"New low for SB crime"

New low for SB crimes
Officials: Phoenix brings drop in rate
By Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/22/2008 10:33:44 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO - Over the past two years, the city's crime rate has dropped to its lowest level in more than two decades, a sure sign of the effectiveness of Mayor Pat Morris' Operation Phoenix, according to city leaders.

In 2006, the crime rate fell to 59 crimes per 1,000 residents, a substantial drop from 112 crimes per 1,000 residents in 1985, the earliest year for which statistics are available. The crime rate ticked up slightly last year, but remained below all years other than 2006.

"Are you in fact safer today than you were 23 years ago?" asked Morris, who advocated Operation Phoenix during his campaign for office in 2005. "The answer is a resounding `yes."'

The city's crime statistics follow the national average over the past two decades, drastically spiking in the early 1990s and then waning until shortly after 2000, when it climbed again.

Overall crime soared in the early 1990s due to a surge in gang violence and saturation of crack cocaine in urban cities, said Steve Tibbitts, a criminology professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Crime dropped in the latter 1990s, creeped up again in the early 2000s, but has been declining since 2003.

Violent crime, however, has risen nearly 7percent over the past year, a statistic that criminologists find disturbing.

"There is a problem with police statistics, and that is the reporting factor," said Andrew Karmen, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal
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Justice in New York.

Tibbitts concurred, noting that the decline in crime overall was hard to fathom given recent increases in violent crime, which he believes to be a better indicator of general safety.

"I find it hard to believe," he said. "It may show the community simply is not reporting crime or there could be some problems with the definitions of crime."

All crime categories except murder and motor vehicle theft have a significant "dark figure," which means many incidents may go unreported, criminologists said.

Tension between law enforcement and the community may also be a factor.

"A department that develops good, close ties with a community will hear about (crime) more," Karmen said. "A department that alientates the public, they're not going to hear about many crimes because (residents are) not going to call for help unless they're bloody."

Relations between the Police Department and the Westside have deteriorated in recent months, prompting a federal mediator's arrival in mid-December.

After several community meetings, Police Chief Michael Billdt proposed policy changes to improve sensitivity training for officers and help residents feel comfortable interacting with police.

City leaders acknowledge they still have a long way to go in cleaning up crime, but said the Operation Phoenix anti-crime program has made all the difference because it has engaged the entire community and created a momentum that will carry them forward.

"Our partnerships lead to problem solving," Assistant Police Chief Frank Mankin said. "There are few communities in this county that have the model we have firing on all cylinders."

The program, which emphasizes suppression, intervention and prevention, helped push crime down by 38percent in a 20-block corridor during the second half of 2006.

The Police Department increased overtime budgeting, hired 63 new officers, repositioned 25 officers in high-crime neighborhoods and partnered with several other law-enforcement agencies.

Neighborhood Watch groups have sprouted up, religious organizations have pitched in, and officials have provided more recreation programs and children's services.

"The reason we've had success, as a department and as a community, is because we've engaged all our stakeholders and entered into collaborative work efforts to really solve all those risk factors," Billdt said.

Experts agree that an effective way to cut crime is to address issues like poverty, dysfunctional families, unemployment, school drop-out rates and teen pregnancy.

Still, violent crime is ticking up in surrounding cities as well, and the slumping economy and crashing housing market have officials bracing for further increases in criminal activity.

"We have great challenges ahead of us - let's make no mistake about that," Morris said. "But we have made substantional progress against crime."

They''ll say anything/do anything over at the PD to make it look like there doing there job.

Word up on that! Check out this web-site I ranned into a while back about one ex SBPD officer now exposing the corruption within the department.... http://goodbadcorrupt.com/

Ah, funny ole boy didn't seem to have a problem with corruption when they was jackin fools for dope money on the westside. He was one of the anti-gang patrolmen (SMASH) and he wasn't as innocent as he make it seem. He put in his share of work for sho. Don't be fooled by the anti-corruption stance, its all political.

