JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

This may be a sign of my continuing naivete, but I honestly believed that there
would be an immediate and unhappy reaction from the people of Richmond when
Police Chief Andre Parker told them on my radio show that they didn't deserve
safer streets or fewer killings than they have right now. His "Richmond has the
law enforcement it deserves" comment is a small rhetorical step from standing
over a shooting victim and taunting, "Well, you were asking for it!"

But instead of the chief being embroiled in controversy, many Richmonders think
the bad guy in this story is . me.

Why? In part because the WRVA listenership - as most talk stations - is made up
of people like my dad who believe "the police are always right." Even when the
police are wrong, we conservatives are sympathetic to just how lousy a cop's
job can be, handling our social trash and risking their lives while doing it.

And yet the fact remains that the Richmond Police Department is particularly
incompetent, especially when compared to departments in other cities of similar
size and makeup. When Chief Parker told my listeners that he and his department
were doing an "excellent job," I had to stop and ask what definition of
excellent he was using? The department is excellent at failing to close
homicide cases. It's outstanding at having no suspects in high-profile public
shootings. And Parker absolutely rocks at blaming the citizens for the bullets
they are forced to dodge.

Whenever I raise these points, however, I receive a barrage of angry e-mails
insisting "Graham, you don't know what you're talking about."

This is a disturbing allegation for a guy who talks for a living, so I'm taking
these criticisms very seriously. My constant refrain for the officers,
bureaucrats and citizens who disagree with me is: "Tell me what I don't know!"
What is it about police work in Richmond that is different from such work in
any other Southern city of this size?

Sadly, the only answer I've received - and it's at least consistent because
I've received it from everyone - is that Richmond has what Ross Perot would
call a "you people" problem: Too many blacks. "You don't know them blacks on
the South Side," I'm told again and again .. and not just by white Richmonders,
either.

A convenient excuse, to be sure, but in addition to being overtly racist, it
just doesn't make any sense. What, there aren't any black people in Savannah,
Ga.? Or Charlotte, N.C.? Or Philadelphia, New York or Newark, N.J.? All of
those cities have one thing in common: They all are safer than Richmond.

Maybe I am the bonehead here; maybe I am woefully underinformed. So here's the
deal I'd like to make: I'll list below what I do know - not opinions, not
anecdotes, but facts. All of these facts point to one thing: Richmond has one
of the most ineffective police departments in America. At least that's how it
looks to me.

But I could be wrong. So you read the facts, you think about them, and you
e-mail me (mail@michaelgraham.com) and offer some other explanation. I don't
have all the answers, but these facts seem to raise some rather obvious
questions:

*- Between 2001 and 2002, the national murder rate went up less than 1 percent.
In cities the size of Richmond, it went up less than 3 percent. In Richmond,
the murder rate jumped 20 percent. If current trends hold, it will be even
higher this year.

*- In Virginia, juvenile crime dropped 3 percent last year. In the Richmond
area, it went up 16 percent.

*- The most recent "Safest/Most Dangerous Cities in America" listing ranked
Richmond a dismal 330th - behind New York and Miami. Among midsized cities,
we're less safe than Newark, N. J., Buffalo, N.Y., Oakland, Calif., and
Cincinnati.

*- Richmond ranks eighth on the list of the "10 Most Dangerous Midsized
Cities."

*- Among Southern cities with significant black populations, we also rank among
the worst, behind Atlanta, Charlotte, Savannah, and Nashville, Tenn.

*- No matter what measurement you use, Richmond has one of the worst crime
problems in America. As Chief Parker noted on WRVA, there isn't a single
category of performance in which the Richmond Police Department ranks in the
top 10 for cities its size.

*- Last year, there were more murders in Richmond (population 200,000) than in
Manhattan (population 1.5 million).

*- In 2002, the Richmond Police Department closed just 19 of the year's 84
killings: a 22 percent rate of solving slayings in the city.

*- As of July 27, the Richmond Police Department had solved just 18 of the
year's 50 (at that time) murders.

*- At least seven people have been killed within half a mile of Richmond's new
$170 million convention center - two of them within a few blocks.

*- After the National Night Out shooting on Church Hill, Chief Parker appeared
on WRVA and took issue with my claim that such public shootings at high profile
events resulting in no arrests was "typical Richmond." That same weekend, a
shootout took place in Carytown less than a block from the Watermelon Festival.
As of this writing, the armed criminal has not been identified or apprehended.
Two weeks later, three women and a child were gunned down in a single shooting
incident. As of this writing, no suspects have been identified.

*- Some Richmond city residents report making as many as 20 calls to report
criminal activity without ever receiving a police response at the scene of the
crime.

*- One woman, whose house on North Avenue has been shot 13 times in a year,
claimed that she called 911 so often "they knew my voice." The shootings
continue.

*- On the issue of drug dealing in Richmond, Chief Parker told reporters, "The
drug problem is not going to be solved by me locking people up."

One final observation: If my city water weren't working, I'd call the Water
Department. If the city kept screwing up my trash pickup, I'd be screaming
about the Sanitation Department. Why is it "anti-cop" or unfair to ask the
Police Department about the crime problem? Who else should I ask?

Wait, I forgot - I should ask you, the citizens of Richmond. After all, the
crime is your fault.

Opinions expressed on the Back Page are those of the writer and not necessarily
those of Style Weekly.