Despite the well intended scholars, or the hopeful politicians, this time is not different -- we will not avoid a crime wave -- rather it will get a lot worse before it gets better as we went so much further down the economic roller coaster, and we have yet to pull up. Furthermore, it is dangerous anytime someone suggests that somehow this time is different. This logic allows city officials to lay-off police at the same time that the conditions for crime are brewing. It must be remembered that it was not until 1933, some four years after the 1929 stock market crash, that the public was so greatly outraged by crime that something was done about it. Murder, extortion, kidnapping, racketeering, bank robberies, and many other crimes were the seminal markers of crime wave during the Great Depression era.
Consider now what is happening in our nations cities. Each is different, unique, and yet all are suffering from new conditions. The streets are getting meaner. Consider the recent press conference held Monday (yesterday) that marked the first time city leaders have spoken publicly to discuss the crime wave, responding to the continuing violence and rising anxiety in the city. New Haven Police Department Chief Frank Limon, who was sworn in just last week, said he will work on strategies for his “Operation Corridor” policing campaign, which was just launched this weekend and increased police presence in the area where the recent murders occurred. In the past four months, there have been 17 homicides, 15 of which involved firearms, Limon said. Most of the victims were in their late 20s or 30s and were recently released from prison. All were black, and this is most troubling as only 12% of the city population is African American, so this is intensely located in specific demographic areas, but it impacts the whole city.
New Haven is a densely populated city of 160,000 located along I-95 on the easter n seaboard. The city is comprised of a 19 square mile area.
Is there something going on in New Haven? In past economic crises, such as the Great Depression, criminal organizations were more violent to each other seeking to take away turf and restore profits. Perhaps times are not so different on the mean streets where it is believed that the victims and shooters are somehow gang related.
