Thursday night, a man was murdered in his home on the 500 block of W 4th St in Quaker Hill. This man was my neighbor, and this is the block I live on. A week ago — also on a Thursday — I returned home from a late run to BJs for gas to drive by a scene where a man was on the ground, being attended to by paramedics, at the corner of Lancaster and Dupont. As I drove by (just before the WPD shut down the street), I saw a friend of mine and her granddaughter who had clearly been too close to this shooting. In the days between July 16 and July 23, there have been 10 shootings in Wilmington. And for me, it is getting too close for comfort.
There’s a great deal of rumor still swirling around Thursday night’s shooting on 4th St. I do know that many of us sat outside the past couple of nights watching for something, what I don’t know. I don’t know why one man was shot in the head in his home, and I hope the WPD can find the shooter. But what I do know is that one of the most stable blocks in West Center City is feeling under siege and it would not surprise me if some of these long time homeowners find someplace to live where their safety will be more important than it is here.
I don’t want to blame the WPD for this one shooting on my own block. But I have been pointing out since Easter that WCC has been pretty bloody this year, in spite of the claims for success of Operation Disrupt. What I do want to lay at the feet of the WPD leadership is the continued lack of urgency in seriously upgrading the WPD to a 21st century police force. And I do fault them for not taking the crime mapping effort seriously. 7th and Washington needs to be addressed for this neighborhood to have any stability. And as far as we can tell, there is no such targeted effort. But here is what I want to point out:
First, this spike in violence clearly flies in the face of the rush to claim some victory over the city’s violence problem by misusing statistics from ShotSpotter and Operation Disrupt. ShotSpotter isn’t a deterrent tool, it is supposed to help officers locate shootings and shooters. And it is apparently not 100% reliable. Operation Disrupt is reported to have ended June 5 (although the NJ also reported that a reconfigured Operation Disrupt was supposed to be in place sometime in June — a reconfiguration that was supposed to be a smaller, more focused unit. So what’s the deal, then? Is there or is there not an Operation Disrupt?)
Part of the overly eager effort to try to stamp a face of success on managing the city’s crime problem has the City claiming:
In the first six months – from June 30, 2014 through December 31— there were 231 reported incidents through ShotSpotter in that area. In the next six months – from Jan.1 through June 26 – there were 135 incidents reported by the system.
“We continue to address violent crime through a multifaceted approach that includes engagement, partnerships with federal and state agencies, increased police presence and effective use of innovative technology like ShotSpotter,” said Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings, noting the 42 percent reduction in gunshots detected by the technology.
Which has the city indulging in Very Bad Statistics, but also catches them in giving ShotSpotter credit for the city’s typical seasonal crime curve (this figure is taken from the crime mapping presentation for the WPSCC):
Then there’s this claim:
While Operation Disrupt officers were patrolling, there were fewer violent incidents and no homicides, Cummings said previously.
Read that closely. Because this takes credit for the limited hours that Operation Disrupt was working (the early to late evening hours) — the shootings and homicides outside of this window don’t seem to count. Meaning that the 20 or so shootings that happened during the hours that Operation Disrupt was NOT on duty are ignored. And while Mayor Williams and Chief Cummings are trying to take credit for something that isn’t happening, they did tell Cris Barrish:
Williams, a former city detective, and Cummings said they would continue Disrupt at least through the summer, and eventually incorporate the zero-tolerance patrols into the force’s regular operations.
So what is the deal with Operation Disrupt?
Of course, if you follow the NJ’s Wilmington crime data page, the only thing that these numbers reliably say is that we’re typically about at 43 to 64% of our yearly rate for incidents and 50 to 72% of the yearly homicide number right about now. Sixteen killed right now might mean that we *could* be on a pace to break all of the records. The group of 5 killed in January could have been an early start on the usual gang stuff — meaning that activity should start tapering off about now or we have bigger problems ahead. But we are pretty clearly on the usual curve of violent incidents.
Second, this entire business looks like more of the same:
Wilmington Police Chief Bobby Cummings said even without those special deployments, the department is working efficiently to combat violent crime.
“We have our redeployment, and we believe it is going pretty well. It is just that we have had a spike over the last week or two,” Cummings said.
“Sometimes you have those ebbs and flows and right now … shootings are up,” he said.
“We have people in the right places, working with the community to build trust and be present,” Cummings said. “We believe we are on the right track.”
If you lived here during the Baker/Szczerba years will recognize this rhetoric. They have their plan and they aren’t changing it. And little of that plan is what the WPSSC recommended for the city. Maybe they think we just need to get past the summer surge. But one of the points of the WPSSC was to encourage the WPD to reorient itself from a response-driven organisation to a more proactive one. And for all of their claims to have implemented large bits of the report, they clearly haven’t. Because while culture and overall strategy takes time to change, you hear no proactive language from the Administration. They haven’t done much implementation of the plan at all. And my guess is that they’ve spent more time angling for more money than in upgrading their operation. This might be a spike, but it looks more like the usual Wilmington crime curve from here. And this summer the action is in West Center City.
Third, I just want to point out how hard everyone — the WPD and the NJ — worked to make sure that people know that the man who showed up shot close to the Riverfront movies was not shot at the Riverfront. He was shot in some dangerous place and had the nerve to drag himself over to the relative safety of the Riverfront. The Riverfront *is*s safe, and it also has its own Community Police unit that it shares with Market St. You can think about the WPD coverage Downtown and at the Riverfront a a permanent Operation Disrupt, but in a place that doesn’t need it. I mention this *again* because this Administration can make focused deployments when it is important to them. And HEY, NAACP — here’s a *real* and urgent disparity issue for you to get behind.
Fourth, Bobby Marshall needs to stop trying to throw money at these people. They have plenty. And for a group that has just completed a budget cycle, you would think that they had already budgeted to make sure that foot patrols were funded and ready to go. And I understand that the Chief is telling folks that the new class sworn in needs to complete its 6 month acclimation and then there will be more foot patrols. Who knows. But I do know that the Administration claims they have implemented much of the WPSSC, which means that they should be reaping the benefits of the efficiencies that would accrue. So they are making better use of the money the taxpayers of Wilmington provide to them and so don’t need more funding. We need Bobby Marshall to help us get some accountability from this Administration instead of trying to enable all of its worse instincts.
Of course, none of this ameliorates the trauma on my block. Or the trauma throughout the rest of the city. But this Administration isn’t much interested in the harm this kind of violence does to the city, because they are too busy working the angles for more funding. Even though they aren’t quite four weeks into a new budget year. They’ve had some success in starting a narrative that indicates the Operation Disrupt and foot patrols have ended because the money is gone. Shame on the NJ for not looking into this closer — their own reporting indicated that there was intent to keep Operation Disrupt going. And I think that Wilmingtonians would really like to know how it is that funds for these programs can possibly be gone when the new fiscal year just started. I mean, how can you be in the business of asking for funds for more management (for a plan you claim to have mostly implemented) while you let funds dry up for these other programs?
But when you hear the Administration crying for more money for the WPD, remember that they have plenty of funds, especially if they can get control of their own budget. And also remember that they couldn’t bother to budget for programs they said were important just a few weeks ago. Then, especially for those of you who have spent some time with the WPSSC report, ask yourself whether this Administration took even its own “plan” seriously.