Crime Wave Alert - California

California has been hit with long term unemployment, a terrible housing downturn, and characteristically, these conditions can create conditions of economic misery that can lead to crime waves. Consider the following report:

Loomis Neighborhood Rocked By Crime Wave

More Local News

Reporting
Neda Iranpour

LOOMIS (CBS13) ―

Click to enlarge

1 of 1

CBS

Loomis residents are worried about a rash of burglaries that have swept through their neighborhood.

There have been five car break-ins in just one cul-de-sac over the last two weeks. Homeowners are taking safety into their own hands. They're forming a neighborhood watch, installing alarms, cameras, lights, and patrolling the streets looking for anything suspicious.

"They've taken away that feeling of security and small town safety," said Diane, a Loomis resident.

"Hey, were not immune to problems Loomis is a nice town, but crime is coming to us," said Bob Peugh, a burglary victim.

Neighbors were told these break-ins may be linked to waves of crime in Elk Grove, Rocklin, Granite Bay, and Napa Valley.

Not everyone believes a crime wave is coming; certainly not the FBI or selective police chiefs

While this blog's author believes that a global crime wave is inevitable, and has published this blog to provide a voice of warning, caution, and preparedness, not everyone agrees with this scenario.

The FBI and selective police chiefs site lower crime rates since the recession began. Referenced in this article appearing in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, one scholar believes that perhaps one reason the crime wave has not hit is the impact of exogenous factors such as the stimulus plan that moved to lengthen the term of benefits for unemployed (meaning increased social insurance) and additional jobs replacing some of the lost jobs during this period. And there is some merit in this argument. The question remains however, can placing a thumb in the hole spring in the dike hold back the raging flood waters?

Read below an excerpt from the AJC:

Across the nation, crime, on the whole, is down considerably, especially property crimes and violent crimes such as robbery.

The counterintuitive nature of this recession makes sense when you peel back the layers.

Take home burglaries, for instance.

“We assume crime climbs when the economy is down,” said Rosenfeld, Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. But “during high unemployment, more people are at home and that cuts the rates of burglary.”

Additionally, people tend to carry fewer valuables these days, so there are fewer street crimes such as robberies, Rosenfeld added.

The drug trade, which usually grows and flourishes in a recession, has been contained mostly within the groups of people who were already buying and selling drugs. In the past, disputes over drug deals often resulted in murders or other violent crimes. Now, they’re contained and rarely reported. After all, who’s going to go to the police about a drug deal gone bad?

“The absence of expansion in the drug market could be related to the absences of crime increasing,” Rosenfeld said.

Add last year’s stimulus money, which extended unemployment benefits and food stamps to millions and helped many communities keep more police on the street, and you get a clearer picture.

“That may have cushioned the low-income against the full effects of the economic downturn,” Rosenfeld said.

# # #

For my part, I am quite confidant that in the annals of history that this extraordinary period of economic calamity will indeed foster conditions that will incubate a crime wave born of economic misery from long-term sustained unemployment, loss of income, loss of purchasing power (through devalued real estate) and a portent of inflation on the horizon.

Crime Wave Alert - India

From the Financial Times (India), The number of crimes in Dhaka city appears to have shot up very menacingly over the last one month. This is not to say that the crime rate was significantly better before this period. The law and order conditions have been found sliding for over a year. But crimes of the type like trying to snatch the daughter away from parents or ones indicating the depths of depravity, were not so much noted before. What is very worrying is the spurt in such crimes in the city. Only last week, a couple lost their lives from trying to protect their youngestdaughter whom the attackers on the ground of not being allowed to marry her made an attempt to forcibly kidnap her. When the parents tried to resist this, they were fired upon and killed. Prior to this event, the deceased parents got phone calls and were called upon personally by the assassins who demanded that their daughter must be handed over to them.

The slain couple had tried their best to get the protection of the police but to no effect. Only days after this incident on Saturday, another couple and theirdaughter in the Kalabagan area came under attack with knives and received serious injuries. The attacker was a young man who was identified as an acquaintance of the daughter and who, allegedly, did this out of frustration for not getting some 2.0 million Taka he had demanded from the couple. The above are only some of the incidents that made headlines recently. Apart from these, a number of persons were killed or found dead in the city during the last seventy-two hours or so.

Drug peddling rackets and their members are mainly at the heart of such crimes. Youngsters and many of them in their teens are seen to be most reckless and uncaring members of these gangs. Their number has been increasing and police in many cases are alleged to be their patrons. Regular bribes received from them are guessed to be the main reason why police keep so quiet despite the unacceptable spread of these gangs and their increasingly brutal modus operandi.

