As discussed on DurhamForThePeople.org's page titled QoL and SoL -- shorthand for Quality of Life and Standard of Living -- Quality of Life is a difficult thing to capture, describe, and measure.
But one of the proxies that we can use is Crime Rate.
Communities that have low crime rates are more attractive locations for businesses. They are safer places to raise a family. They are places where home -- a personal, intimate, critically important sanctuary -- is possible.
But in communities where crime is rampant -- or where crime is permitted to occur without community leadership and/or law enforcement intervention -- Quality of Life degrades and the community devolves into a place that is unlivable except for those who "prefer" a lawless, uncivilized, pack-mentality-driven environment.
The Impact of Crime on a Community
Crime in rural communities -- like the Town of Durham
-- can run like a deadly undercurrent,
steadily eroding Quality of Life and Standard of Living. And crime can
take many forms. The perpetrator may be a thief, drug dealer, or gang
member. Or a "businessperson" who is more interested in closing the
deal on a fraud, scam, or other fleecing scheme than he or she is on
providing high quality service at an affordable price. Or the
perpetrator may be a local official who exchanges the
influence and power of their elected office for personal gain, however
"personal gain" may be defined, whether that be money lining pockets or
the promise of future "favors" in a quid pro quoarrangement -- or some other "arrangement" that would not stand scrutiny in the light of day.
But whatever the crime and whomever the perpetrators may be, the victims
are clear.
Every member of a community pays the price; every member of
a community is at risk of falling prey; and every member of a
community has both the opportunity and the responsibility to join their
voice with others who want to live in peace and safety with the
hope that by their own hard work and integrity they can live in a community where they can enjoy "the
pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness"however they choose to define
these for themselves.
[Note: For your convenience, the above links will open in new browser windows]
As daunting a challenge as this might seem, there are
resources
available to help community members to become knowledgeable about how
they can take a pro-active role and work toward positive changes in
their community -- even more critical if local officials are either
unaware/unknowledgeable or
unwilling to address issues of crime in spite of their responsibility
to the community, sworn or not, to do so.
There are many excellent sources of information that can help guide community
members in their efforts to address crime in their community within the
bounds, limits, and provisions of the law. In the following pages you will find just a
few, but these are among the most well-respected and accomplished
at improving and securing Quality of Life for our communities.
Among the most well-respected sources for information on crime in the United States is the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation'sUniform Crime Report, or UCR.
The Uniform Crime
Reporting (UCR) Program was conceived in 1929 by the International
Association of Chiefs of Police to meet a need for reliable, uniform
crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with
collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics. Today, several
annual statistical publications, such as the comprehensive Crime in the United States are produced from data provided by nearly 17,000 law enforcement agencies across the United States. (Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm )
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program collects offenses that come to the attention of law enforcement for violent crime and property crime, as well as data regarding clearances of these offenses. In addition, the FBI collects auxiliary data about these offenses (e.g., time of day of burglaries). The expanded offense data also include trends in both crime volume and crime rate per 100,000 inhabitants. Finally, the UCR Program collects expanded homicide data
which includes information about homicide victims and offenders,
weapons used, the circumstances surrounding the offenses, and
justifiable homicides.
There's lots more coming, so please stay tuned! We have lots of information on its way, so please be sure to check back,
or send us an email through our Contact Us page.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Note: The newspaper article featured above appeared on the front page of The Daily Mail, Greene County's Paper of Record, on Friday, February 12, 2010.
DurhamForThePeople.org: Community Renewal and Growth Through Open & Transparent Government
Quality of Life and Crime as a Factor
