Channel 5 hack job on xroads crime

[shinatoo]

My two cents for not getting your window broke/locks fucked up. Leave nothing in your car, leave car unlocked. We had a little prick breaking into cars in our neighborhood in Raytown and I applied this method and never lost loot or had property damage. Worked in college too. Then I forgot my CD case on my front seat when I moved back to Raytown and it was gone the next morning but it was a lot less money than getting a lock or window replaced. Leaving the car unlocked with the alarm armed works well too.

[AJoD]

Got this email over the weekend at work:

****

Neighbors,  

With the homeless/unemployed being displaced from inside the downtown loop, both the Westside and Crossroads are experiencing a huge increase in the number of folks panhandling or beggin, some of them are very aggressive and some combative.  We're seeing more folks roaming around aimlessly looking for stuff to steal, to take in order sell.

People are desperate.  Folks have less to give, not-for-profits are stretchehd to their limits and have less resources to provide.
Therefore, you must exercise more awareness, more care and caution. Secure your property.
Put clubs on your car steering wheels, don't leave anything on the seats or floors (unless your vehicle looks like a traveling garbage scow like mine). Look around you when you go outside.

We have people roaming the neighborhood all night long.

And, take care of each other - look out for each other - call the police, fill out a police report.

****

The "displacement" is reportedly the result of CIDs in River Market, P&L, or something.  I guess Crossroads businesses are working on something similar.

[kcmetro]

kcmetro would move.

Kids get caught.  Sooner or later someone finds out and puts an end to it. Or they do it once and get scared so they stop. Meth and crack addicts don't stop.  They don't have any rational sense left.  That's why people are afraid of living downtown. There's a different, unpredictable element that exists there that isn't out in the burbs.  You and other people on here might think that's a stupid reason to not live downtown, but that's the reasoning for most people to stay in the suburbs.  The unpredictable nature of it.

[chrizow]

Kids get caught.  Sooner or later someone finds out and puts an end to it. Or they do it once and get scared so they stop. Meth and crack addicts don't stop.  They don't have any rational sense left.  That's why people are afraid of living downtown. There's a different, unpredictable element that exists there that isn't out in the burbs.  You and other people on here might think that's a stupid reason to not live downtown, but that's the reasoning for most people to stay in the suburbs.  The unpredictable nature of it.

i guess you've missed the weekly stories about robberies, carjackings, abductions, and whatever else from JoCo and other suburban areas in the last year?  that random shit happens absolutely everywhere, including the urban core. 

i find it astounding that people are that afraid of 1-in-10,000,000 occurrences, while routinely engaging in far more hazardous behavior.  suzy suburbanite is many times more likely to die in an accident trying to turn left from her subdivision onto college blvd than she is to be a victim of crime anywhere in the metro. 

newsflash:  life isn't predictable.

[LenexatoKCMO]

There's a different, unpredictable element that exists there that isn't out in the burbs.  

The only difference is that in the suburbs you are more likely to allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of comfort and security - thus not paying attention to your surroundings, not locking your doors, etc.   The very fact that you perceive this sort of crime to be localized and predictable and that you only need to put your guard up in certain situations makes you a ripe target.  

[shinatoo]

We have our share of crazes out here in the exurbs too. Cops have caught all kinds of nuts in our pool parking lot fucking, smoking, drinking, busting beer bottles.

I usually apologize and just pay the fine.

[kcmetro]

The only difference is that in the suburbs you are more likely to allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of comfort and security - thus not paying attention to your surroundings, not locking your doors, etc.   The very fact that you perceive this sort of crime to be localized and predictable and that you only need to put your guard up in certain situations makes you a ripe target.  

Not a lot of crack heads or homeless people roaming the streets in Overland Park.  :D

[mean]

Plenty of bored / disaffected teenagers, though. Hell, my boss had his SRT-4 broken into 5 or 6 times over the summer, sitting in his driveway in Lee's Summit.

