Pubdate: Sat, 15 Feb 2003 Source: Savannah Morning News (GA) Copyright: 2003 Savannah Morning News Contact: http://www.savannahnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/401 Author: Anne Hart CURBING CRIME BY GETTING DOWN TO ROOT CAUSES Crime causes include jail and prison overcrowding, wide availability of drugs and guns. Last week, two men robbed a woman at gunpoint in Savannah's Liberty Street parking garage. The attackers, police said, hit the 21-year-old receptionist in the face, took her purse and raced off. Preventing such attacks -- there were 473 city street-robberies last year -- means understanding why they happen. Sounds simple enough. But there's nothing simple about the causes of those crimes. Or the causes of the other types of offenses that continue to frighten many in the community, even though the overall crime rate is down a little. No one knows, for example, why robbery and auto thefts surged in Savannah and unincorporated Chatham County last year. Or why homicides jumped by eight in the city and burglary increased by 38 percent in the county. To be sure, officials such as Savannah Police Chief Dan Flynn think they know what's behind the overall crime plague. But the causes are so varied that no single strategy will work against them, Flynn and Chatham County Police Chief Tom Sprague agree. "People want quick fixes, Flynn said. "But the truth is, dealing with a crime problem is complex. It's been decades in the making." Authorities are struggling, for example, to better cope with the thousands of local residents on parole or probation and hundreds of ex-convicts. Nationally, more than four out of every such people commit additional crimes. But whatever tactics might deal with that issue won't end the wide availability of guns, which Flynn and Sprague identify as a major factor. And whatever might get drugs and guns off the street won't keep students from skipping school or being suspended, which the chiefs say often leads to getting involved in crime. Nor will it cleanse the community of drugs, which they also see as a major culprit, or solve problems that make public housing crime-prone. The list of far-flung causes goes on. Burglaries jumped 200 cases in unincorporated Chatham County from 523 to 723. Sprague attributes the rise to a growth in population and business -- plus an overall loss of social conscience. "That is 723 citizens who had one of the most invasive crimes," Sprague said. "If I was one of those 723, I would say that crime is going through the ceiling." Closing the Revolving Door Last year, nearly 1,000 Georgia inmates convicted in Chatham County were handed a $25 check, one outfit and a bus ticket -- which many used to return home to Savannah. They were released on probation, parole or without any supervision because their sentences had ended or they were eligible for early release. Because the judicial circuit that includes Savannah sends more people to prison than other areas -- along with Atlanta, Augusta, Cobb County, and Stone Mountain -- Savannah sees a high number of parolees and probationers return. Five percent of the inmate population is from the Chatham County area. Released early because of prison overcrowding, many often return to the communities where they were convicted. Of about 500 offenders released into the Savannah area last year on parole, 71 were not convicted in Chatham. Those are the parolees Flynn wants to keep out. "We don't need criminals from Atlanta and Macon being sent to Savannah. Why should we have to suffer the results when there is a national recidivism rate of 42 percent?" Flynn said. "That means almost half of them are going to reoffend. The net result is Savannah winds up with serious and violent criminals walking our streets." Billie Tyler of Pooler, mother of the parking garage mugging victim, agrees. "The police are doing their job," Tyler said. "They are arresting everyone they can possibly arrest. But the problem is, the system is not working when they let these criminals back on the street. The system is not protecting the victims. It's protecting the criminals. In January, Flynn persuaded the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to stop sending recently released offenders to Savannah. State parole board spokeswoman Heather Hedrick said the board will continue to try to send offenders where they have jobs and family support. "If there is an offender from Fulton County, who finds a job in Savannah, it's better that we find him a transitional center around Atlanta where his family is," Hedrick said. "We couldn't agree more that prisoners that come from one community need to wind up back in same community." The number of parolees released into Chatham County dipped from 550 to 503 last year. But more offenders released after they serve their full prison terms are coming to the Savannah area, Hedrick said. In 2002, 345 such offenders claimed Chatham County as home, up from 285 in 2000, according to the state Department of Corrections. "These are offenders