"Are you in fact safer today than you were 23 years ago?" asked Morris, who advocated Operation Phoenix during his campaign for office in 2005. "The answer is a resounding `yes."'

This is part of the biggest problem right here, and the biggest issue I have with these ridiculous comments made on these articles. Its these little remarks that give away insight on how corrupt the folks who claim to govern SB is. And it says alot on how things work in the San Bernardino "officiation". It shows the lack of concern and sympathy that these so called city officials have.

If the punk ass mayor who acts like he's doing the community rite by enforcing all his outrageous "operations" which by the way is basically "lock up any niggas you see outside" and "harras innocent folks while you at it".

If Pat Morris actually knew anything about history and how crime trends work/worked in San Bernardino and how they work everywhere period, he would know that the 80's was some of the most violent times seen/experienced to date. (Yet he does know this but the denial and refusal to say the truth continues as usual).

This is documented info, but, even the documentation itself has been tampered with over at the PD. So how and why is they even bringing this as public question to the masses? See how they play on matters as serious as these? Shit disgust me.

I feel you Ryda but Morris knows full well the seriousness of what is going on. He was and is apart of the problem. Before becoming Mayor Morris, he was good ole judge Morris. He spent decades sentencing people to long prison terms without so as blinking an eye. He bears responsibility for destroying a good many lives and families from his perch. He was sworn to uphold justice but he never gave a second thought to mercy. He never took into account the manipulation which led many young people to commit crimes and violent acts. He doesn't care about the mis-placed aggression, or economic disparity or how the gentrification process destroyed communal relations. All he cares about is making money. Keeping those federal funds flowing into the city because he doesn't have an economic plan to lift the city out of the tailspin it has been in since the Santa Fe packed up and left and Norton closed. Nothing has changed in 30 years in this city. Young people have very few alternatives. What you gonna go to college for when you can't get no job at the end of four years? All you got is a receipt (diploma) and a bunch debt (student loans).

You might as well go on down and get hooked up at Los Padrinos or Victory Outreach. That way you can roll around and sell your sacks with city protection. (LOL) You know what I'm talkin about, they got more dope in them vans than alittle bit. Plus they got city contracts on this Operation Phoenix thing. They winnin all the way around. In the mean time Morris keeps right on running off at the lip bout his successful program. Whatever. He ain't did a damn thang to make the city safer. He just got a few more people from outside the community jobs down at the PD. What I want to know is, how things gone change when you got niggas like Affrunti gunnin folks down and then bailin out of town to live in peace when his shift is over? You want to improve community relations? Go out and hire some respected people from the Flats, from Mt. Vernon, the Projects, The CG's, The Waterman Gardens, Delman Heights, Carverdale, Topo City. You feel me? Let the people police they own hoods. Give em somethin to be proud of outside the neighborhood gang. Let a few of them $60 grand a year jobs filter into the Westside and make a difference. Why we got to look to sports, rap and dope sellin to get a piece of the pie. Let me stop cause they ain't listenin right? (smile). I might just run in the next election. Get some of this stuff cleaned up and get my city on track. Ez-up.

Real talk Ty Ty. I'm just about about fed up and ready to explode sometimes by the way this city is being ran. Folks is tired of having to go through the same bullshit day in and day out with the city doing absolutely nothing in means to get the city out of the trenches. I got more on this that i'll speak on later.

Clash over crime stats
Two officials refute mayor
Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 03/05/2008 10:37:51 PM PST

SAN BERNARDINO - Two city officials have challenged claims by Mayor Pat Morris that the city is safer now than it has been in more than two decades.

City Attorney James F. Penman and Councilwoman Wendy McCammack say crime statistics touted by the mayor give a false impression of the city's progress in fighting crime.

The statistics show the city's crime rate - the number of crimes per 1,000 residents - is lower over the past two years than at any point since 1985, the earliest year for which numbers are available.

"Are you in fact safer today than you were 23 years ago? The answer is a resounding `yes,"' Morris said in a recent interview.

The comment sparked a political squabble over the state of crime in San Bernardino, with Penman and McCammack arguing that the city is not safer.

