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(Aren't they under pressure from the neighbors to cut down on gang violence, drugs, and shootings?)

I think the police would say they are under far more pressure from middle class neighborhoods to stop small crimes in them than in poor neighborhoods to stop major crimes and crime waves there. Maybe it is because the poor are afraid of gangs. Maybe it is because poor blacks do not trust the police as much as mddle class people.

Whatever the reasons in America today you vote with your feet and move into the type of neighborhood you want. The issue here is two groups who think this is their neighborhood. Think of it as two rivals gangs fighting for turf, the potbangers v. the Duke students. The potbangers live and will stay and vote in Durham so the police naturally side with them. The potbangers were the interlopers though and the students naturally just wanted to live as students.

This happens whenever neighborhood gentrify. It is just when say a DC neighborhood gentrifies property values force out the poor but that might not happen with Duke students and in DC their is a racial component.