Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jan 2004
Source: Greenville News (SC)
Copyright: 2004 The Greenville News
Contact:  http://greenvillenews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/877

ALMOST NO HOMICIDES

Greenville stands apart as a safe city. The city of Greenville had just two 
homicides in 2003, the lowest number in the city's recorded history. It 
stands in contrast to some other South Carolina cities that saw violent 
crime rise last year. Charleston, for example, had 18 homicides in 2003, 
the most the city has recorded since 1969.

Part of the reason is luck, something Greenville Police Chief Willie 
Johnson readily admits. But it's clear, too, that good police work is also 
responsible.

Credit should go to the city's investment over much of the past decade in 
community-oriented policing, a patrolling strategy that puts police 
officers within neighborhoods where they are known and officers get to know 
residents. Community-oriented policing has had an impact on the overall 
crime rate.

But the constant police presence has especially curbed street drug peddling 
over the past few years, a development helped also by the considerable 
decline in the appetite for and traffic in crack cocaine since its height 
in the late 1980s. During those years when Greenville posted double-digit 
homicides, many were drug-related - squabbles over money and turf that 
turned violent.

Too often, domestic violence ends in death in South Carolina. A new state 
law that will toughen the consequences of abuse is welcome. But the city 
deserves credit for taking seriously reports of domestic violence and 
making arrests that have the potential to stop abuse from becoming deadly. 
This state leads the nation in the rate of women who are victims of 
domestic homicide, so this vigilance is warranted.

As Greenville continues to grow, it's expected that the crime rate will, 
too. It is a credit to local law enforcement that overall crime, including 
homicides, has decreased against the trend.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman