Crime on the rise (Atlanta, Columbus: apartment, low crime, how much)

[seadub2]

Hello fellow Columbusonians, Columbusites, or whatever we are!

It certainly looks like personal crime in the Columbus area is on the rise, especially assaults like purse snatching, robbery, etc. And it seems like some group likes to steal TV sets from people's homes. We moved here last year and were impressed at the time with the relatively low crime rate. But lately, the news is saturated with more and more crime stories. Anybody have any insight on what's driving this crime spree? Could it be related to BRAC?

We like Columbus, but unfortunately, this bad crime news is starting to affect our opinion of the place. I just hope the police will step up patrols (yea, right) or formulate some plan to get this crime spree under control. I don't think it's too much to ask to feel safe in your own home.

Thanks...

[Newsboy]

Columbusonians? I like!

[Columbuskidd92]

I can definitely tell you it wasn't like this last year. It was at a all time low last year according to the 2011 stats. Yes,the police needs to get off their lazy asses and do something. Their services has been horrible this year,right along with MCSD.

[Newsboy]

Who has jurisdiction over law enforcement in Columbus / Muscogee County? City police force, county sheriffs patrol or a hybrid of both? Here in Savannah, several years ago we went to a consolidated Metro Police Department that has jurisdiction over the entire city and county despite the fact we don't have a consolidated government. The sheriff's department only runs the courts and jail. In contrast, Jacksonville has no police department; the Duval County Sheriff's Department serves as the de facto police agency for all of consolidated Jacksonville.

[Ross706]

To Newsboy, since Columbus is the only city in Muscogee County you would think we'd only have the police department since Columbus is a consolidated city-county but its a little bit of both though to answer your question but on subject though.

Crime on the rise? All due respect this isn't something that's new, alot of what happens in most of the neighborhoods in the city has been happening for years. The Columbus GA crime stats for 2011 were nothing more than a joke how much would you like to bet the powers that be juked the statistics so it would seem as if they're doing they're job I'm a young dude and even I know this. Most of whats happening is lucky to even be reported because there's alot of things happening that's not reported but thats not new either.

[tricky1]

I always wondered why the news channels don't report on crime
that much, You would think this place is Mayberry, if going by the news.

[rabernet]

Hmmmm, I guess it's all perspective. It would be interesting to see what the true statistics are.

Is crime really on the rise, or did the news report less of it last year? Having just moved from the metro Atlanta area, the crimes reported in the news here seem to be "filler" in the newscast more than anything for us. IE, they are reporting it to fill in parts of the newscast when there's nothing else to report.

At least that's my perspective.

[Brian_M]

Originally Posted by seadub2

I just hope the police will step up patrols (yea, right) or formulate some plan to get this crime spree under control. I don't think it's too much to ask to feel safe in your own home.

Thanks...

It's worth understanding that police/sheriff/law enforcement is considered "public safety". This is FAR different from "individual safety". You, as an individual, will only be as safe as you provide for yourself. Generally speaking, that's 90% just being aware of your surroundings and simple preventative stuff like, keeping a clean car that never has anything sitting out. Locking doors/windows, using a double-barrel deadbolts on doors with windows near-by, etc... For the women, wearing your purse across the body instead of just one one shoulder will dang near eliminate purse grabbings.

Law Enforcement will only arrive AFTER the crime has happened. I don't know about any of you, but I'd rather Prevent the crime in the first place than have to try and recover from an incident. They also don't have much interest in individual crime, it has to be something that's a threat to "multiples" (public at large) before they invest much effort.


Also, don't use MSM (Main Stream Media) as a gauge for anything. It's all biased one way or another, and tends to be bent on fear mongering for misdirection. A "here, look at this and don't worry about REAL problems/issues" ploy that's straight out of the magicians 101 handbook. There are better places to get information about whatever it is you're wanting to know.

[rabernet]

Another comment to add. One of the things that I noticed when I moved here is that I see far more police here than I did in metro Atlanta. I see at LEAST one patrol car every time I leave the apartment to go somewhere, even if it's just a quick 5 minute run to the convenience store.

In Marietta, I could do hours of running around and never see a police cruiser.

From MY perspective, it's far more peaceful here than the big city (as it should be). That doesn't mean that I let my guard down any (as to Brian's good comments).

[Ga_Girl2012]

Columbus hired a so called crime pervention expert in hopes of lowering the crime rate. Well since this guy has been hired crime has not gone down, but in fact gone up. And what up sets me is they hired an out sider for the job. So what are they implying that people from Columbus are too stupid or not qualitfied enough for the job of crime prevention?