The consequences of the ‘Ferguson effect’ are already appearing. The main victims of growing violence will be the inner-city poor.
By HEATHER MAC DONALD
May 29, 2015 6:27 p.m. ET
The nation’s two-decades-long crime decline may be over. Gun violence in particular is spiraling upward in cities across America. In Baltimore, the most pressing question every morning is how many people were shot the previous night. Gun violence is up more than 60% compared with this time last year, according to Baltimore police, with 32 shootings over Memorial Day weekend. May has been the most violent month the city has seen in 15 years.
In Milwaukee, homicides were up 180% by May 17 over the same period the previous year. Through April, shootings in St. Louis were up 39%, robberies 43%, and homicides 25%. “Crime is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” said St. Louis Alderman Joe Vacarro at a May 7 City Hall hearing.
Murders in Atlanta were up 32% as of mid-May. Shootings in Chicago had increased 24% and homicides 17%. Shootings and other violent felonies in Los Angeles had spiked by 25%; in New York, murder was up nearly 13%, and gun violence 7%.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-nationwide-crime-wave-1432938425
The bad news is that Paterson is only 12 minutes away.
The good news is that Glen Rock is closer to Paterson.