The crime scare that has compressed the University of Wisconsin community over the last year or two seems to have squeezed out the potential for a rational discussion of campus safety, allowing the fear-mongers and panic-stricken to have their way with student opinion. Now that an alleged murderer may (or may not) be living somewhere near the State Street area ? a community of tens of thousands of people ? many have decided the appropriate response should be hysteria.
Crime happens ? that’s obvious enough. But the current climate masks the fact that Madison remains one of the safest cities of its size in the country. Indeed, the statistics show that, if anything, we’re safer now than in previous years.
According to the most recent Madison Police Department report, violent crime witnessed a significant decrease last year in the downtown area. These crimes ? which include murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery ? dropped from 253 in 2006 to 178 in 2007 in the Central District.
It is true that, according to the same report, burglaries increased by 26 percent last year. This is reflective of a statewide and regional trend and likely related to the economic downturn. Most of the targets were businesses, not the homes of students or other residents.
Madison is always ranked as one of the top places to live in the country, largely due to its cultural attractions and high standard of life. The latter ? caused by low unemployment, a high minimum wage and relatively generous social services ? has reduced the primary cause of crime: human want. Low poverty has made Madison a bastion of low crime.
And yet, many students don’t feel safe. Blame for this irrationality can be spread around in a few places, including the significant change in demographic circumstances that, for many, accompany moving to Madison. As safe as the city is, the mostly middle-class student body comes from relatively privileged and homogeneous communities where serious crime is almost nonexistent. It may be unsavory to point out, but many are susceptible to primitive types of fear directed at populations usually not seen in the affluent suburb.
The state makes it easy for people to feel afraid too. Be it the fraudulent national security threats trumpeted by all three major presidential candidates or the frivolous screaming about the drug trade, our own government ? theoretically responsible for making us feel more secure ? serves as a mouthpiece for the omnipresent boogeyman.
But fault mostly resides with the local media, and the campus portion of which is particularly guilty. The rare assault or mugging on campus is often greeted with hyperbolic frustration and demands for a bolstered police apparatus. Last year, The Daily Cardinal even ran a three-day, front page feature entitled ?Are You Safe?? The implied answer was that, surprisingly enough, we are not. Sensationalism sells.
The anxiety has gotten to the point that local politicians must either pander to the delirium or face criticism from the press, as the current District 5 supervisor knows all too well.
Conor O?Hagan, one of the two candidates running as a replacement, cites campus safety, apparently under siege from mysterious dark forces, as his No. 1 priority. Aside from confirming the absurd depths to which this issue has descended, Mr. O?Hagan?s position shows how scare-mongering can be an effective political tool, especially when an issue-based platform is conspicuously absent.
With that said, everyone has the right to be safe. Crime, even when rare, must be addressed. The solution, however, is not to put more cops on the street ? the city just added an unprecedented 30 new officers in February. The cost for hiring more police officers is astronomical in the near-term, while the long-term required funds leech off of more intelligent proposals and programs.
But more importantly, there is little evidence that increased police presence has any effect on curbing crime. Most poor communities, ever weary of police brutality and intrusion, aren?t exactly up-in-arms over the supposed lack of law enforcement, even though it is only their neighborhoods that face a real crime problem in this city. Ald. Brian Solomon, District 10, representative of the low-income Allied Drive, notes on his blog, ?When I ask my constituents what will help in their community, not a one mentions an increase in the number of police.?
If the correlation between crime and destitution is a strong one, it would make sense to direct resources toward homelessness prevention, after-school programs, job training, welfare and other social services. These types of measures will not only relieve the financial strain on a criminal justice system that now imprisons one in 100 adults but also address the fact that both the perpetrators and recipients of crime can be victims. Militarizing Madison may offer some immediate psychological relief but is detrimental to the interests of marginalized groups and ultimately ineffective.
In the meantime, crime isn?t going away in a society like ours. But at least we live in a part of the country where it?s rare enough that ? contrary to the feverish musings of some quarters ? it really is safe to walk home at night all by yourself.
Kyle Szarzynski ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in history and Spanish.
