Safety around the area of Cedars apartments at Wellington Lake, Little Rock

[jenni-b]

I understand, safety is important to you, and I don't blame you at all for trying determine the crime rate in various complexes. I just hate to see anyone (not just you by any means!) painting all ex-New Orleans residents with the same brush.

[HANNU]

Originally Posted by jenni-b

Besides which, black or white, most people who have moved here from New Orleans are not criminals or troublemakers. It is a shame that a few bad apples have tainted some people's opinions of all these newcomers.

I am not going to roll over on this one. It may be politically incorrect to say it but all of the areas that had an influx of Katrina 'refugees' after the hurricane had a drastic increase in crime, especially Houston. It is incorrect to say that is just a few bad apples, epecially to the 'more than few' people who suffered at the hands of these 'newscomers'.

The usual disclaimer follows: it is aparent that not all Katrina refugees are committing crimes.

[RogMar]

Originally Posted by jenni-b

I'm sorry, but this "migrants from New Orleans" thing is starting to bother me. Is this just code for "black"?

Besides which, black or white, most people who have moved here from New Orleans are not criminals or troublemakers. It is a shame that a few bad apples have tainted some people's opinions of all these newcomers.

I have three things to reflect on in reference to the relocation of Katrina evacuees.

The first was friends at Dallas P.D. and Houston P.D., who for months told me about the explosion of crime with the evacuee flood and how they were unable to handle it.

No, not every evacuee was a criminal, but from a sociology viewpoint, the people that remained in cities that the government relocated them to had nothing in New Orleans to return to in the first place.

In addition, people who are the regular "clients" of the police dept., and are well known both in identity and where they can be found, welcome whole new opportunities in new "fields" while FEMA even pays their rent.

The second thing was FBI UCR reports. I'm not a big believer in "stats", but when I see a *huge* difference for violent crime in an area for one year versus the previous year, well....ya gotta wonder.

Third thing was, Pruitt-Igoe, and all the grand experiments that followed.

Pruitt-Igoe was a huge housing complex in St. Louis. Some government agency brilliantly said, "We're going to give these poor folks nicer places to live" and began building brick box houses out in various neighborhoods.

Eventually they had a huge amount of these new structures, and began moving folks out to them, all over the city.

The St. Louis crime rate absolutely blew up.

Why?

Because of something the genius do-gooders never considered.

Self-policing, and neighborhood values.

Sure, there was crime in Pruitt-Igoe, but since a large part of the place was the family of your friends, and those who "watched your back", it was at a minimum.

Once they were out, where nobody knew them, and they knew nobody......voila'...the cuffs are off.

That was the first great lesson in relocation, however some folks just never heard the tune.