The killers of the first couple are alleged to be well known members of drug rackets. They apparently had the confidence that police would do nothing to stop them from being so reckless in their murderous activities or their trying to intimidate the girl's parents before the murders. The relatives of the deceased made known this helplessness of the dead couple to the media subsequently. In most of the other cases of crimes now sweeping the city, the same kind of mentality is seen to be pervasive. Thus, citizens need not be blamed if they come to the conclusion that they have nobody to turn to or there are no dependable institutions of the state to meet the minimum needs of security of their lives and property.

Crime Wave Alert - Europe - Gypsie Children pulled into Fagan like crime rings

Gypsy child crime wave grips Europe

By Mark Bannerman

Updated Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:13am AEDT

Living in slums: many Gypsy children grow up in homes with no running water or official power sources. (AFP: Max Rossi)

• VIDEO: Gypsy Child Thieves (ABC News)
• RELATED LINK: Four Corners

One of Romania's most powerful criminals has warned his country must do something to stop the wave of Gypsy child crime that is sweeping Europe or face a backlash against Romanians.

Simply known as Breliant, he freely boasts a pedigree rich in thieves. But this week on Four Corners he explains that unless gangs run by his countrymen stop using children to rob and steal, the Romanian Gypsies will be driven out of other EU countries.

"Over the last 20 years I've seen the anti-Gypsy feeling getting stronger, not only in Romania but across Europe," he said.

"I've also seen Gypsy petty crime turn into serious crime, into international organised crime."

Any tourist in Europe knows the threat of street crime is a major problem. Some people are targeted by pickpockets while others are harassed at cash teller machines.

Most of the thieves are young children below the age of 14. In many countries they cannot be held criminally responsible until they pass 14 years.

Lucrative

One of the children spoken to by Four Corners is 13-year-old Daniela.

She has little or no education but pickpocketing in Madrid can earn her up to $500 for a successful robbery. If she gets away with her scam she takes the money to her mother. It is used to buy food and some of it is repatriated to Romania to buy a house.

This week's Four Corners reveals that while some children steal to survive, many are part of a network of organised groups that rob tourists and locals, passing the money back to crime bosses in Romania.

The wave of crime perpetrated by Gypsy children began in earnest when Romania was admitted to the EU.

It is now so bad that authorities in the major Italian city of Milan have declared a state of emergency. The city officials authorised police to set up an undercover operation that used hidden cameras and telephone taps to arrest dozens of people.

In all, 19 adults were jailed for theft and the abuse of children. The investigation found some children were generating up to $15,000 to $20,000 a month from their criminal activities.

That did not mean the children were well-treated. In one raid, police broke into a farmhouse and found children locked in a cupboard. They were unwashed and malnourished.

Crime Wave Alert - Uganda

THE Police yesterday warned of a new wave of crime that has hit the city involving people employed by owners of commercial buildings breaking into shops and stealing property.

The Police said such people lock themselves inside commercial buildings and access shops through the ceiling.

Speaking at the weekly Police press briefing at the Kampala Central Police Station, the Kampala deputy Police spokesperson, Henry Kalulu, said incidents like that are now common.

He paraded before the press Salif Lubega, a welder at Cooper Complex, a commercial building, downtown Kampala, whom he said was arrested over the weekend in connection with the vice.

“Lubega on Saturday night locked himself in the office in which he was working and climbed through the ceiling. He broke into two shops and stole phones. Fortunately, when he was jumping out through a hole in the roof, he was arrested,” Kalulu said, adding that four similar break-ins have been reported.

He said two incidents occurred in the same complex about a month ago, and a similar complaint was received from a nearby complex recently.

“In the incidents, there are no signs of padlocks or door locks having been broken but property is missing,” Kalulu said.

He cautioned landlords to be careful, especially when employing people, adding that Lubega will be charged with theft.

Crime wave alert - Nigeria

NIAMEY (Reuters) - Niger authorities arrested 618 suspects overnight in raids aimed at curbing a crime wave in the capital, Niamey, state radio announced on Tuesday.

"Operation Punch" took place in neighbourhoods across the city, where residents say serious food shortages, on top of already severe poverty, have led to a spike in crime.

It was not immediately clear if the operation was linked to the weekend wave of arrests of senior officials linked to former President Mamadou Tandja, who was ousted by the army in a coup last month.

"We will identify people and, if there is nothing to charge them with, we will free them, as the law requires," said one police officer, asking not to be named.

Over the last few weeks, Niamey has seen an increase in armed robberies and carjackings -- and an increase in the number of suspected robbers lynched by angry crowds.

Crime Wave Alert - USA

Niagara crime wave alert!

Thu, 2010-04-01 10:19.

Rick Fleming

Niagara police are warning you about an outbreak of thefts in the Grimsby, Beamsville, Jordan, Smithville and West Lincoln areas.

So far, over 65 incidents have been reported; mainly items stolen from unlocked vehicles and garages. Last year, thieves stuck over 250 times.

Officers say you should remove valuable items from your car, or at least ensure they are out of sight, so as not to tempt thieves.