Pubdate: Thu, 05 Jul 2001
Source: Savannah Morning News (GA)
Copyright: 2001 Savannah Morning News
Contact:  http://www.savannahnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/401

RING AROUND THE ROBERIES

People who live in low-income neighborhoods like Yamacraw Village tend to 
bear the brunt of Savannah's crime problems. When authorities improve 
public safety in these areas, the whole community gains.

Such was the case last week, when Savannah police broke up a suspected 
armed robbery ring that operated in the Yamacraw Village area and possibly 
other neighborhoods since mid-May.

So far seven people have been arrested. There may be more.

Savannah police said the suspects are part of two separate, organized 
groups that have been preying on people in this area who are cruising to 
buy drugs or pick up prostitutes.

Some might argue that people who get robbed in this fashion get what they 
deserve. But pity the law-abiding people who live nearby. If police don't 
act, streets can become more like a combat zone. Residents can become 
prisoners in their own homes.

Yamacraw Village, located just north of the intersections of Bay and Fahm 
streets, is owned by the Housing Authority of Savannah, which offers 
publicly subsidized housing to low-income families. The housing project is 
the site of a recent controversy over the restoration of its administrative 
building, which is a replica of a Savannah-area plantation house.

But questions of history and architecture pale when compared to crime. "I 
stay on the porch with my kids," one seven-year Yamacraw Village tenant 
said. "I don't leave them unattended, especially at night."

Statistically, crime has been on the decline in Yamacraw Village. In 1999, 
there were 82 incidents of serious crime in that neighborhood. Last year, 
the number dipped to 63, housing authority officials said Monday.

Housing Authority spokeswoman Sandy Glicken said that as far as the 
agency's staff could determine, none of the seven people who were arrested 
for robbery lived in Yamacraw Village or in any public housing, for that 
matter. If they did, they would be subject to eviction under the 
authority's "one strike, you're out" rental policy.

Their victims who were cruising for drugs or sex didn't live in public 
housing either. In fact, one lived in the city's southside, one lived in 
Garden City and the other was based at Fort Stewart in Hinesville, housing 
authority officials said.

It's a sad fact of urban life every where that low-income neighborhoods can 
attract people who commit crimes. That's why it's important for law-abiding 
people, with the help of police, to fight back.

The transitory nature of public housing neighborhoods can make that battle 
more difficult. When people come and go all the time, and residents aren't 
sure who "belongs" and who doesn't, it's difficult to tell the good guys 
from the bad guys.

The suspects who were part of the alleged robbery ring are in their late 
teens and early 20s, city police said. Investigators did not say how the 
organization operated. But typically, such groups have members who pose as 
drug dealers or prostitutes. When drug-buyers or prospective johns try to 
do business, they get clipped.

Not surprisingly, the victims are sometimes too embarassed or ashamed to go 
to the police. But if police don't know when or where these robberies 
occur, they can't crack the robbery rings. When that happens, the quality 
of life in neighborhoods where these robbers have set up shop can quickly 
spiral downward.

Fortunately, Savannah police gathered enough information to bust the 
robbers operating in the Yamacraw Village area. This is one circle that 
should be broken. Let the suspects do a different kind of "preying" in 
front of a judge.
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