Warren’s crime statistics set stage for primary race

Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien reacted angrily not too long ago when he heard Jim Graham, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for mayor, say that crime is “running rampant” in the city. Now, O’Brien, who is not seeking re-election this year, has the 2010 crime statistics to challenge Graham’s assertion.

Indeed, the city’s safety-service director, Doug Franklin, is going head-to-head with the president of UAW Local 1112 in the May primary. A third potential candidate, Vincent Heflin, was disqualified last week when the county board of elections deemed his petitions to be flawed.

O’Brien has said that Graham, a political novice, does not understand how city government works and that his statements about Warren reflect such ignorance.

When he announced his candidacy, Graham said the city must clean up its act in order to make itself more attractive to business.

“If they [businesses] see a decaying city — crime running rampant, prostitution on the street, drug dealers on the street — they’re not going to come,” he said.

But the crime statistics for 2010 suggest that the words running rampant may be an exaggeration.

Violent crime — murders and robberies — were down last year compared with the year before, assaults, kidnappings and rapes were about the same, and burglaries were up.

A robbery involves a criminal having contact with his or her victim; a burglary is a theft that doesn’t involve direct contact with a victim.

There are explanations for both the decline and the increase. Last year, Warren benefitted greatly from several law-enforcement resources, especially the 10-week Violence, Gun Reduction Interdiction Program (V-GRIP). It was initiated by Steven M. Dettelbach, United States attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. It resulted in hundreds of arrests and dozens of guns taken off the streets.

The added police presence was bad for the criminals and good for potential victims.

As Police Chief Tim Bowers put it, “When there are federal prosecutions, they put the cream-of-the-crop criminals in prison for a long time.”

The V-GRIP initiative has shown similar positive results in cities like Youngstown, which have been plagued by high violent crime rates for a long time.

Bad guys commit bad crimes, so taking them off the streets is essential.

Mayor O’Brien and his police department have reason to feel good about the number of murders dropping from 9 in 2009 to 4 in 2010, and robberies declining from 138 to 125. The national economic recession has caused crime rates, especially in older industrial cities, to increase. Any reduction, therefore, is to be celebrated.

Juveniles

As for burglaries, Chief Bowers noted that the 1,075 last year, compared with 770 in 2009, can be largely attributed to school-age juveniles committing property crimes.

That is cause for concern and requires a pro-active strategy on the part of the police department, especially the juvenile division.

Indeed, it would be interesting to hear from Graham and Franklin — they are expected to participate in a series of political forums — as to how the city must deal with the increase in juvenile crime.

While the statistics show that there isn’t a crime epidemic in the city of Warren, the next mayor should articulate what programs would be initiated to deal with young people who have no respect for the law.