State universities and the safety of their students (Columbia, Greenville: gated, closing)
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According to the article that I read, the cops caught the guy pretty quickly a few minutes later. Seems like there was a good chance he would have have gotten away quickly and been fairly difficult to track down in the following days. SOunds like they were paying attention.
It isn't like they can act so quickly that they prevent somebody shooting a gun.
I read somewhere that the shooter was caught on a security camera (same thing with the guys who beat up the bartender or whatever at Group several months ago) so it was just a matter of tracking him down, which it appears they did a good job of.
simply catching these people (and I use that term losely) isn't good enough in my opinion...the violence that is happening down there never should happen in the first place. Let me be clear that I am not saying that the police are ever going to be able to stop all of the violence from taking place down there (or anywhere), but they need to do a better job at preventing the violence than they are currently doing.
I don't remember one incident like this when I was living in Columbia (and I spent a lot of time in five points), but there have been like 4 incidents of serious violence (Im not talking about 2 drunk guys throwing a couple of punches) in the last year or two.
It was appropriate for the OP to start this thread in the South Carolina forum.
“Enough is enough. We are here today because we all believe that the system is broken and the only way to fix it is by working together,” Benjamin said. “This isn’t a Five Points problem, it’s a community problem, it’s a city wide problem and it’s a state problem. We need to shut the revolving door on repeat violent offenders.” Mayor Steve Benjamin
The last two shootings that have occurred in Five Points (the one last weekend, and the one last spring) were BOTH repeat offenders at the trigger. Though I completely agree that the Police force does need to be more proactive in combating the issue, they can only really put a band-aid on a broken leg as a uniform officer, our stupid judges keep letting these guys out that are known thugs. I also know this may not be the most popular decision, but why not shut down the bars at midnight? Yes I know wouldn't be popular with the college students, but it really would cut down on the violence down there and if you really want to drink for four hours, just go out at 8. Correct me if im wrong, but doesn't Charleston have that in place?
Actually I think when you shut down bars when they are at their peak or still near it, you invite problems by pushing so many people out onto the sidewalks at the same time. It's not like they're going to immediately disperse and go home. They're going to stand around talking (the drunk ones yelling as much as talking) and clogging up the walkways. Then someone looks at someone the wrong way and someone says something and then look out. Thugs in such settings are animals of a different stripe, but such settings are fodder for their terror.
Actually I think when you shut down bars when they are at their peak or still near it, you invite problems by pushing so many people out onto the sidewalks at the same time. It's not like they're going to immediately disperse and go home. They're going to stand around talking (the drunk ones yelling as much as talking) and clogging up the walkways. Then someone looks at someone the wrong way and someone says something and then look out. Thugs in such settings are animals of a different stripe, but such settings are fodder for their terror.
Thats a good point, but I think it would also deter some from going out at all and also prevent people from being as drunk as they would be at 2 am but I didnt really consider midnight really being the peak time for Five Points.
One thing that is an out there idea, but looking at the timeline of when the violence began, as well as being down in Five Points experiencing this first hand leads me to believe this is very much a contributing factor, is lifting the smoking ban in Five Points bars.
The first serious round of violence started around the same time the smoking ban came into affect and since then, it has gotten to where it is now. With the exception of a few bars down there, smokers have to smoke on the sidewalk crowding the small area, causing drunk people to bump into one another, some of them thugs, some of them hot heads, etc. I have seen numerous occasions where this has escalated dramatically into a brawl and as we have seen in few instances can end up much worse.
Now I know that the timeline of violence down there had more contributing factors as well and also dont think this will resolve all issues, but I really think if we were to allow people to smoke inside the bars again down there instead of having them crowding up the sidewalks, we could stop altercations before they happen as well as be able to point out those looking to cause trouble a little easier.
Does anyone believe shutting off traffic will help keep thugs out of 5 points? I am not sure since i am in Charlotte but it seems like the sheriff wants to give it a try.
Thats a good point, but I think it would also deter some from going out at all and also prevent people from being as drunk as they would be at 2 am but I didnt really consider midnight really being the peak time for Five Points.
Unless college students have changed a lot in Columbia, they hardly even arrive at the clubs before midnight, especially after a late home game.
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