Talking Criminal Nonsense

                                         Courtesy B. Coleman

Talking Criminal Nonsense

On Wednesday July 29, 2015 there was a concerned citizens meeting regarding crime. The meeting was held at the Jewish Community Center in Worcester MA West Side. The West Side has traditionally been more White and affluent than the rest of Worcester. This was reflected in the racial composition of the attendees.

The JCC is about as far up Salisbury St. as a car can be driven without crossing into the neighboring town of Holden.  There is no bus route to the JCC so that people from other neighborhoods in Worcester could not easily attend. There are no sidewalks for many blocks.

The official reason for the meeting was to reassure the residents of the West Side that the armed home invasion on Flagg St. was targeted and not a general menace. While reassuring the residents some of the City and County officials said things that were nonsensical. Their comments were discouraging as they indicate that the officials do not really understand what is going on in Worcester in regards to criminality with the inference that they do not have a clue what to do.

The first nonsensical statement made by the government officials was that most victims of break-ins are gangster or drug dealers.  This statement has no foundation and; it is racist, albeit colorblind racism. It implies that the victims of crime are themselves criminals.

The second nonsensical statement is lumping together opiates use and marijuana use. Marijuana for personal use in Massachusetts is not a crime. There are no statistics linking it in a significant way to break-ins.

Police Chief Gemme rattled off some statistics about the number of break-ins in the City over a couple of decades. He said that there were over 4000 break-ins in the 1990s, and then it dropped significantly in the 2000s. More recently it has risen to 2200 per year average. The Chief did not say why there was a drop in break-in or why there was a rise. There is nothing but anecdotal evidence that drugs or gangs are significant factors. It is nonsensical to base a policy on the ignorance of the causal connections of the problem.

A speaker who I know to be a good person raised as a counter point that crime is caused by poverty. I know this to be nonsensical. Most poor people are honest people; we are more honest than the general population. Not all criminal are poor, but it is the poor who the most likely victims of crime.

The bias of the meeting could be seen when the so called facilitator would interrupt people who tried to criticize abusive police interactions with residents or the ineffectiveness of police policy.

There have been over 23 shootings in Worcester this year. Most of the shooting have occurred in less affluent neighborhoods. Unlike the quick reaction by the City and County to the concerns of the West Side, there has been almost no public response by the City to the problems of the less affluent neighborhoods. Last night August 3, 2015 a mother and her toddler were shot.

This might not be a surprise to some, as it seems that the City Manager, the Police Chief, and the City Council do not know the underlying causes of the shootings and therefore cannot articulate a credible policy.

 Another issue is that there is little, if any, transparency about police policy now in place. Many in the less affluent neighborhoods have been treated in a disparately racist way by the City and the police. When people have tried to have our grievances addressed, we have been ridiculed, maliciously prosecuted, and retaliated against. After the Worcester Human Rights Commission meeting of August 3, 2015 it seems that our complaints will wind up in a file cabinet someway unread.

It is past time the City had an honest with the residents of Worcester about police policy.