Crime Increases? Please share your stories

I was very surprised when an FB friend of mine (whom I do know in real life too) recently posted a comment that one of her co-workers had been violently assaulted on the Lakewalk and there was nothing in the DNT about it that I saw. Since my friend works at one of the establishments near Uncle Harvey's I would assume the assault occurred near there.

I'm not sure why we expect the news to report crime.  But even if I give you that, don't forget that we all have access to Crime Mapping.

This is a perennial complaint that is, as far as I have ever seen here, always defeated by real live statistics. People always report "feeling" like crime is going up, because there is a rash of activity in their vicinity, or reported on the news, and then are unbelieving when the stats don't support it. 

It is summer. Things happen. It sucks. But the crime-mapping always pretty much looks the same. 

Is it possible that the "stonewalling" you're seeing is because the copshop has to respond to this insistance on non-facts seasonally?

The crime mapping thing is cool, I hadn't seen that before.

+1 HBH. I still have your Old Man archive.

Quite a few police departments have been caught falsifying their crime statistics.

The DPD's FB had a statement the other day about how they believe crime SHOULD be transparent. Maybe it's the news outlets that are hiding things.

(Yeah, I don't believe everything I see on FB, but the DPD does have the crime map site and app, so...)

I don't understand the assertion that something is being hidden. Can someone explain that to me? Is there evidence that something is being hidden from the public?

NO news outlet reports every single crime that happens. None. Why should we expect that?

The reason I said that is because our friends were approached by the news for more information, particularly about what seems like an increase in gang activity.  The news reporters told the victims that they can't get any info from the police, where ordinarily it isn't a problem.  It's unsettling personally to know so many crime victims in such a short period of time.

I know the DNT isn't going to report every crime that happens ... but it did surprise me that an employee of a popular new brew pub situated next to the Lakewalk was violently assaulted -- "mugged" and "beaten badly" on June 24 according to his co-worker -- and it didn't make the local media.  That's something that I, as someone who has walked on the Lakewalk at all hours of the day and night, certainly would like to be informed of.

Dude, anyplace not-your-home is dangerous after dark.  You don't need a news story to tell you that.  

As for the "increase in gang activity," that's (a) a potentially at least biased if not discriminatory label unless there is some hard evidence behind it defining "gang" and (b) what I call "summer."

Not only does the media not report every crime that happens, the only crimes they DO report are those that the police department puts out in a press release. No reporter ever takes the initiative to go to the police station and check the log sheets themselves. They used to, a decade ago, but these days few reporters seem to have any initiative to do anything.

Thus, because of repertorial apathy, the police department enjoys a huge degree of control over its own portrayal in the media.

I would have to ask, do the incidents that you described in your posts show up on crimemapping.com?

If they do, then the information is public and your concerns are unfounded.

On July 8 the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension released its 2012 Uniform Crime Report. It shows a 3.4 percent increase in violent crimes statewide compared to 2011.

Click the link for a PDF with more numbers than you could ever want to look at.

Eyewitness News looked at Duluth Police Department records and reported: 

* Duluth has had two homicides in the first half of 2013, compared to two in all of 2012 and zero in 2011.

* There were 92 robberies in 2012, compared to 88 in 2011.

* There were 214 aggravated assaults in 2012, compared to 183 in 2011. 

* Instances of rape dropped to 33 in 2012, compared to 47 in 2011.

The WDIO story notes that Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay will address city councilors on this issue Thursday.