30 day crime summary..CCW suddenly feels more important

[ZeSpectre]

North Arlington, VA has always been a fairly nice place to live. However in the past few months we've had a dramatic increase in assults, robberies, and "malicious woundings". I had been sort of vaguely aware of this but the "seatbelt" mentality finally caused me to get off my duff and finish applying for CCW.

Then as I got to thinking about it I decided to graph out the reports and got a BIG wake up slap in the face. This is a severely filtered version with all the noise removed. The red dots are crimes where...
-A weapon was displayed AND/or used by the criminal.
-The crime was committed by a stranger (no domestic abuse or revenge stuff).

Almost all of these also include some actual physical injury done to the victem ranging from punches to a fatal shooting. It appears that several of these criminals intended physical violence as part of their "fun" regardless of how co-operative the victems were.

To the best of my knowledge the majority of these crimes consisted of 2 to 4 perps. Fortunately only one of these attacks seems to have resulted in a fatality for the victem.

The one I just cannot fathom is the two assults in ARLINGTON CEMETARY! That takes a whole new kind of lowlife in my book!



Maybe just my perception, but it really does look like DC is exporting some crime into the wealthy but notoriously blinkered "bad things don't happen here, this is North Arlington" areas of North Arlington.

Sort of makes me wish I could carry a police patrol around with me, but if I can't then hopefully CCW and training will A) see me through and B) never ever need to be used (bow head in brief prayer).

P.S. no slam on the Arlington PD. They are one of the best forces I've ever come into contact with, but they are getting a little overwhelmed by this "spree".

 

[Manedwolf]

Why does this remind me of this map?

 

[ZeSpectre]

Sorry, got a "forbidden" error when I tried to look at the map.

 

[Manedwolf]

oops...it was a map of skirmishes and incidents in Baghdad that looked almost exactly like this map.

 

[SolaScriptura139]

Me too, could not look at the map from the link. I feel for you on the whole "DC exporting crime to VA." Same thing happens here in Morgantown (at West Virginia University) where crime is exported from New Jersey to here. Definately a good time to finish that CCW app and get carryin'.

 

[jnojr]

I can't understand how a gun owner could be living in a shall-issue state and not already have a CCW.

 

[DKSuddeth]

sounds to me like we're looking at an area of 'wealthy' DC transplants who are still unarmed.....and paying for it.

 

[ClicStic]

>sounds to me like we're looking at an area of 'wealthy' DC transplants who are still unarmed.....and paying for it.

I'm a CCW holder living in Northern VA and I couldn't agree more. My take on this crime spree is that some criminals from across the river (could be D.C. OR MD) decided that they could find easy pickings amongs the famously liberal residents of Arlington.

One outcome of this is that the persons responsible for this crime spree will find out the difference between "liberal and not likely to CCW" and "liberal and not allowed to CCW."

 

[K-Romulus]

all over the country

One way to give someone a rude wake-up call is to do a similar homeade CompStat for your town/neighborhood. Or, befriend a prosecutor or police officer who can just TELL you what goes one beneath the surface . . .

 

[El Tejon]

And, Mr. Sutton, why do you rob banks?

Criminals are like water in several ways. However, water follows the path of least resistance, so do criminals.

Get trained up, stay alert and good luck out there.

 

[longwatch]

I live about an inch to the left of this map.

I used to live right in the middle of the map. I still frequent Arlington often though and I can say that the area has definitely changed for the worse in the last 10 years. After I came back from 5 years in the USMC I couldn't believe how bad it had become. I felt like a frog dropped in boiling water. Anyhow I went out and got my permit right away after 8 years of putting it off.

 

[Ivy Mike]

so, wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that the area around Washington DC isn't benefitting from the obvious benefits of DC's gun ban?

lies I tell ya!

 

[ZeSpectre]

Jeez and a buddy of mine added another shooting at a mom n pop market that happened last night.

