Crime Statistics Are In

Today's Journal Star reports that while crime overall in the state of Illinois has dropped in the past year, crime has risen in Peoria. As reported in Leslie Williams' story, crime overall in the state dropped 3.1% while over the same period, crime in Peoria County has risen 14.2%.

I not only feel that this is a serious problem, but also a scary one. Just last week I read where a tavern located on Antoinette was burglarized of it's inventory of booze. Meanwhile, around the same period in time, only blocks away, a 35-year old man was robbed in his own front yard by a man riding a bicycle. The latter crime also involved another man on a bike encouraging the other to shoot the victim with a gun he was carrying.

Anymore, residents of the East Bluff have become accustomed to hearing gunfire on a regular basis. CJ Summers has a somewhat humorous story regarding the theft of his neighbor's laptop computer and an on-line discussion with the thief.

Common Sense of it All: This is what's becoming scary; Peoria is becoming a war zone of crime. Mayor Ardis, whom I personally like, has been a disappointment with this problem. His campaign was largely based on combating crime in Peoria. He acknowledged this growing problem, but yet, I don't see any real progress being made. Crime does not discriminate; all you have to be is in the wrong place at the wrong time. As I've said in my previous posts, this city is quickly becoming a ghetto.