Rise In Crime Stirs Unease In Suburbs

[ricco67]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/2874287

Oct. 31, 2004, 12:56AM

Rise in crime stirs unease in suburbs

Violent acts increase along with population

By ALLAN TURNER

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

Not too long ago, a crime wave in Harris County's suburbs might have meant nothing more than a few stolen bicycles, a broken window or a vandalized mailbox. Schools were good, houses cheap and neighbors friendly in those idyllic enclaves far from the city's bump and bother.

But so appealing was the semirural life that the city soon followed. In 1990, roughly 800,000 of the county's 2.8 million residents lived in its unincorporated areas. By 2000, more than 1.2 million of the county's 3.4 million residents jammed into areas once devoted to cattle or crops.

With them came crime, the worm in paradise.

Now, in western Harris and eastern Fort Bend counties, where so-called "driveway robbers" this year struck more than 100 times, suburbanites no longer take security for granted.

"I feel like it's best for me to escort my wife to the car when she goes to work in the morning," said John Steiger, president of the 1,500-member Mission Bend Civic Association. "When I get home at night, I look around to make sure everything is OK before I get out of the car."

Area residents said they exercise similar precautions. One never embarks on a stroll without her cellular telephone. Another packs a pistol as he mows the lawn.

FBI statistics released last week underscore the transformation. While crime in Houston continued to fall in 2003, the numbers of most violent offenses in unincorporated Harris County marched upward. Rapes for 2003 totalled 344 cases, up 47 from 2002; robberies jumped from 1,717 in 2002 to 1,807 in 2003; aggravated assaults rose to 4,371 from 2002's 4,058.

Increases also were reported in unincorporated Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

Law enforcement officers were quick to note that such figures hardly represent a tidal wave of crime. By comparison, Houston's violent crime, though down, stood at a substantial 23,988 cases.

On the whole, Harris County residents are unconcerned about crime, regardless of what the numbers suggest. In 2004, only 11 percent of respondents listed crime as their biggest urban concern in Rice University's Houston Area Survey, down from 73 percent a decade ago.

Still, suburbanites' sense of vulnerability is corrosive to peace of mind.

"Almost 90 percent of the people selling their homes will move farther out

[dbigtex56]

If I understand this correctly, our city taxes pay for a police department which serves only the City of Houston, and our county taxes pay for the sheriff's department, which covers all of Harris County.

So if the sheriff's department is kept busy with crimes outside of the jurisdiction of HPD, is this another example of the city subsidizing the suburbs?

[Guest danax]

Looks like the rise in crime out in the burbs and the drop in crime in the city could be, at least partially, due to the demographic flip-flop that both places are experiencing. Kids have always been in the suburbs but now the cities are being populated more with childless, mature adults so there's a big segment of the criminal pool gone. Plus, and I could get reamed for this but what the heck, the minorities are moving to the suburbs while their population is shrinking within the city. An example that I've witnessed is Spring, the part of off 1960 between 45 and 59. I bought a house there in '92 and it was almost all white. I left in '94 but I still go up there sometimes and it's at least half minority. It still looks OK, but there is more grafitti and the schools now have cops, but that could be anywhere these days, I'm not sure. I'll go even further out on a limb, and I have no data to support this, but I think a lot of minorities prefer the suburbs because it indicates a recognized standard of success to own a nice house in a nice neighborhood, and so the nicer suburbs are where middle class people who care about what others think of them can feel successful, whereas the inner-city gentrifying types, especially the ones that started the ball rolling, don't give a hoot about that and are attracted to the artistic and cultural atmosphere the city, as well as the practical benefits of proximity. I hope I'm not perceived as racist, I just wanted to share some observances and thoughts that I've had and that won't likely show up in major media.

[westguy]

So if the sheriff's department is kept busy with crimes outside of the jurisdiction of HPD, is this another example of the city subsidizing the suburbs?

That may be the case, but I think some of the blame should be pointed at the Bush adminstration's cuts in the federal grants given to local law enforcement agencies. When we are relying on our law enforcement for Homeland Security, most communities across have had to take officers off the streets because they can no longer afford them

That's why I voted for Kerry (even though it doesn't count in this state.) He will be able to restore this program and get our country's priorities straight. The past four years of security have been a joke.