Got crime?

[imec]

My home town was recently (and, embarrassingly, not for the first time) been awarded the dubious distinction of being Canada's "most crime ridden city". The vast majority of the violent crime (knifings, shootings, beatings) occurs among those who, themselves, perpetrate it (much of it gang related).

If that's the way they want to "live", well, good luck to them. The reality however, is that they're not particularly discreet and innocent bystanders are often victims - as in thisweekend event .

What's it like in your town? Is violence on the rise or decline? Do you have gangs? Do you feel safe?

[Deleted]

Paris has gangs and the suburbs have even more gangs, but quite a bit of the coverage is media hype, so it's hard to know what the situation really is.

In terms of statistics for France, the homicide rate is about 1000 a year or 0.7 per 100,000 people, about the same as the UK. In comparison, Canada is 1.5 and the United States is 6.2.
Of course, this is nothing compared to Colombia at 60.8 or Russia at 28.4.

[cigalechanta]

right now all hell broke loose: Dr Henry Gates vs Sgt, Crawley and the imput of Obama

[lagatta]

Manitoba Warriors are an Aboriginal gang. Now, I'd never condone or excuse gang violence among an oppressed group - in France one speaks of "les petits caïds" among Maghrebi and Black African youth - as these gangs prey mostly on people in their own neighbourhood, community, whatever. But this is the expression of a deep marginalisation and fuckup among Indigenous people the world over. Payback time for the white colonists?

The real question is how to get Aboriginal youth out of this self-destructive spiral. I work a lot with Aboriginal groups, intent on doing precisely that. It ain't easy. (I'm not a social worker or policeperson; I work in the arts).

[imec]

You're right, it is complicated - and I don't for a minute believe that the classic demands of more money and more self government will fix it. There needs to be a fundamental change in their values.

What I don't understand is why many other groups which were poor, marginalized and oppressed in the early 20th century (Ukrainians, Jews, Chinese eg.) didn't end up in the same predicament. I know the residential school system didn't help matters but neither do I believe it is the sole cause.

Very complicated.

[lagatta]

They were immigrants. They didn't have their continent stolen from them.

[imec]

My point is, they all got screwed one way or another (with many of the immigrants not just having their land stolen but also being pushed out) and ended up with nothing. The immigrants fought their way back up through hard work and compromise, despite significant poverty, discrimination and oppression - as many individual (and certain whole groups of first nations) aboriginals have. It's just not clear to me why those values and the work ethic are not more pervasive amongst aboriginals - and I think that's the key to reversing the situation.

[lagatta]

Hmm, don't disagree - about violent street gangs. I think they have adopted the values of the White Man with a vengeance. I'll ask you and all of us - don't you think we also need a "fundamental change in values"? Look at the incomparable harm the tar sands are doing to the environment - or car-centred communities and suburban houses on ridiculously large tracts that could be farmed. Doesn't excuse the violent, macho gang lifestyle, but that is sort of an underclass caricature of the dominant values.

Edited to add: I also think we should be wary of getting into a political argument, as we'd never agree simply because our interests are counterpoised. This is above all a travel board, and I don't come here to discuss politics.

I would be interested at looking at crime on a micro level, and what people in popular neighbourhoods have done to make their vicinities safer and more welcoming.

[imec]

No question, many of us could use a "value tune up".

[Deleted]

It is interesting to note that in France, the gangs are not at all formed along racial lines but by neighborhood or housing project. There are Muslims and Jews in the same gangs and also Europeans, Arabs and Africans. I'm not sure whether to be encouraged by this or even more dismayed, because it implies forming a gang for the sake of being in a gang and not even to protect the 'values' of one's origins.

[imec]

We have loads of aboriginal based gangs in Winnipeg, most notably the Manitoba Warriors and the Indian Posse but many others - Bloodz, Crips... Thankfully, much of their focus is on rivalry with other gangs. Often though, innocent victims get caught in the crossfire or unwitting "associates" cross them and pay the price. We have at least one African gang - Mad Cowz and Asian gang activity is on the rise - although that is much more prevalent in Vancouver. Most of the Hells Angels in Winnipeg have been jailed in the last couple of years. Bandidos are starting to appear...

[lagatta]

All of this said, violent crime has significantly decreased in Canada over the past couple of decades. Part of this is simply demographic - the birth rate is in decline so there are fewer testosterone-laden young men, but I think there are other factors. Obviously one mugging or robbery is too much for an innocent bystander. I was mugged climbing my outdoor staircase a couple of years ago, coming home from a party. It wasn't late at night - not 11pm yet (we are getting old and tired). Guy grabbed me from behind and stuck his hands in my pockets, looking for cash (odd, not many women carry our cash there). He stole my house keys, which was a serious pain. Fortunately neighbours were there and one had the passe-partout key so he could let me in, but the creep still had my keys. We both slept at my place, then the next morning I had my keys changed.

Interestingly, the creep was about 35 years old, medium build, a white "native" francophone (and I don't mean Native as in Aboriginal) and he drove up in a small car, then drove off before I had time to note his licence plate number. He looked like Mr Average, but could well have a habit to fuel.

