{"id":874,"date":"2015-04-15T08:11:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T13:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=874"},"modified":"2015-04-15T08:11:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T13:11:20","slug":"crime-is-still-not-rising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2015\/04\/15\/crime-is-still-not-rising\/","title":{"rendered":"Crime is Still Not Rising"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Letter to the Peoria Public,<\/p>\n

My family spent Easter, like most families, eating loads of food, enjoying the fresh spring air and chasing plastic eggs around the back yard. But unlike the usual family update conversations of every years reunion, we talked about crime. \u00a0We spoke of the constant attention and focus Peoria has recently displayed on crime. Not just crime but violent crime.<\/p>\n

My uncle spoke of how he is constantly fearful \u00a0to live in Peoria these days because \u00a0every day someone is stabbed, mugged or murdered. I instantly thought to myself about these words and struggled to understand the truth in them. Until I looked at the numbers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 2013 Peoria had a crime rate of 4.8 percent. This meaning 4.8 percent of Peoria’s population of \u00a0115,000 has reported a crime of some sort during that year. Now this number seems low, and it is in statistical terms. However the problem begins to uncover itself when comparisons are made.<\/p>\n

For instance, Chicago, with a population of 2.7 million, their crime rate of 4.43% is just a tick under the rate of Peoria. With the vast difference in population, one would tend to think Chicago would produce more crime. Then again violent crime in larger cities has been decreasing at a steady rate since the early 1990’s.<\/p>\n

So why is Peoria crime rate still standing above that of a major city, and for that matter, well above cities that match up with Peoria. For instance. Springfield, Elgin and Aurora have significantly lower rates of crime with similar population levels. None of which falls above three percent.<\/p>\n

But is there any truth to this feeling of raising crime?<\/p>\n

Bradley University political science professor Paul Ryan says no.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrime has been heading in a steady decline for the past 25 years,\u201d said Ryan. \u201cEven if there is a sudden spike recently, it won\u2019t last over the course of the year. Crime is not the norm any more. News just does a better job at reporting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The numbers speak some truth in Ryan\u2019s words \u00a0.<\/p>\n

\"statistic_id191129_us_-number-of-reported-violent-crime-1990-to-2013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Crime around the states has continued to drop rapidly since 1990. Often times we must realize that the news can sensationalize the crime beat, because that is what viewers care about watching. Well much like my uncle, these crime stories showing up on the nightly news leads continue to strike fear into the people of Peoria.<\/p>\n

A previous neighbor of mine, Tim Krane from the 1400 block of West Main St., says he moved out of Peoria and into the Dunlap area in order to provide a safe neighborhood for his two young boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great change of pace,\u201d said Krane. \u201cMy wife and I don\u2019t hear muggin charges when we turn on the tv at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Krane and his family are just one of many individuals and families moving from the area and into neighboring neighborhoods like Washington, Dunlap and Morton, Peoria continues to miss out. If crime has continued to decrease in the city then why have it\u2019s people felt an increase in crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus on local crime as a lead story is hurting Peoria,\u201d said Ryan.<\/p>\n

Maybe if Peoria news would take a deep breathe and relax with the constant coverage of petty crime their people would feel the safety that Peoria offers. This is not just a Peoria problem but many local stations are struggling with content.<\/p>\n

My advice to you Peorians is to understand the statistics. Simply put crime in major cities has been on a steady decline since the Reagan era. rest your minds on the numbers and not the news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Letter to the Peoria Public, My family spent Easter, like most families, eating loads of food, enjoying the fresh spring air and chasing plastic eggs around the back yard. But unlike the usual family update conversations of every years reunion, we talked about crime. \u00a0We spoke of the constant attention and focus Peoria has recently displayed on crime. Not just crime but violent crime. My uncle spoke of how he is constantly fearful \u00a0to live in Peoria these days because \u00a0every day someone is stabbed, mugged or murdered. I instantly thought to myself about these words and struggled to understand the truth in them. Until I looked at the numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[107,43,184],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-crime","tag-peoria","tag-urban-flight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}