 

[DesertShooter]

The "flood" of criminals is WORLD-wide, not just from one particular town/city/state into other regions. I was an LAPD officer for 31 years, and often saw foreign police officers/agents that came here to learn about criminals that had moved to their countries.

Turning it around, the USA has "imported" numerous criminals....starting way back with the Italian "Mafia". We're still getting criminals from Russia, several Asian countries and even Great Britain!

 

[Leatherneck]

Observe the crime-free zone around the five-sided building. Just goes to show, if you have enough cops around, crime will disappear. And we're not even allowed to CCW on the reservation.

'Course, there's no place in the Pentagon one can go and not be in sight of two or three cops.

So Arlington County just needs 5 or 6,000 more cops!

TC

 

[rmurfster]

so, wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that the area around Washington DC isn't benefitting from the obvious benefits of DC's gun ban?

Warning: OT rant!

I swear that blood is going to shoot out of my eyes! :banghead:

We live in the greatest nation on earth, yet the Capitol of our great nation is nothing like the rest of the nation!!

Wouldn't you expect the Capitol of the USA to be the place to go see what the USA is all about?

Unbelievable.

 

[Socrates]

ACTUALLY, WASHINGTON DC TELLS YOU WHERE WE ARE HEADED, IF WE ALLOW THE SAME PEOPLE THAT MAKE OUR LAWS FOR WASHINGTON DC, MAKE THEM FOR THE NATION. OHH, AREN'T THEY THE SAME PEOPLE??? THAT IS TRULY TERRIFYING...

S
PS
WHEN THEY ALMOST GET CAUGHT, JUST GIVE THE CROOKS TICKETS TO THE SAFEST PLACE TO COMMIT CRIME IN THE NATION: SAN FRANCISCO. THEY'LL BE WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS...

 

[ZeSpectre]

ACTUALLY, WASHINGTON DC TELLS YOU WHERE WE ARE HEADED, IF WE ALLOW THE SAME PEOPLE THAT MAKE OUR LAWS FOR WASHINGTON DC, MAKE THEM FOR THE NATION. OHH, AREN'T THEY THE SAME PEOPLE??? THAT IS TRULY TERRIFYING...

S
PS
WHEN THEY ALMOST GET CAUGHT, JUST GIVE THE CROOKS TICKETS TO THE SAFEST PLACE TO COMMIT CRIME IN THE NATION: SAN FRANCISCO. THEY'LL BE WELCOMED WITH OPEN ARMS...

Just FYI, all caps is considered SHOUTING and is unnecessary, thanks.

Also, the people that make the laws for Washington DC are NOT the same people that make laws for the nation. DC has a mayor and a city government and they make the rules for DC. The Federal government makes the rules for the rest of the nation.

Personally I have some high hopes now that Fenty is moving into office. It is just -barely- possible that he'll actually be able to smash up the entrenched governmental fossils in DC and make some changes that work!

 

[History Prof]

The one I just cannot fathom is the two assults in ARLINGTON CEMETARY! That takes a whole new kind of lowlife in my book!

New kind of lowlife, indeed. But worse, THINKING lowlifes. Folks in the cemetery could be seen as EASY pickin's, because they are likely visiting a long dead relative from po-dunk fly-overville, and had to come to DC on an airplane, were taking firearms is an incredible hassle these days, even in CHECKED luggage. :banghead:

 

[Ryder]

We had an armed robbery of the phamacy here within the last 30 days. I believe it's the only armed robbery this town has ever had. You betcha criminals have cars and considering we only have one cop who works 8-5 I'm predicting a return visit in the near future.

I've been getting my dog's medicine there and was putting it off at the time this happened. I could very easily have been in there and that's not something I'd so without packing even though I do live in "Mayberry".

Lucky him

 

[MikePGS]

Even if you live in a police station, you'd still have to wait for the police to show up when you really needed them. Its not the fault of the police, but rather due to the fact that police officers are only a small fraction of the populace, therefore anyone serious about not being robbed/assaulted/shot/whatever realizes that they are ultimately responsible for themselves.