Sheep Shocker: Police stations don't offer bubble of safety

[Fixintu]

Say it ain't so Joe............

Police stations don't offer bubble of safety | Fort Worth | Star-Telegram.com

Posted on Tue, Sep. 02, 2008

Police stations don't offer bubble of safety


By ALEX BRANCH and JEFF CLAASSEN
abranch@star-telegram.com
From her front porch, Alma Abundez can see the police cars parked outside the Haltom City Law Enforcement Center, and they make her feel secure.

No criminals would lurk that close to police headquarters, she said.

Actually, they would. Abundez was surprised to learn that more than 40 crimes, including violent crime such as assault, have occurred within a quarter-mile of the Police Department since mid-October.

In fact, a Star-Telegram analysis of crime in Tarrant County found that, in general, most crimes are as likely to occur near police stations as near bars or sexually oriented businesses. The 40 crimes near the Haltom City station are about the average for police stations.

That is the kind of information readers can find on the Star-Telegram’s crime Web site, dfwcrime.star-telegram.com, which debuts today. People can enter an address and view a map of crimes committed in the area each week.

Abundez, 30, said she was surprised to learn that so many crimes occur close to police departments.

"You feel so safe being close by," she said.

Police presence’s impact

Perhaps it shouldn’t be too surprising, said Dr. Alex del Carmen, chairman of the department of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Texas at Arlington.

In the 1970s, a well-known study of whether a police presence deterred criminals, called the Kansas City Patrol Experiment, found that it had limited if any impact, he said.

"We have incidents where police cars are burglarized," del Carmen said. "That, in itself, is a sign that police presence doesn’t have the effect that perhaps some believe it does.

"You also have to remember that when officers go to a substation, they don’t patrol around the substation," he said. "They do that somewhere else."

The Star-Telegram analysis found similar rates of theft and burglary around police stations and near bars and sexually oriented businesses.

Rates for more violent crimes, like assault and robbery, were also similar.

Homicide rates, however, were higher in the vicinity of bars.

Plenty of reasons

Police said there are plenty of reasons for crime around police stations.

"A lot of crimes are spur of the moment," said Lt. Blake Miller, an Arlington police spokesman. "They might not even realize they’re a half-block from a police station. Those people aren’t driving around, planning where to do it."

Sgt. J.D. Stanford of the Fort Worth Police Department concurred. Last year, an officer arrested a man for indecent behavior in the parking lot at Station 5 on East Lancaster Avenue.

"Some people do what they do wherever and whenever the urge hits them," he said.

Some stations are near dense retail areas, where there are always a lot of property crimes. Wal-Mart and Target stores — and many other retail stores — sit within a quarter-mile of the Hurst Police Department at Airport Freeway and Precinct Line Road.

The Police Department gets about 75 calls a month from within a quarter-mile of the station.

When crime doesn’t pay

Committing crimes next to police stations has gotten some crooks caught. Police at Station 3 in north Fort Worth have nabbed several burglars after alarms sounded at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School in recent years, said the station commander, Lt. J.T. Morgan. The school is a half-block from the station, from which officers come and go at all hours.

Abundez, who lives next to the Haltom City station, said that even if the sight of a police station doesn’t discourage crime, they’re good for peace of mind.

She said, "I’ll take a police station there over a bar any day."

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Reborn]

Who can say Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

[Cthulhu]

If a person is capable of making the decision to victimize and objectify another to comment a violent crime, that person isn't going to care how close to a police station their victim is. Their thought processes don't work that way.

My office is within spitting distance of the local PD. I've always been curious as to how long it would take them to get here if we needed to call 911. We are close enough to where it would literally be quicker for an officer to simply walk across the street than to unlock a cruiser, get in, start it up, and drive across the street.

The second you assume a location is completely safe is exactly when Murphy pops his mug in the door and says "Hi!".

-JT

[Reborn]

We are close enough to where it would literally be quicker for an officer to simply walk across the street than to unlock a cruiser, get in, start it up, and drive across the street.

Mostly likely no one from the PD will be sent. It will be the patrol officer that is assigned to your area.

[Tye_Defender]

Abundez, who lives next to the Haltom City station, said that even if the sight of a police station doesn’t discourage crime, they’re good for peace of mind.

That pretty much sums up the point of view of most of my anti-gun friends. Their minds made up, don't confuse them with facts. Even though they are less safe, they "fell" more safe and that's all that matters to them.

[havegunjoe]

While I may agree that I would rather have a police station near me instead of a bar I find no sense of safety in it. You must protect yourself. That is the simple reality of life.

[chuck brick]

When I was a kid in the -60's, I lived in Italy (Yeah, a Service Brat!) across the street from the Vigilantes station. In English a "vigilante" is a negative connotation, but in it's original it's just Vigilant, or "watchful." There was no safer area in town - not even near the Federales (State police) station.
Even during Election year: You think it gets "tense" here??

Stay safe,

Chuck Brick.

[Macattack]

I don't care if you live in the police stations attic! If someone is attacking/raping /robbing you, then they are still not close enough to be safe. But she feels safe so whatever.....continue nibbling in the pasture
-mac