From: james graham <<email obscured>>
To: "<email obscured>" <<email obscured>>
Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2017 9:20 AM
Subject: A Tale of Two Cities With Crime and Police Fear
A story of two cities
As a young man I was able to visit many cities in the United States and in
other countries. I fell in love with four over the course of those travels.
San Jose, Costa Rica, Vancouver B.C., Canada, Charleston, S. Carolina and of
course Minneapolis. The last two were the first ones and of course Minneapolis
was the one that I thought was the best. A beautiful young woman might have
played a part in that, but in fact before meeting her I had formed that opinion
from a cab ride down through South Minneapolis on the way from the airport to
Downtown Minneapolis.
In 1993 I became concerned with the growing crime problems in Minneapolis. I
was growing tired of always being on edge and the very real need to carry a gun
everyday while doing business. Thinking of expanding a jewelry business to a
friendlier place and also one where there were warmer winters, but still in the
United States, I suggested to my "partner" that we really do so to Charleston
South Carolina. The other U.S. city that I had absolutely loved after having
spent sometime there. A memory of the friendly people and walking down a
residential street in the evening with dogwood blossoming and meeting some very
classy women who seemed to love style and diamonds played a part in that that
thought process. And it was a very serious thought process so even with those
memories business still deserved due diligence. What i discovered at the time
was that Charleston like Minneapolis had become a very different city in the
last twenty years. Charleston now had an even higher crime rate and violent
crime rate than Minneapolis. It was decided that on that basis alone we would
forget Charleston.
Only a few years later I AGAIN became quite active in addressing the violent
and gang crime in Minneapolis. Minneapolis had become "Murderapolis" and I had
made National and international news by asking that the Phillips Neighborhood
of Minneapolis be declared a "National Disaster Area" because of violent crime
and associated blight. During that time I attended a conference where the
speaker was a Black man who was the Chief of Police for Charleston South
Carolina. I discovered I had made a mistake, this man and his policies had
dramatically changed the Public Safety Issues situation in Charleston.
He explained that taking ILLEGAL GUNS off the streets not only made the public
safer from criminals that it lessened the tension between his officers and the
public since it reduced some of the fear that the officers had to work under
when dealing with the public. He mentioned that the "Buy-Back" efforts of most
cities was simply a means of buying old broken guns and legal guns but NOT
illegal guns. So they instituted something that directly targeted the real
problem which was "Illegal Guns". That ANY handgun being carried by someone
without a "Permit To Carry" was by definition an "Illegal Gun". So they
decided on a different strategy, they would start a program where they paid
$500.00 but only for "Illegal Guns". To collect the bounty they started a "Gun
Hotline" where anyone could anonymously call to report one and receive and
"code". If that action caused the recovery of an "illegal gun" then the code
could be used to anonymously pick up the reward without questions. Not only
was an "illegal gun" taken off the street but the person possessing the illegal
gun was also taken off the street. Bartenders, called in, friends called in,
family called in, and even drug users called in to report their dealer called
in. (They got five hundred and could always find another was their rationale.
BUT it got a lot of "Illegal Guns" off the street and out of the hands of
violent criminals.
By this method they also reduced some of the stress of Police Officers having
to deal with the public. Probably not that much but if even a little it helped
and was worthwhile. It was certainly cheaper than hiring even a couple of
extra police officers to address the issue and far MORE effective than hiring
several in addressing the public's perception of Charleston. I have suggested
this several times on this forum. Cam Gordon has replied that we really should
study it, but so far nothing has happened. And of course the stress continues
for Police Officers working the streets of Minneapolis. That has been
exacerbated by the perception by most Minneapolis Police Officers that their
protecting themselves might result in loosing their career and being prosecuted
themselves. So the trust and relationships between officers and the public
they are supposed to serve continues to deteriorate.
If you want a simple "Study" of the problem, perhaps we should start with this
one. Let's start with a rational program to take "Illegal Guns" off the
streets of Minneapolis. See how that works on crime and "stress". As for
cost. It is far cheaper than anything else I can think of. Even might make
money for Minneapolis. If Minneapolis had a "Grants" program worth a damn they
should be able to get a Federal grant from the Justice Department OR Homeland
Security that would pay for it.
Sadly we might have politicians more interested in political rhetoric than they
are in actual problem solving. Especially when the vast majority of the
problem is contained in a few "Impacted Neighborhoods" of Minneapolis. Of
course, as we recently saw, that "Irrational Fear" and its associated stress
can cause; even in the "better neighborhoods" where more affluent people live
in Minneapolis. We also had six people shot last weekend according to the
Channel 5 News. By the way, ALL those six shot people, were shot by "illegal
guns" in possession of those who could not "legally" posses them.
How about it Cam? Get together with Barb, the new Police Chief and Mayor
Hodges then get this program started. If the real problem is illegal guns in
the possession of those that cannot Legally posses them, then concentrate on
illegal handguns and those that illegally posses them. Some might suggest
that such a thing is overly simplistic...I plead guilty! It is pretty simple.
:-)
Jim Graham