McCammack and Penman have long dissented with the mayor over his anti-crime strategies, which focus on youth and intervention programs in addition to crime suppression. They instead argue that public funds should be spent on beefing up the police department and employing more aggressive policing and suppression measures.

The debate is ongoing among top city officials and often crosses over into politics. Penman failed in his bid against Morris for the mayoral seat in 2005, and Morris backed McCammack's opponent in her recent run for re-election.

Redlands-based regional economist John Husing, who studies the Inland Empire, said clashing
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political agendas and plays for power often distract from issues at hand.

"San Bernardino is the only city I know where people would be arguing over crime getting lower," he said. "No matter what issue it is, all good news is dismissed, and all bad news is emphasized. This is a constant freeway battle where everybody wants to get the edge on everybody else."

Morris and Police Chief Michael Billdt credit the mayor's anti-crime program, Operation Phoenix, for bringing crime down over the past two years.

Penman and McCammack derided the mayor's optimism, claiming the numbers aren't an accurate reflection of what's happening in the city.

"Many of us saw this as the equivalent of President Bush standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier announcing, `Mission Accomplished,' the war in Iraq is over," Penman said in an interview. "We're not safer than we were in '85, and it's false and misleading to say that we are."

Morris, responding in a prepared statement, said the remarks by Penman and McCammack are "a slap in the face to both our police officers and our community.

"Facts are facts - both violent crime and property crime are at their lowest per capita rate in two decades."

The police chief lauded Operation Phoenix for its success in lowering crime, adding that officers have worked "incredibly hard" to reduce crime in recent years.

Statistics show the number of crimes per 1,000 residents in San Bernardino was down to 58.78 in 2006 and up slightly to 59.71 in 2007.

Per capita crime peaked in 1996 at 128.07 per 1,000, dropped to 64.02 in 2000 and climbed again to 77.98 in 2003.

Crime declined through 2006 and edged up slightly in 2007.

Raw data shows violent crime up 6.7 percent in 2007 from 2006, though still down overall from 2005.

McCammack, however, contends violent crime is actually up by more than 15 percent in 2007.

"I had hoped that you could, in good conscience, say that you are truly safer now than in 1985," she said as she was sworn in to a new four-year term this week. "However, with violent crime up 15.1percent in calendar year '07 compared to '06, our own statistics show we are not safer."

McCammack arrives at her calculation by averaging percentage increases in four categories of violent crime - criminal homicide up 2.17percent, forcible rape up by 48percent, robbery down 4.65 percent and aggravated assault up by 14.95percent.

By McCammack's count, that's an increase of 15.1percent in violent crime.

"That's not valid," said Rick Cornez, a mathematics professor at the University of Redlands. "She's treating all categories the same and overweighting or underweighting the ones" that may not have significant changes of incidents.

The mayor and police chief also questioned McCammack's formula for calculating the city's rise in violent crime.

Statistics are usually calculated based on the number of crimes. There were 2,152 violent crimes in 2007 as opposed to 2,017 in 2006 - an increase of 6.69 percent.

"We have more work to do but the whole analysis of crime per capita, you have to look at the population increase as well. What it shows it what it shows," Billdt said.

And what it shows, he said, is a substantial drop in overall crime since 1985 - thanks, in part, to Operation Phoenix - and a small uptick in violent crime last year.

McCammack contends Operation Phoenix has not been as effective as the mayor would have the public believe.

"We may have touched a few young people's lives forever, which is a good thing, but all we've done with Operation Phoenix is move one set of criminals from one area to another," she said in an interview.

McCammack and Penman said too many crimes are unreported in the city for several reasons: a backlog of police calls leave residents waiting too long to report an incident, not allowing some crimes to be reported over the telephone and strained tensions between the Police Department and some neighborhoods.

Billdt dismissed the suggestion that unreported crimes render the statistics invalid.

"The issue of unreported crime is as true today as it was 20 years ago," Billdt said. "That's been the situation since the beginning of maintaining crime statistics. But the data is accurate."