We already know America’s urban streets are not safe, especially at night. Now, we’re not even safe indoors — while shopping in supermarkets.
MyFoxOrlando reports, Oct. 3, 2012, that a man pushing a shopping cart in the frozen food section of a Pathmark supercenter in northeast Philadelphia was beaten and robbed of $100 by three men and a woman.
Philadelphia police are looking for the four suspects and ask the public to call them if you know who they are.
Here’s the robbery captured by the store’s surveillance cam:
A reader of the MyFoxOrlando news article Jim Hampton claims that:
1st suspect is described as a Hispanic male, medium complexion, 20-years-old, 5’8”. He was wearing a blue jacket, t-shirt and tan shorts with a baseball hat and had earrings and a nose ring.
2nd suspect is described as a Hispanic male, 20-years-old, about 6’0” tall with a dark complexion. He had an afro and goatee and was wearing a red long-sleeve shirt and tan pants.
3rd suspect is described as a Hispanic or Asian male, 5’6”, with a stocky build and was wearing a blue track suit.
4th suspect is described as a Hispanic female with dark hair, wearing a red coat and blue jeans.
I took these screen shots of the video, showing the four suspects:
at the 0:05 mark
at the 1:34 mark
at the 1:58 mark
at the 1:59 mark
~Eowyn
And Zimmerman’s in jail for shooting Trayvon after getting attacked by him.
“We already know America’s urban streets are not safe, especially at night. Now, we’re not even safe indoors — while shopping in supermarkets.” ~ Actually most streets are safer today than they were twenty years ago. A lot of that reduction came about through improved technology like computers, DNA analysis, and the video cameras that caught these criminals in the act. That’s not to say it’s as good now as it was in the 60’s, but the past twenty years have shown a steady decline in crime rates.
But this story is even wilder than reported above. One of the suspects apparently videotaped the incident and posted it online. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8832467
Did you not see my post on Detroit today? Even the police are advising you to enter the city at your own risk. Try heading out in DC at night. Or New York. Or Atlanta. I lived in Atlanta about 15 years ago and wouldn’t wear my diamond rings out at night for fear of having my fingers cut off. I lived in a gated apartment complex and still had someone break in at night. I’m sure the guard let him in…
In my area, crime rate is on the rise, thanks in part to liberal gun control where only a criminal carries in non -carry zones. I won’t even go to the major downtown area by me at night, and I have my CLP. There are many teens that commit multiple crimes, including murder, and are released in the name of “rehabilitation”. Turns out that doesn’t work so well and they still commit crimes.
A video camera isn’t going to stop a thug in a hoodie either. Most criminals don’t care about rules and consider themselves smarter than any cop.
“a steady decline in crime rates.”
Show me the statistics.
Besides, even if there’s a reduction in nationwide crime rate, that doesn’t mean America’s urban streets are safe, esp. at night. Try telling that to victims of crime in urban America.
You live in Troy, MI, which Wikipedia says is the safest city in Michigan. No wonder.
Dare him to visit Detroit at night, unarmed.
“Show me the statistics.”
FBI data show a steady decrease in crime. Here’s a report for the years 2007 to 2011:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2011/preliminary-annual-ucr-jan-dec-2011/data-tables/table-3
Note that reported crime went down every year in every category.
Graphs for longer periods can be found in this report:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=43&ved=0CLUCEBYwKg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.soc.umn.edu%2F~uggen%2Fcrime_recession.pdf&ei=dD10UKChAujG0QHg_IHgDA&usg=AFQjCNHM8xxW8GMRQ76yrvcvy0OeLzLqKA
Check out Figures 1, 2, and 3 for some revealing graphs. They also show steady declines beginning in the early nineties.
As another commenter observed, cameras do not always prevent crime. However, they do lead to more arrests and convictions, and once criminals are locked up, they can’t commit another crime.
Detroit is a financial disaster for many reasons and the city has made deep cuts in their police and fire departments, as well as in their schools. Of course the police are going to state their case forcefully and their flyer “Enter Detroit at your own risk,” is an example. But the city is also on the rebound as new businesses are locating downtown, and many of their employees are moving into newly developed lofts, apartments, and homes. The Detroit Tigers play in a stadium in downtown Detroit and over 3 million fans showed up this year. Many of them visit local bars and restaurants before or after the game. Stories about these phenomena can be found here:
“Detroit Pushes Back With Young Muscles”: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/fashion/the-young-and-entrepreneurial-move-to-downtown-detroit-pushing-its-economic-recovery.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
“Housing Shortages in Detroit?”: http://citiwire.net/columns/housing-shortages-in-detroit/
Although I live in Troy, a Detroit suburb, I go downtown regularly. I’ve been to several ball games, shop at the Eastern Market, visit Greektown for dinner and lunch at Lafayette Coney Island. I even lived in Detroit for almost ten years, and the only time I was ever a victim was when my car radio was stolen back in ’78.
Whenever I come across a story that’s intended to stoke up fear, I ask myself what motives the party presenting that information may have. With the police flyer, that’s rather obvious. Others overstate the case so that they may sell alarm systems, or get people to watch their programming, and others yet are trying to advance political agendas. Although the video may be shocking, misbehaving teenagers do not represent a trend.
