Crime in Lakewood: Gang Activity and Violence are on the increase

Friday, August 28, 2009

Crime in Lakewood: Gang Activity and Violence are on the increase

Some of you will recall the post below asking if anyone had questions or concerns about crime in town based on recent statistics report. The report came to my attention because the Lakewood City Council was supposed to have a discussion in front of the City Council about crime trends, and we didn’t.

Frankly, I didn’t hear from a lot of folks. Crime doesn’t seem to be much of an issue. This tells me crime may be a simmering but not front-burner issue for the kind of people who read this blog or follow me on Facebook.

The numbers, though, tell a somewhat different story. I’m going to humbly suggest to my colleagues on the Lakewood City Council that we keep crime and crime prevention at the front of our minds as we enter the planning process for the 2010 budget.

Absent a discussion in front of the council, I did some number-crunching myself.And the numbers about gangs are worth knowing.

Based on current trends, we’re set to have more gang arrests this year than we have in any of the last five years in Lakewood. If trends continue, there will be 116 people arrested for gang-related activity, versus 113 arrested in 2006.

In April, May and June of this year, there were 35 people arrested for gang-related activity, the second highest number of any three months in five years (there were 62 arrested in October, November and December of 2006)

Year to year, that means 116 people would be arrested this year, versus 77 last year, an increase of 50 percent.

In terms of overall crime, other numbers are distressing. Violent crime for the first six months of 2009 is up 27 percent from the same period last year. Apparently a lot of that increase is due to the horrible crime of domestic violence, and I’ll see if we can get some numbers released about the trends in that crime over the last five years.

There is good news! Property crime is down 17 percent from the previous year. So that’s good.

And let me stress, these numbers are no reflection on the police department and the volunteers of the town who seek to prevent and stop crime. There may be a national tend afoot, and if someone more familiar with police and crime stats wants to weigh in, that would be welcome. It’s all possible that police are doing a better or different job in how they categorize gang crime.

One reason I was hoping we’d have a discussion in front of the council is to get some context. Lakewood’s violent crime rate in 2008 was higher than it was in places like Puyallup and Federal Way, for example, and the council really needs to talk about this when we’re formulating our budget (The good news for my loyal readers, both of you, is that there will be more numbers to come as I look at crime trends in other cities)

My main point in this exercise was to show that crime is an important issue in Lakewood, not just intuitively, but by the numbers.

Sam said…

I actually think I can shed a bit of context into this discussion.

There’s a couple points you’re missing in your analysis on the crime numbers that skew the results. I’ll deal with Gang Activity first: You state that Gang Related Arrests are higher this year than the past 5 years, and this is true, but it doesn’t necessarily correlate that Gang Related activity is increasing. There is something very different this year in Lakewood that could explain the sharp increase in arrests – our new Gang Unit, started this Spring, which by all accounts is kicking ass and taking names at a pretty darn good rate and is focusing specifically on Gang issues. In fact, the drop in property crimes (especially car thefts) could indicate that Gang Activity is actually down this year, though without complete data (contacts, drug crimes, etc) this is all just speculation. We also shouldn’t be surprised that Gang Arrests are peaking in Summertime, because nationally all areas see a Summertime increase in Gangs due to school being out.

As far as Violent Crimes go, unfortunately Domestic Violence is up nationwide, due in no small part to the struggling economy with people losing jobs and savings and just generally losing control of their lives in ways beyond their control. There is an observed historical trend that when layoffs increase in an area, Domestic Violence follows; it’d be nice if there was more we could do to prevent this from happening, but it’s just an ugly reality that’s happened before and will happen again during the next recession.

Hope this helps a bit; numbers are invaluable, but without context don’t really mean a whole lot.

1:36 AM

TheDeanOfMen said…

All the more reason to organize as neighbors to know what is normal in your neighborhood and show solidarity against gang activity and all crime in general. Work with the police, no matter what you think of their driving skills, to get crime off the streets of Lakewood or UP or Steilacoom or Dupont or wherever you live. It is our responsibility as citizens to make our communities safe. Sitting back and complaining about the police or crying about what the “government” is doing is the wrong answer. The question is, “What are you doing to make your neighborhood a safer place!” until that happens nothing will change.

11:59 AM

Rick said…

MR. Neary, it is important to note that while the numbers do show a significant rise in gang arrest it does not directly relate to increase in gang activity. It may simply be an increase in arrest generated by the new Gang Task Force set up LPD. According to information presented to PSAC the Gang unit has made a difference in identifying gang related incidents and arresting gang related individuals. Just something to think about.

1:44 PM

Walter said…

Thanks to everyone for the comments below. The numbers are not as important as what the council should be doing in terms of policy and budget. So I’m hearing there is support for continuing the gang unit, and that’s a useful piece of information. (that may seem silly, but I’ve had people tell me with a very straight face that if crime is decreasing we should spend less on police)

Anyway, keep the comments coming. I hope there’s lots more numbers, discussion and context.

2:58 PM

Walter said…

Oh, and I forgot to add, I’ve asked for numbers about domestic violence so we can see those statistics. DV is always horrible, but if it’s a growing problem, the council needs to know that as we enter budget deliberations.

2:59 PM

David Anderson said…

Google “Gambling & Domestic Violence” and you’ll find they are linked. Lakewood has gambling and an apparent increase in DV, thus a serious inquiry by the council of the police department’s DV investigations of such links is past due. Sources are cited for the following stats at the googled-site.
1. 25-50% of spouces of compulsive gamblers have been abused.
2. Survey of 144 spouses of compulsive gamblers found 50% were physically and verbally abused by souse and 12 % had attempted suicide.
3. Emergency room study showed odds ratio of intimate partner violence increased 10.5 times when partner was problem gambler.
4. Child neglect is a form of domestic violence. In Indiana 72 children were found abandoned in casino premises in 14 month period.
5. In Mississippi domestic violence centers reported 300% increase in requests for help after casinos opened.
6. Nebraska medical school study found problem gambling as much a risk for domestic violence as alcohol abuse.

7:29 PM

TheDeanOfMen said…

Then by all means PUNISH the persons committing the crime DO NOT blame “the devil”! DO NOT punish LEGALLY operating businesses. Saying Gambling is the cause of crime is the equvalent of saying “The devil made me do it”. Please that is the crap. We have a society of “HUG A THUG” instead of punishing the criminal for the crime comitted! If you want put LEGALLY operating casinos out of business because of DV then you should put gas stations out of business because of car crashes. It is the same principal. I’m wondering when the people of this city, state and yes nation will get a clue and realize that crime is a choice and people need to be held accountable and take personal responsibility for a personal choice of commiting that crime. Quit blaming things like LEGALLY operating BUSINESSES or even other things like guns. I’m sorry about this post. The devil made me do it! LOL!

12:37 PM

David Anderson said…

Take a deep breath and settle down DOM. Neary said he gave a rip about causes of DV. Give him a chance to do his job.

2:54 PM

WAGrandma said…

I live in Lakewood near McChord AFB and the crime here is bad. Lots of gang activity and shootings and it seems to be going up. Even DV in my area and it seems everyone is afraid to call the police or they know they won’t show up or they are so slow that there is no use in calling because it will be over by the time they get here. If they cut down the police or the gang unit in Lakewood that would be the worst thing they could do and I pray that does not happen. This is something the people in Lakewood need to know is happening and we are not informed. I would not know if I did not come across you on Twitter by doing a search. We need all that we have and more to be honest.

2:51 PM