Well, we had our annual Crime Statistics survey come out again, and somehow the Greater Florence-Darlington area was rated as the highest crime area in America, followed by Sumter at Number 9. The obvious question needs to be asked: How does this happen every year? There are reasons we may want to avoid, and reasons that aren't quite fair..
The numbers are based on a wide array of crimes, from Murder all the way to Robbery. It is no surprise that Florence would max out in this survey. Petty theft is a big problem in town( see the previous post on the car break-ins). It's pretty simple: we report a lot of crimes here, and the more reported, the worse we look... we arrest people for passing bad checks , for Pete's sake! Per capita stats are more magnified in smaller towns. I might have a reputation for being negative a lot, but there is NO WAY Florence is worse than Detroit or Philadelphia or any major city.
That being said, Florence has a long way to go to get off the list. There are too many areas where crime is high, and some of them are in my district. Maple Park had a rash of nearly 50 car break-ins, done by 2 guys. Together with the City police, they caught the guys and the break-ins stopped. Vigilance and cooperation goes a long way towards solving crime, and a lot of other problems communities face. So, like most statistics, it's not as bad as it sounds, but it's worse than we wish it were.
8 comments:
Mike, statistical manipulations aside, I hypothesize a few causes.
1. I-95 and I-20's confluence brings an extra how many people and associated crime through the Florence-Darlington area that inflates those numbers.
2. The "metropolitan" police agencies there aren't "tweaking" their reported crime data. Ruben Greenburg is alleged to have done a bit of tweaking of locations of incidents to tell Charlestonians south of the crosstown that they were safer than they really statistically were. Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia, I have not doubt, "smoothed" their data to placate city hall for national crime statistics.
3. How active is the sex industry around the truck stops there? While prostitution isn't reported as a violent crime, violent criminal acts appear to follow the vice trade.
Synergistically, I suspect all of the above to have some impact on the numbers and ranking.
Well Mike, I hate to tell you, but you are wrong on this one. If you go to familywatchdog.us and put in the main Florence zip code...29501, you will find 112 sex offenders. If you punch in 17401 which is the zip for York, PA, a slightly larger (population) city, you will find only 4 in the same size (land) area...Philadelphia (center city and west) 16 offenders...Detroit, 866 offenders. Well, ok, but it is Detroit! These numbers, though there may be a few isolated higher up north, a majority of crime is in the south. South Carolina as a whole has the 2nd highest crime rate in the country behind another southern state...Florida. However, I think most of the problems in Florida come from the University of Miami football program! Here's another stat for ya...The divorce rate is highest in the south, lowest in the northeast.
Lets face it, until South Carolinians get it together from the root of it all (education and family issues)the problem here will be ongoing. It has been this way here since I moved here (not by choice) in 1985, and has not changed a bit since.
Oh, and another thing for any of you southerners I'm sure I am offending...the Civil War is OVER!!! Ya know, it amazes me the crap I've heard about being a yankee and all about the civil war while y'all drive around in your Toyota, Honda or BMW...think about it! Oh, thats right, the Japanese didn't bomb the south so it was never an issue here.
I do have a question for any of you who might be able to answer this... other than electricity, cars, cable and the internet, has anything changed in this state since 1860?
Bold words bobby, but the south is still, after nearly 150 years, subject to bits of reconstruction from the Civil War. The uneven application of the voting rights act by the inJustice department being one tip of the iceberg. The Fed Department of Education, whose contimued existence is a broken GOP campaing promise, does a fine job of trying to cram a one size fits all size one policy on a size 12 state's foot, hobbling that state rather than steadying and supporting its pace.
To Mike's original posting, there's no way that Charleston SC isn't higner on the list than Florence, unless the figures are buggered by a statistics wonk that wants to prove his model and uses the numbers as a drunk does lamp posts, to support his thesis, rathern than to illuminate the path as a sober man does.
Wanted to make a comment for Bobby I am in Kansas City and fixing to eat a steak and I just do not feel like vomiting. Anyway Bobby if you did come here SC in 1985 by not your choice then make one and get out. That was 21 years ago and if you came here at one day old you are a adult get out. Sorry Mike.
You wait until Davis Station, SC incorporates and then they will be the high crime area of SC. Florence there is hope.
These crime statistics are based on "per capita".. Meaning on average per 1000 people.. So yes I am sure they are pretty accurate. As for Bobby, if you don't like it in SC then just leave.. It's that simple..
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Never just as simple as that
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