“Whenever I come across a story that’s intended to stoke up fear, I ask myself what motives the party presenting that information may have. With the police flyer, that’s rather obvious. Others overstate the case so that they may sell alarm systems, or get people to watch their programming, and others yet are trying to advance political agendas.”
I really do not appreciate your demonizing me. FOTM does not make a penny and is staffed by all unpaid volunteers, because we are concerned about and love our country. Whatever occasional ads readers see on FOTM were inserted by WordPress as its quid pro quo for hosting FOTM for free. As for “advancing political agendas,” if you call anti-crime and anti-criminals a “political agenda,” then you are to be pitied.
My response to your request for proof was in no way intended as a personal attack. It was meant to suggest to people that they need to educate themselves about the facts. Those facts indicate that the video clip showed an isolated incident. When you need proof of declining crime rates, that suggests to me that you, and many others probably, do not realize that, all things being equal, we live in a much safer country than we did twenty years ago.
Most people are not aware that street crime dwarfs in comparison to crimes committed by guys in suits. These corporate types get away with robbing us of billions of dollars each year, and killing thousands of Americans. They don’t end up in jail, and their companies pay what amounts to a small fine that’s seen as a cost of doing business. We all know what bankers have done to our economy, and “Big Pharma” is another major culprit. Forbes reported on this earlier this year: “More drug companies to pay billions for fraud, join the “dishonor roll” after Abbott settlement” http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikakelton/2012/05/10/more-pharma-companies-to-join-the-dishonor-roll-pay-billions-for-fraud-following-abbotts-settlement/
The corporate media would like to distract us from the real problem by focusing on petty crime, like that shown in the video. That is a political agenda.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~ H.L. Mencken
Thank you, Joan, for pointing out that “river freeman” intentionally or unintentionally missed the point!
If anyone is pursuing a “political agenda,” it’s “river freeman” who built a mountain of scapegoats from my factual post about one incident in Philadelphia!
“The violent crime rate went up 17% last year, ending a general decline in violence that began nearly 20 years ago, according to a new federal survey of crime victims. The Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey also found an 11% increase in the rate of property crimes, including household burglaries and car theft.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/17/victims-report-violent-crime/1638895/
In other words, river freeman, you’ll full of it.
I don’t go out after 5pm…
river freeman, the point of this post is to show that our safety is even tenuous shopping inside a grocery store, and to show the public the suspects in question so that possibly, someone might identify them. I thank Dr. Eowyn for this post and for telling us about this incident. There is no political agenda with regard to this post and it is amazing that you see one, which illustrates that you do not read and comprehend what you read very well. This event actually happened: no hobgoblins or fantasy here. You are not making any kind of point that relates properly to this post. Please do not lecture us about your perceived knowledge of crime in our country. The facts of this post are clear; they are, what they are, and nothing you can say will change it.
Joan, I’m sorry if you misunderstood my comments. I was trying to put the grocery store video in some context by referring to FBI data that show a decline in reported crime in the USA over the past twenty years. You may have noted that Dr. Eowyn admitted ignorance of this data.
Dr Eowyn’s claim that “we’re not even safe indoors — while shopping in supermarkets,” is just wrong. Contrary to his fear mongering, we are quite safe on the street, and in grocery stores. You are more likely to be injured by a slip and fall in a grocery store, or by a worker who accidentally runs into you with a loaded cart, or by consuming something you bought there, than by an attack by some teenagers.
And please don’t confuse the presentation of facts with lecturing.
“Dr. Eowyn admitted ignorance of this data.”
Gosh, aren’t you grandiose. I did no such thing. What I did was to ask YOU to give us the evidence for your claim. Joan is right: You really do have problems with reading comprehension.
And for you to compare being beaten and robbed in a supermarket with slipping and falling is preposterous. Not only do you having reading comprehension problems, you also are conceptually confused because you fail to see the difference between being mugged BY THUGS vs. oneself accidentally falling down. Wow. You are a piece of work.
river freeman, I did not misunderstand your comments at all. The facts of this post were set forth properly by Dr. Eowyn, in describing the specific crime that took place and allowing us to see the suspects involved so that these individuals can be identified, caught and arrested and properly prosecuted. Whether or not there is a decline in reported crime over the past 20 years by the FBI, which is your assertion that has not been supported by any specific facts or documentary evidence, has nothing to do with Dr. Eowyn’s reporting of this crime. And, given the fact that the victim was assaulted while in a grocery aisle while shopping, can show us that it is possible that others might be subject to that same kind of criminal behavior. It is a fact that this victim was assaulted inside a grocery store in an aisle while shopping. It is you who are drawing conclusions that cannot and should not be drawn, and finding facts which do not exist that are irrelevant to this post. Nor did Dr. Eowyn admit ignorance of “this data” because you did not provide any data supported by documentary evidence or specific relevant citations. You also attempt to make comparisons, as Dr. Eowyn pointed out, that cannot be made in any logical or coherent fashion. Finally, I am not confused. You are confused river freeman, not only with the facts of this post, but with your conception of yourself.