ALMOST NO HOMICIDES

Greenville stands apart as a safe city. The city of Greenville had just two
homicides in 2003, the lowest number in the city's recorded history. It
stands in contrast to some other South Carolina cities that saw violent
crime rise last year. Charleston, for example, had 18 homicides in 2003,
the most the city has recorded since 1969.

Part of the reason is luck, something Greenville Police Chief Willie
Johnson readily admits. But it's clear, too, that good police work is also
responsible.

Credit should go to the city's investment over much of the past decade in
community-oriented policing, a patrolling strategy that puts police
officers within neighborhoods where they are known and officers get to know
residents. Community-oriented policing has had an impact on the overall
crime rate.

But the constant police presence has especially curbed street drug peddling
over the past few years, a development helped also by the considerable
decline in the appetite for and traffic in crack cocaine since its height
in the late 1980s. During those years when Greenville posted double-digit
homicides, many were drug-related - squabbles over money and turf that
turned violent.

Too often, domestic violence ends in death in South Carolina. A new state
law that will toughen the consequences of abuse is welcome. But the city
deserves credit for taking seriously reports of domestic violence and
making arrests that have the potential to stop abuse from becoming deadly.
This state leads the nation in the rate of women who are victims of
domestic homicide, so this vigilance is warranted.

As Greenville continues to grow, it's expected that the crime rate will,
too. It is a credit to local law enforcement that overall crime, including
homicides, has decreased against the trend.