that aren't under the supervision of parole," Hedrick said. "They are serving longer sentences, but they are coming back into the community." Flynn likely will find it hard to reduce the number of people on probation in Savannah. The Department of Corrections -- which oversees the 3,833 probationers in Chatham County -- can't control over where they live, unless it's part of sentencing. Only parolees are required to have residence plans approved. "We share the chief's concern about offenders returning to Savannah," said Brian Owens, Department of Corrections executive assistant to the commissioner. "But we don't control where they go unless it's part of the sentence." More Guns Than Miami? Flynn has said he has seen more guns on the streets of Savannah than he ever saw in 27 years in Miami-Dade Police Department -- possibly contributing to our city's crime problem. Flynn cited a 1998 federal survey of 12 cities showing that 34 percent of Savannah residents said they kept a self-defense weapon in their home. But legal gun sales aren't behind the city's crime problem, said Tony Sterno, manager of Mack's Gun Shop in Garden City. In fact, the number of applicants for concealed weapon permits is decreasing in Chatham County. There were 1,116 permits issued countywide last year -- down from 1,213 in 2000, according to court records. Guns used in crimes are illegally traded on the street, mostly after being stolen in residential burglaries, Sterno said. "If we looked at civilian guns sales, it wouldn't come anywhere close to Miami," he said. "To say easy arms sales are the root of the crime is ludicrous. The current legal background check is working. "Legitimate gun sales are a small amount compared to the guns that are out there," Sterno said. School Truancy and Suspension High truancy in schools also incubates criminals, Flynn said. Since the start of the 2000 school year, Savannah police have focused on rounding up students skipping class. Of the 337 people Precinct 3 police officers in the truancy program contacted last year, 190 were truants. Fourteen of those were arrested on various charges, including drug violations and warrants. "A lot more could be done, a lot more truants could be taken off the streets, if we had additional staffing," said Precinct 3 Capt. Dean Fagerstrom. The program gets potential troublemakers with too much time on their hands off the streets and back in school. The law requires all children under 16 to attend school regularly. Regardless of age, Chatham County public school students may not leave campus without permission. But after they're nabbed, truants usually are merely returned to their school, where they face suspension. Other Agencies Responsible in Crime Fight Especially when public housing or from drug abuse are factors, Savannah needs help from other agencies, Flynn said. And sometimes, he added, those agencies have delivered. For example, the Housing Authority of Savannah has beefed up its relationship with Savannah police, meeting monthly with officers to review problems, as well as talk about evictions and enforcement of lease stipulations. Public housing leases now clearly spell out the one-strike policy that lets the authority evict residents if they, their children, or the guests are caught with drugs or committing violent acts. The head of household has to initial a separate section that explains the one-strike policy and undergo a criminal background check. "If they have a resident committing crime, they document the cases, present it to the Housing Authority and move troublemakers out," Flynn said. Prevention programs -- such as the Housing Authority's long-term drug elimination program -- also have helped by decreasing the number of public housing youth involved in crime, said Ron Alt, manager of the drug elimination program. From 1995-2000, the number of public housing youth that were Department of Children Youth Services offenders was reduced from 52 to 20, Alt said. "There's a lot of juvenile crime citywide, but less and less Housing Authority kids are involved," Alt said. "We really think it's the result of our prevention programming Most people arrested in public housing don't live in public housing." Savannah police also plan to look to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to help target higher-level drug traffickers. The focus of Savannah police drug enforcement has been on street-level drugs. Flynn plans to ask the DEA to put more agents in Savannah to work on higher-level traffickers, so the Savannah police Narcotics Eradication Team (NET) team can continue to focus on the streets. Currently, eight DEA agents in Savannah are responsible for 33 counties in southeast Georgia. "We have a long-standing problem with higher-level drug traffickers bringing drugs to Savannah," Flynn said. "We need to start breaking up the groups of traffickers who are supplying the street level sellers. The street-level sellers are very replaceable." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake