ConditionThree
State Pioneer
imported post
http://redding.com/news/2008/feb/26/shasta-county-crime-increases/
I have been told that Shasta County's relatively low crime rate makes open carry unnecessary and anachronistic.I agree our area isn't a metropolitan hotbed of crime, however, the problem is that when our small community experiences a spike in criminal activity, the odds of becoming a victim are much higher than in places like San Francisco or Los Angeles. What compounds this for small counties, is that we are less likely to get deputies and equipment on patrol with budget cuts looming on the horizon.
The explanation that statistics are skewed by a mass murder and would match last years numbers if it were considered one 'incident' is utterly fallacious.I doubt the administration would make that kind of distinction if one of their deputies shot six people with their sidearm and tried to tell his superiors that it only counted once.
You add to this recent localattacks with a baseball bat, a machete, a beating that put a high school student in the hospital, I am not at all convinced that I am safer carrying concealed in this supposed low crime oasis. If anything, I am more fearful with inadequate numbers of patrol deputies, expected budget cuts, and empty assurances that these crimesare isolated or anomalous circumstances.
http://redding.com/news/2008/feb/26/shasta-county-crime-increases/
Shasta County crime increases
Officials say several isolated incidents skew statistics
[line]
But officials at the Shasta County Sheriff's Office caution that because crimes are rare in Shasta County it takes only a few incidents to create large spikes in reported crime statistics.
"In Shasta County, we're pretty lucky that we don't have that many crimes to begin with," said Undersheriff Greg Wrigley.
Even so, reports of murders, rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults and domestic violence increased from the year before.
There were 12 murders in 2007 -- up from eight the year before. Some 31 rapes were reported, compared with 19 the year before.
Robberies doubled in 2007 to 24 from the 12 in 2006.
Wrigley cautioned that the murder statistics were misleading because one murder scene accounted for five of the deaths.
On April 10, a Happy Valley family of six was found dead inside a charred home. Investigators suspect one of those found dead was the murderer, having shot his family members, then set the home on fire and died in the flames.
Wrigley said that if the Happy Valley mass murder is counted as one incident, then the murder rate is the same as the year before.
Sheriff Tom Bosenko noted in a statement that he's continuing to hire more deputies.
Of the 18 vacant deputy sheriff positions the sheriff's office reported at the end of 2007, 13 of those will be filled by June, he said.
And the year 2007 wasn't all bleak.
Arson calls dropped from 10 in 2006 to three in 2007, and auto grand theft dropped from 98 calls in 2006 to 51.
Reporter Ryan Sabalow can be reached at 225-8344 or at rsabalow@redding.com.
I have been told that Shasta County's relatively low crime rate makes open carry unnecessary and anachronistic.I agree our area isn't a metropolitan hotbed of crime, however, the problem is that when our small community experiences a spike in criminal activity, the odds of becoming a victim are much higher than in places like San Francisco or Los Angeles. What compounds this for small counties, is that we are less likely to get deputies and equipment on patrol with budget cuts looming on the horizon.
The explanation that statistics are skewed by a mass murder and would match last years numbers if it were considered one 'incident' is utterly fallacious.I doubt the administration would make that kind of distinction if one of their deputies shot six people with their sidearm and tried to tell his superiors that it only counted once.
You add to this recent localattacks with a baseball bat, a machete, a beating that put a high school student in the hospital, I am not at all convinced that I am safer carrying concealed in this supposed low crime oasis. If anything, I am more fearful with inadequate numbers of patrol deputies, expected budget cuts, and empty assurances that these crimesare isolated or anomalous circumstances.