Some people in the neighbourhood organised about another problem - speeding cars - by getting two sets of traffic lights installed at corners where there had been a lot of accidents. Wish we could do something about the pawnshop at a nearby corner. My hairdresser (who is Peruvian) was telling the long story of little Michel, a classmate of his son's, who stole bicycles all through his boyhood and took them to that pawnshop and gave Michel $10 for his "find". Needless to say, Michel, who is a young man now, has since then done hard time for much more serious offences. Damned pawnshop is still there.

[Deleted]

I would imagine that certain sorts of crimes are dropping due to technology -- everything from video surveillance to watching too many episodes of C.S.I. It seems more and more difficult to get away with something.

[traveler63]

Everywhere has their crime. Here in Southern Arizona it is carjacking and stolen cars. Remember, we are only a little over an hour from the Mexican border, so it is nothing to get there quickly. We also have our gangs and drive by's. We are also routinely seeing many tons of drugs, etc being found by the Border Patrol and so we have all of the crime that comes from that. Recently, we had home invasion led by a woman, and they shot an killed a Dad, and the 9 year old daughter, wounded the mom. This really had people upset and they did capture the scum that did this. However, home invasions are on the rise, which scares people and so the gun sales are skyrocketing, so much so that there is an ammunition shortage. There are too many guns and we have a section of people in this country that seem to think that you should be able to carry them anywhere. Our legislature just passed a bill that says you can carry them into bars, no how stupid is that???

[Deleted]

It all depends. Did they pass a law at the same time to prohibit the sale of alcohol in the bars?

[traveler63]

That would be no!!!The bill language says you can carry as long as you don't drink, that's really going to happen!!!!!!

[imec]

I always get a kick out of places in the U.S. with a sign on the door saying "No Guns Allowed" as if to claim some higher degree of civility.

[gringalais]

I don't have the exact statistics, but the murder rate in Santiago is quite low comparatively. Murders tend to occur in the less affluent area, often drug-related or someone using weapons to settle a dispute.

In the more affluent areas, property crime is the main problem. It used to be mostly home burglaries. Now you hear of the thieves entering the house when people are home, tying them up, sometimes assaulting them. I am not sure if they are actually getting more violent or it is just being sensationalized. Probably 90% of the suspects in such cases are juveniles that are back out on the street and doing the same thing again in no time. The morning news always does a big run-down on the crime that happened overnight.

The big new recent trend has been ATM robberies. We are talking break the glass on one of those ATMs attached to a bank, chain the ATM to your truck and try to break it free so it can be loaded into the truck and taken apart at the criminal's house to extract the cash. There are lots of attempts, but most are not successful.

Then you have petty crime - pickpocketing, purse snatching, etc. It mostly happens downtown when office workers are waiting for their bus home from work, since the streets are pretty crowded, making it less likely someone will notice they are being robbed. Downtown gets a lot of tourists too, who also make a common target.

[Deleted]

There was an interesting item in the news today, about a 'Spiderman' teenager who was burglarizing places somewhere in France. He would climb as high as the 8th floor, without ropes or any equipment, in the middle of the night if he saw an open window. He took money, jewels, computers, telephones, etc., until somebody finally saw his antics.

His mother was apparently arrested as well, as she was fully aware of her son's activities and the family apartment was full of loot.

(Better story than the usual murders!)

[Deleted]

I overheard some people talking last evening about the murder rate in New Orleans (I believe it's #1 in the U.S.) Anyway, someone said that there was a study currently underway that shows that there has not been that much of an increase in the murder rate here (per capita) in the last 300 years.

[gringalais]

kerouac - they have thieves like that here, there was a whole gang of teenage girls that climbed up apartment buildings somehow to gain access.

And then there was the gang that actually wore Spiderman masks, but they didn't climb buildings.

[hwinpp]

Here's one you couldn't find anywhere else in the world:

WIFE ATTACKED FOR REFUSING TO COIN

A violent and drunken husband hacked his 20-year-old wife five times with a cleaver on Friday after she refused to coin him. The violence broke out in Banteay Meanchey province's Sisophon city. The intoxicated husband is 26 years old. The 23-year-old brother of the wife was also seriously wounded in the incident after he attempted to intervene. The perpetrator fled the scene with the cleaver in his hands.

[imec]

Sorry to appear thick, but what does "coin" mean in this context?

[Deleted]

hmm...I'm wondering the same thing. What does this 'coin' mean?

I know that Winnipeg has a reputation of sorts, I'm not sure if it's a fair one though. As for crime around here (where I live), well, there simply isn't much at all. This has got to be the most peaceful place that I have ever lived in. Same can be said for the city near by.

[hwinpp]

Sorry for the late reply...

Coining is a traditional Khmer form of healing. Healing anything actually, some even coin prophilactically.
What happens is that the skin is scrubbed with the narrow side of a coin vigorously. Some would call it torture, especially when overzealous parents do it to their children.
Some get addicted to it, or more accurately to the hormones that develop from pain (not sure of the technical details, are they endorphins maybe?).

Something similar here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gua_sha

[hwinpp]

Here's more from our local police blotter...

FATHER ARRESTED OVER FAMILY AFFAIR
A 51-year-old father was arrested Tuesday in Battambang's Kors Kralor district for allegedly raping his 19-year-old daughter in a forest last year. The man was identified as Choup Si, who lives in the district's Samroang village. District police said they were also hunting for the victim's 25-year-old brother, Choup Son, who has allegedly been assaulting her since 2003, having impregnated her twice. Kors Kralor police chief Choeung Chang said the suspect denied raping his daughter but said that his son had committed the act.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

DEPRIVED MANIAC GETS COMEUPPANCE
A sex maniac was nabbed by police last Monday following an incident in which a 13-year-old girl squeezed his penis while he was molesting her on July 25 at 11:30pm in Kampong Cham province's Ponhea Krek district. Police identified the perpetrator as a 25-year-old who resides in the district's Kandaol Chrum commune. The juvenile managed to escape the paedophile by grabbing and twisting his genitals. After his arrest, the man told police he had not had sex for a long time.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

SPOILED TEENAGER AND CRONY NABBED
Daun Penh district police arrested a spoiled teenager on Wednesday after he and his crony attempted to snatch the bag of 22-year-old Vong Chhnay in the district's Boeung Reang commune. The perpetrator was identified as Yong Bono, 19, the son of a local soup merchant and a student at Batouk High School. Police said the victim's bag contained US$70 and other documents, and was taken away by Yong Bono and an unknown accomplice on a black Honda motorbike.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

[hwinpp]

And more:

ONE-LEGGED BEGGAR A TWO-LEGGED FRAUD
Tuol Kork district police on Sunday arrested a skinny beggar who was posing as a one-legged man while soliciting charity from passersby in the district's Phsar Depo I commune. The man was identified as Ros Ren, 25, who resides in Daun Penh district. Police said the conman pretended to be disabled by bending his left leg behind him and covering it with his trousers. After his arrest, Ros Ren admitted that he had been perpetrating the act for a year and was earning between 10,000 riels (about US$2.50) and 20,000 riels (US$5) per day. The arrest was part of City Hall's campaign to arrest beggars and vagrants to maintain public order in the capital.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

ADULTERY RUMOURS LEAD TO SLAYING
A 24-year-old man was hacked to death Monday by an unidentified person over what police said was possibly an adultery-related dispute. The violence took place in Kampong Cham's Thbong Khnom district. Police identified the victim as Chhun Pich, who was chopped several times in the head, neck, cheek and hands while sleeping alone in his wooden house in Chub commune. Nau Dina, a provincial police officer, said the victim had twice brought the wife of another man back to his house, and that he was slain after allegations of adultery spread.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

SEX MANIAC TRIES TO RAPE YOUNG WIDOW
A man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of raping a 39-year-old widow on Thursday night in Battambang's Bavel district. Police identified the sex maniac as a 41-year-old who resides in the province's Kdol Ta Hen commune. The victim told police that the man used his hands to shut her mouth in an attempt to rape her while she was home alone. After the arrest, the suspect admitted his guilt.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

DRUNK AMERICAN THROWS FIT, MORE
A heavily intoxicated American man threw a television, a refrigerator and two vases from the second floor of the Asia Hotel in Daun Penh district on Monday at 6am. The man, 31, has been sent to the Ministry of Interior for questioning.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

SUV DRIVER ELUDES POLICE AFTER CRASH
A Toyota Land Cruiser struck a motorbike carrying five passengers in Siem Reap city on Sunday, killing two and injuring the three others. Police managed to catch up with the Land Cruiser, but the driver and the passengers in the vehicle fought the officers and managed to escape.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

^^ Yeah, right...

[lagatta]

I guess local crime news goes here, whether it will be much of a subject for "debate" or not. The heir apparent to the most powerful Mafia family in Montréal, Nicolo Rizzuto Jr , was gunned down in Notre-Dame de Grâce, a largely residential West-End neighbourhood (he was a real estate developer and seems to have been involved in building some apartments around there). This may well cause a crisis in local Mob leadership. Rizzuto's father AND grandfather were both sentenced to lengthy jail terms; but the old patriarch is out on house arrest due to his advanced age and frail health.

Dad Vito Rizzuto is jailed in the US for racketeering as they could not convict him for the murder of some powerful NYC Mafiosi - remember that Montréal is strategic for organised crime whether the Mafia or the Hells and other biker gangs because we are a port. He will apply for compassionate leave to attend sonny's funeral. Most convicted criminals would never have such an option as Rizzuto would have to pay not only for his own ticket but for the cost of the police detail escorting him - do the cops get canapés at the reception?

Rumour has it that the funeral is set for Saturday at Notre-Dame della Difesa church, which I can see out my kitchen window. Florists will be very happy as there will be many elaborate floral wreaths on the cortege of cars waiting outside. I'll scrupulously avoid walkng by though, as I hate the glamourisation of these thugs and their families and neighbourhood people gawking at the event - there is something vaguely feudal about it.
www.montrealgazette.com/health/Police+focus+Rizzuto+funeral/2394022/story.html