When Capt. George Holder, commander of the Greensboro Police Department’s central division, presented information to the city council on Tuesday about a recent spike in car break-ins in the affluent neighborhoods of Sunset Hills and Old Starmount, it might have seemed as if the west side was particularly afflicted.
Holder noted that there were 30 break-and-enter auto larcenies in the Sunset Hills and Old Starmount neighborhoods over a three-month period from September through November. That’s almost double the number for the same period in 2006.
That’s an anomaly for those neighborhoods, Holder told me today, but it doesn’t mean that Sunset Hills and Old Starmount are receiving the brunt of the city’s property crimes or that criminals are targeting those areas for pricey items such as iPods and laptop computers.
The captain did not have comparable statistics for other areas like, say Glenwood or Phillips Avenue, but he told me: “Some areas of the city experience more crime than others. The more affluent areas in general you can say experience less property crimes.”
He added: “We don’t see people traveling across the city to commit property crimes. There’s not a lot of travel involved. We usually see that if there’s a neighborhood problem it comes from people who frequent that area or are from that area.”
Sunset Hills and Old Starmount traditionally experience low rates of break-and-enter auto larcenies.
“What you can say with certainty is that areas that are not used to certain types of crime, when they do experience them, we’re more likely to hear from them,” Holder said.
I have some personal experience somewhat related to this. Last month, my unlocked Kia was broken into while it was parked in front of my apartment in Westerwood, roughly 10 blocks from Sunset Hills. The thieves hit at least one other vehicle on my street and made off with my tool box and a canvas bag of cassettes. I was surprised and pleased by the police's prompt response and even more taken aback that they sent out the crime scene investigation unit to dust my car for fingerprints.
My tool box and cassettes were never recovered, but I had to wonder whether I benefited from preferential treatment because of where I live.
3 comments:
Preferential treatment because you reside in Westerwood? Westerwood is a declining neighborhood that is slowly becoming a haven for rental properties and boarding houses. Chances are the suspect lives among you.
One of those rental properties being my home. Declining? I don't know. I've only lived in Greensboro for a little more than three years. Westerwood is an comfortable, affordable neighborhood in my experience, and I don't feel at all unsafe. And yes, based on what I know about crime patterns, I would agree that criminals generally target cars and homes within their own communities.
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