I figgured I'd get a poll going on this because It had been part of a few "spirited" discussions between my friends and I, and I wanted to see where other's stand on this topic.

I'll post my opinions after a few folks start responding... I dont want to try and sway folks my way but just see where everyone stands.

 

Have I noticed more crime, I personally cant say that i have, but i have noticed a lot more sales(FEMA Cards, Ins money, etc) and also a lot more shop lifting where i work.

 

Working in the hospitality industry I have encountered several displaced families from the LA, AL, MS. We housed a lot of them at my hotel for a long period of time under the FEMA assistance program. Have I noticed an increase in crime??? Not at the moment but I know for sure that the person who vandalized my box was from LA being housed at my complex under FEMA but this doesn't make all of the 'Cane Katrina victims criminals. I noticed that there's a swell of the African American population since they made up 65% + of the population in New Orleans and again I don't think that they are all criminals or vandals.

 

I live in Fort Bend County and our crime rates have sky rocketed. Majority of the suspects are Katrina victims. I have a big heart and would like to help everyone I can, but the many that are doing this doesn't make the few look any better. My little brother came home from school beat up because they didnt' like the way he looked. Of course the kids that beat him up are from New Orleans. They ask for help, but in return they spit in our face. Just like the saying goes, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Where do you draw the line...??? Who do you know to help and not to help...??? I'm not saying ALL of the Katrina victims are criminals, but I have to say that crimes and vandalism has gone up by A LOT.

 

I dont think its neccesarily them. IF you add a million or so people to any city crime is going to go up because there are more people. Thats just a fact of life. I bet if someone really did the numbers with the fact we added x amount of people im guessing crime has gone up proportionally. So if at for example 1million people the crime rate was 5% and lets say we add another million people to the city and crime goes to 10% thats a change that should be expected. In most cases I've seen with the violence in schools between Louisiana people and Houston people is usually because some houston people who think they're "so tough" want to step to someone from N.O. Now i've lived in NO for a little bit and N.O is a tough place and I wouldnt mess with some of those people. So fights ensue. But overall considering the situation I dont think things are much worse. I havent seen any crime increase where I live its just business as usual.

 

Seeing as how this topic has a potential for heated debate, I thought I would bring some hard statistics into it.

Houston releases their crime stats in MDB format (terrible idea, see below), and do not have data for November and December.

Austin reports by precinct and zip code, not the whole city.

I was able to grab San Antonio's crime stats for 2004 and 2005. I wanted to compare Q4 of 2004 vs. Q4 of 2005, but I think the overall years' picture still gives an apples-to-apples comparison. The result? Only aggravated assault went up.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/sapd/UCR.asp

Now, I will rant on Houston's crime stats.
1) Bad idea to release public information in a proprietary format (especially one most home users will not have).
2) Good idea to lock the data to prevent easy editing.
3) Bad idea to lock the data with an older version of the software so that newer versions can't open it.

The sooner Open Office gains widespread adoption - or at least open attitudes and knowledge about software - the better off we all will be.

 

The crime stats dont take into considerating a population increase. Crime is going to go up as the population does. The key is for the ratio not to change.

 

I read that Austin's crime numbers have gone up since Katrina (it was a Daily Texan article, citing APD stats).
I think that when people are desperate (because they've lost everything and have been left behind by a government who is supposed to protect them) they will commit crimes. They aren't necessarily bad people, they just don't have many options, given their situation.

 

Except the gross number still went down, even with the "higher population".

 

If crime went down then you really cant blame the evacuees

 

Are you saying the drop in crime cannot be attributed to a negligible amount of crime on the part of evacuees, or that because crime went down, the evacuees are not responsible?

 

I'm saying if overall crime went down and population went up then you cant really make a conclusion as to whos commiting the crimes.

 

Good. Then we're on the same page.