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Crime is the first in a series of stories on the issues that emerge from the Voices of Florida. This report was prepared by Concert 90's Rick Stone.
"When we asked the question that way, health care is the most dominant answer, that's most on people's minds right now. But when we posed to them a list of issues and say, 'how important are these to you personally?' crime rises right to the top."When they are prompted, says Ann Selzer, 51 percent say crime is worse than it was three years ago, and 28 percent say it is much worse. Clearly, crime is a potent issue. But many who are close to the problem doubt that it can be usefully addressed by the President of the United States.
Robert Roberson is a minister who works for the county's Weed and Seed program in Hillsboro's crime-ridden northwestern neighborhood known as Suitcase City. He thinks a president can best fight crime with moral support and by signing checks over to state and local officials who know what the problems are.
"If the President would address those issues, speaking positively about releasing authority for the cities and states to hire more deputies or officers, to work with the residents, you would see a much better community, cities, states, and even a nation."Roberson's program -- Weed and Seed -- is an implementation of crime-fighting theories that find crime's roots in dysfunctional families and blighted neighborhoods. Weeding refers to aggressive policing to remove the criminal element, and seeding is the introduction of social services to the community.
That is Lori Evans' responsibility. She is the manager of Safe Haven in Suitcase City, an office where residents can get connected with short-term assistance, job training and legal help.
"We walk around a lot. We go door to door and try to draw people out and tell them what we're about. They'll say things to us like, 'You don't want to walk around by yourself after dark, it's not safe.' So they don't feel safe, but they're starting to feel safer. It's really helped them to see Weed and Seed, which is what we're a part of here."Residents in this neighborhood are less taken with talk of tougher sentencing and chain gangs than with programs such as Weed and Seed, which identify specific local problems that lead to crime, and respond with specific solutions.
Sheriff's Deputy Sonja Sheperd is a community resource officer working out of a converted apartment next door to the Safe Haven office on 23rd Street, part of the Weed and Seed deployment in Suitcase City.
"Oddly enough, I don't think a lot of people look a this area as being the unsafe crime haven that a lot of us perceive it to be. To them, it's home. To them, it's their community. And I don't think they feel that it's any more dangerous than anywhere else. But they are concerned about drugs being on the street, and they are concerned about the safety of their kids, and just normal everyday life."Everyday life will be made safer and more stable, no doubt, by this construction project. The Sheriff is building his new district office on 142nd Street, and the increased police presence is almost sure to reduce the crime rate. But Weed and Seed has reduced it already, many say, by implementing programs and theories that were tailored for this specific neighborhood by local officials who were intimately involved.
Reverend Roberson says the effort that is needed is not likely to come from the White House.
"No, no. We need it from the state level. We need it from people that can affect our lives immediately. I know the President of the United States has the power to make laws or to veto laws. But we can't touch him. We can't call him and talk to him on a daily basis. We can't get to know the President as a friend. But we can, our representatives. We can, our governments. We can, the mayor. We can know these people. We can walk side by side down the street and talk to them. And this is what we need."This is Rick Stone.