Violent crime in city sees four-year high
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun, Oct 16, 2006 : 11:24 pm ET
DURHAM -- Violent crime in Durham reached a four-year peak in the first half of 2006, despite a sharp reduction in the number of homicides, Police Chief Steve Chalmers told the City Council Monday night.
The increase over the same period in 2005 was driven by jumps in the number of rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults, according to numbers provided by the Durham Police Department. Rapes and assaults were at a four-year high, and the number of robberies was as high as it's been at any time since 2003.
All told, there were 916 violent crimes in the first half of 2006, compared to 678 in the same stretch of 2005, a 35 percent increase.
The good news, as far as Chalmers and other officials were concerned, was that the city's murder rate was down sharply. There were only seven homicides in the in the first half of the year, compared to 18 the year before.
Department figures showed that six major North Carolina cities -- Asheville, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Greenville and Winston-Salem -- had higher murder rates than Durham's. But Durham's rate was still the highest among the Triangle's four main cities, with Raleigh providing the closest competition.
Council members welcomed the news on homicides, but fretted about the jump in other types of violent crime.
"The concern is that with the overall 35 percent increase in violent crime, it's a matter of time before you see that murder rate increasing," Councilman Thomas Stith said. "With that level of increase, do we not still have an environment where our citizens will say, 'I don't feel comfortable, I don't feel safe?'"
The council was also unhappy to hear that a man arrested in connection with last year's quadruple homicide on Alpine Road may have committed the crime only about two weeks after being arrested and charged with a long string of drug offenses. The suspect, Roderick Vernard Duncan, was out on a $100,000 bond after initially being held in lieu of $500,000.
Members said they'd like to push the General Assembly to enact laws mandating tougher bond practices in cases that combine drug and firearms offenses.
Councilmen Howard Clement and Eugene Brown also urged Chalmers to crack down harder on prostitution, comments that followed a weekend that saw officers arrest 14 men and women on a variety of soliciting charges.
Clement said he wants police to make shame an element of their strategy.
"I won't be completely happy with the prostitution situation until we see pictures of the Johns as well as the Jeans in the story," he said. "Something should be done to publicize the pictures."
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-779251.html
Panel discussion is on democracy
Oct 16, 2006 : 8:32 pm ET Herald Sun
DURHAM -- State Sen. Jeanne Lucas, D-Durham, will moderate a panel discussion on the topic "Claiming our Democracy" today at 7 p.m. at White Rock Baptist Church, 3400 Fayetteville St.*
The event is free and open to the public.
The forum is part of a series in which community leaders are invited to lead a discussion of "Covenant with Black America," a book written by public television talk show host Tavis Smiley.
Among the panelists will be Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers, Judge Elaine Bushfan, John Burness of Duke University, Goldie Byrd of N.C. A&T, author Kevin Jenkins, businessman Ron Roots, businesswoman Sandra Braswell, attorney James "Butch" Williams and Elsie Leak of the state Department of Public Instruction.
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-779215.html
* White Rock, where the Committee meets- special democratic completed sample ballots anyone?