Crime Stories

Crime Stories

Something I've noticed lately about criminals and crime victims is that, often, they don't live in the neighborhoods where they commit crimes or are victimized.

Granted, that's not always true, but for example, I noticed that Bobby Smith, the 17-year-old Roosevelt student killed last Sunday night at Pestalozzi and Minnesota lived way down in the 8500 block of South Broadway, near Marceau Street in far south Carondelet/Patch.

Likewise, 16-year-old Roosevelt student Corey Blanks, killed apparently in self-defense by a cab driver in January near Nebraska and Wyoming, according to the Post-Dispatch report, lived in the 2400 block of Menard Street in Soulard.

I don't want to blame Roosevelt itself for these kind of situations; after all, there are plenty of good young people there. But something is amiss when students are being gunned down in neighborhoods within a few blocks of the school, even if they don't live anywhere near there.

Likewise, you'll find that many of the prostitutes who find customers along South Jefferson near Arsenal or Gravois, do not live in the area, but more likely in Illinois or in South County. And, of course, the customers of prostitutes and drug dealers in South St. Louis mostly are suburbanites.

Most of the people in these neighborhoods - regardless of race, education, income, age, gender, religion, ethnicity, or homeownership/renter status - are downright fed up with the crime situation.

I just wish I had an idea of how to fix the situation. It's so frustrating and at times downright scary.