Good afternoon,
The administration of Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki has been cautious about trumpeting a sharp drop in the city’s shooting rate. Check out here the most recent Compstat report for more detailed data.
After all, it only takes one battle for street corners among drug dealers to unravel the progress. It is also easy to take the eye off the ball. That seems to have happened in Philadelphia, which saw a spike in its murder rate after a long period of decline. It is also important to keep in mind that while shootings are down sharply, homicides have not declined at a comparable rate.
Still, recognition late last year by the Justice Department provided evidence that Police Chief Robert Tracy and his team are on the right track in mixing technology and proven police practices.
As you know, Purzycki went outside the struggling culture of the Police Department in appointing the former Chicago police official.
In recent years, homicides and shootings emerged as the biggest barrier in efforts to revitalize the city. The final blow came with Wilmington being dubbed Murdertown USA.
The widely circulated Newsweek story remains prominent in Google searches and produced outrage in some quarters when Hollywood took a serious look at making the crisis as the inspiration for a TV show.
The good news was that the piece woke up many throughout the state who stuck with the status quo.
A modest celebration is in order, along with the realization that the factors that led to the situation spiraling out of control remain in place.
Life in some of the city’s neighborhoods remains difficult. Generations of people living in poverty create a dismal cycle that is hard to break. Any bridges built between police and the community are fragile.
Gentrification is in its early stages but creates its own set of challenges as older units are rehabbed and lower-income residents move elsewhere.
Media coverage remains a problem, with a focus on breaking news and clickbait driven stories of tragedy, rather than solutions journalism. Solutions journalism seeks to go beyond breaking news and tales of tragedy that do little to address underlying problems.
Still, it is important to remember that without a drop in shootings and homicides, making any sort of progress is impossible.
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