Y'town should profile criminals

Sunday, August 27, 2006 When hundreds of people are forced to run for the exits because a gunman not only shoots his target to death, but does so in plain view of little children, that's terrorism. When senior citizens are afraid to venture out of their broiling homes because the streets have been turned into war zones by armed thugs, that's terrorism. And when a child sitting in what is thought to be the safety of his home is hit by a bullet that comes through an outside wall, that's terrorism. And when law-abiding citizens become so afraid, a see-no-evil mentality takes over, that's what terrorism does. Baghdad? Beirut? Either would be a reasonable assumption — but the acts of terrorism described above occurred in Youngstown. If using the "T" word insults your sensibilities, consider this headline in Tuesdays Vindicator: "Mayor: Let's take city back." Back from whom? The terrorists who have shown a total disregard for the law and for society. Peewee football Mayor Jay Williams' comment was prompted by the killing of a Youngstown man at a peewee football game in the former South High School stadium on the city's South Side. But it was not just the killing, which certainly isn't an unusual phenomenon in the city, that prompted the mayor to speak out. It was the fact that it occurred in the presence of hundreds of children, their parents and other adults who were on hand to watch little ones play football. It was family fun turned deadly. But when Williams talked about taking back the city, it had to do with not wanting residents to give up the streets to the thugs — even though that has already happened in some neighborhoods. The mayor insists that the shooting at the youth football game was an isolated incident, but when you add that incident to all the other brazen killings that have occurred in Youngstown, the case can be made that they meet the definition of terrorism. And once that definition is applied, then the options for fighting such crime multiply. Chief among them is the profiling of the criminals who have turned Youngstown into a battleground. Why profiling? Because Americans have shown a willingness to embrace such a strategy in the war on global terrorism. After 9/11, when it became known that the killers were of Middle Eastern descent, the call for profiling all brown skinned people reverberated through the country. Thus, today, any person who looks like he or she is from "over there," even one who is an American citizen of Indian ancestry from a Portuguese colony, born in East Africa, with deep roots in Roman Catholicism, is questioned extensively upon leaving and returning to the United States. No, it isn't a comfortable feeling, especially when being interrogated by individuals who are obviously less educated and less articulate, but such is the price to be paid for what occurred when terrorists attacked America's homeland in 2001. Criminal profile Likewise, the terrorists who have held Youngstown hostage for so long fit a certain profile. They are mostly black men ranging in age from 15 to early 30s. They have criminal records and, in all likelihood, have served time in juvenile hall or in prison. They are the ones who own Youngstown's streets, and they are the ones who should be removed from our midst. How can this be accomplished? No one is suggesting that the police stop every individual who is adorned with bling-bling, driving a luxury vehicle that just doesn't fit, trolling the streets talking on a cell phone. That would be un-American. (Or would it, given the rules of engagement when it comes to homeland security?) But what law enforcement should do is let law-abiding citizens know when there is an individual with a criminal record in their midst. As an example: The arrest warrant for Anthony M. Caulton, 25, in the South High stadium shooting opens the door for the police department to put his picture, the details of the charges against him and a description of what occurred during the peewee football game on every billboard that's available in the city. That profile of the alleged shooter will not only serve to remind everyone to be on the lookout for him, but will be a warning to other such criminals that they can run but they can't hide. It is noteworthy that soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the national press conducted interviews with citizens about the fairness in profiling all brown-skinned people living in this country. Most blacks questioned said they saw nothing wrong with the practice.