[KCPowercat]

metro, like others have said, you attitude gives you a false sense of security.  Great job continuing the suburban attitude...it will get you far.

[LenexatoKCMO]

Not a lot of crack heads or homeless people roaming the streets in Overland Park.  :D

We need to take Metro on a tour of suburban apartment complexes one of these days so you can see just how marginally some of your neighbors out "class" the homeless and crack heads. 

[chrizow]

Not a lot of crack heads or homeless people roaming the streets in Overland Park.  :D

well, no one "roams" the streets of overland park, because no one walks in overland park.  that said, there are plenty of drug-addled, desperate people in joco and around the metro generally. 

[kcmetro]

metro, like others have said, you attitude gives you a false sense of security.   Great job continuing the suburban attitude...it will get you far.

So will your smug, condescending personality and your unnecessary jabs at the end of every post you make.  Great things in the future for you as well.  Maybe not a wife or gf, but many more trips with the boys all across the nation to see your cats lose in person.

[shinatoo]

Speaking of meth, Washington Mo and Union Mo both passed "by Rx only" laws for anything with pseudoephedrine in it. Sales have dropped 93% in three months and sales of alternate products have only increased "slightly"

From a similar period, April 1 through July 7, Washington's five commercial pharmacies sold about 4,400 boxes of the decongestant in the town of about 13,000. The number dropped to 310 from July 7 and Sept. 30....

....There was one exception: Eureka. Sales increased about 8 percent at its Walmart, which is about 25 miles east of Washington and along the route leading to the greatest concentration of pharmacies in the state: St. Louis County.

"Criminals are lazy, and they're creatures of habit," said Franklin County Sgt. Jason Grellner. "We anticipate a shift in buying patterns to the east...

Looks like a county wide ban is in the works. Makes sense to me.

From a similar period, April 1 through July 7, Washington's five commercial pharmacies sold about 4,400 boxes of the decongestant in the town of about 13,000. The number dropped to 310 from July 7 and Sept. 30.

WOW!

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/s ... enDocument

[jdubwaldo]

The only difference is that in the suburbs you are more likely to allow yourself to be lulled into a false sense of comfort and security - thus not paying attention to your surroundings, not locking your doors, etc.   The very fact that you perceive this sort of crime to be localized and predictable and that you only need to put your guard up in certain situations makes you a ripe target.  

It also seems politics keeps some of these suburban occurrences out of the news.  My coworker, who lives in Leawood have this discussion with regularity.  Recently, the news was all over every media outlet when the first recent rape took take place in Waldo, freaking everyone in the city out about the neighborhood.  Meanwhile, around the same date, there was also one around 127th street (circumstances unknown), which didn't make any local news anywhere to be found....

[mean]

Frankly, I just wish all local news studios would burn down.

[KCPowercat]

So will your smug, condescending personality and your unnecessary jabs at the end of every post you make.  Great things in the future for you as well.  Maybe not a wife or gf, but many more trips with the boys all across the nation to see your cats lose in person.

The guy who just stated my neighborhood was filled with homeless and meth heads that break into cars while the suburban neighborhoods don't have that problem is calling me "smug" for calling out his urban/suburban stereotype mindset?  Awesome.

I'll PM you for the woman advice BTW.

[kard]

for the record, i've lived in downtown kansas city and south city st louis for about 8 years (on-street parking mostly) and have NEVER had my car broken into.  i know it happens, but it also _doesn't_ happen.

[LenexatoKCMO]

  Meanwhile, around the same date, there was also one around 127th street (circumstances unknown), which didn't make any local news anywhere to be found....

Could have been domestic and/or acquantance rape - those seem to get pretty much totally ignored by the media regardless of where they happen.  If there had been a random street rape at on 127th street, I think it is safe to guess that the TV news would still be talking about it. 

[jdubwaldo]

Could have been domestic and/or acquantance rape - those seem to get pretty much totally ignored by the media regardless of where they happen.  If there had been a random street rape at on 127th street, I think it is safe to guess that the TV news would still be talking about it. 

Very fair point!