Crime and economy not related

Despite city officials' fears that a poor economy will cause an increase in crime, so far that does not seem to be the case.

Sgt. Rich Weiner, Columbus Division of Police spokesman, said there is no evidence of any increase in crime, much in contrast to the fears of some public officials, who thought the ailing economy would spur some to commit crimes, as reported in an April Dispatch article.

"We are on line with crimes right now; we're not seeing a spike so much with maybe the exception of some misdemeanor thefts, but we're not seeing an increase in violent crime," Weiner said.

Crime is also expected to decrease on campus over the summer.

"We have less people on campus in the summer so crime automatically goes down," University Police Chief Paul Denton said. "There's less targets on campus, less opportunities."

Officials, to combat this, pushed forward a Summer Safety Initiative and strengthened Columbus' curfew enforcement, according to the Dispatch article.

The Summer Safety Initiative, the program to help ebb this summer crime increase, differs from normal tactics because "it is proactive instead of reactive," Weiner said.

Police will divide the city into five zones and focus on fighting crimes that are more representative of the zone. For example, if police receive complaints of drug use in a given zone, then more narcotics enforcement teams will be assigned to the area until the problem has been cleared up. Thus, police are freed from making dispatched runs and are able to actively combat criminal threats in the area.

Weiner said that citizens would not notice a change in service and would probably not even notice any of the undercover officers that are working in the area.

"The people who will feel the pinch are the bad guys," Weiner said.

University Police is now concluding its own spring crackdown, which included the East of High Initiative, where more patrols were done in conjunction with Columbus police on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. This program worked in a similar manner as the Summer Safety Initiative.

Despite the hard work of police and falling crime rates on campus, Weiner still urges citizens to practice caution.

"You could be a victim anywhere, it's not just certain areas…but you should always take steps to protect yourself and your family."

Michael Andrade can be reached at andrade.15@osu.edu.