our crime problem is, and that I believe the blame [...]