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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 12, 1996)
■ incoln doesn't have much in the way of crime. ■ But what it does have runs in a pattern. PH Using computerized crime data from the 18 H Lincoln Police Department’s 1995 repaid file, a pattern running through the neighborhood area formed. The core areas used for this story were the busiest for Lincoln police. But Malone’s crime rate came up on the low end of the spectrum. - According to die FBI, Lincoln has one of the THERESA MCWILLIAMS claps along with the worship service at the Ch NAACP, said reconciliation of perceptions must start in the church. MALONE from page 1 Rick Wallace wears many different hats in Lincoln. He is president of the local NAACP, a private businessman and a member of more than a dozen civic and church groups. He also serves as an economic adviser to the mayor. The new data on Malone surprised Wallace. “This information tells me we need to stop believing the perceptions that exist,” he said. “This information says a lot about the mindset of this com munity —'from police to firemen to realtors. They all want us to believe that this is the neighborhood where we have all the crime problems.” Wallace said the data did more than shatter old stereotypes—it raised new questions. “When you get this kind of startling statistical clarity, you have to ask: What is the real percentage of minor ity ownership in this community?” Wallace said. “We’re talking crime and assaults, I know. But there is a bigger picture hoe.” Perceptions and fear of crime of ten taint the bigger picture, agreed Lin coln Police Chief Tom Casady. It is a problem Lincoln police deal with ev ery day, he said, If people perceive an area as un safe, it becomes a self-fulfilling proph ecy, Casady said. Law-abiding people will not go to that area, but criminals will, because no one is there to stop them. “Dealing with fears and dealing with perceptions is an important part of what we do/’ Casady said. When Jose Soto, director of affir mative action and diversity at South east Community College, arrived in Lincoln in 1978, he heard many of the stereotypes regarding Malone. Since then, Soto said, he has heard little to contradict them. . People often seek to reinforce ste reotypes, he said, and if is usually not minorities who perpetuate them. “(The data) makes me question why the neighborhood is gettinga bad rap,” he said. “I keep thinking that somehow, at the base of this, is racism in all its infamy.” Perceptions, Mayor Mike Johanns said, are like bad habits — tough to break. “Once that perception is locked in, it’s hard to get people free of those misperceptions,” he said. Bad for Business ( A neighborhood perceived as hav ing a crime problem will have many problems — such as an inability to at tract new businesses. Malone is no different The neighborhood’s perceived high-crime rate has driven both people and business from the Malone area, those concerned with the neighbor hood said. The business mix there now is i commonly found in many poor, high- 9 crime areas: thrift stores, mini-marts, check-cashing outlets, liquor stores and fast food restaurants. But is Malone a high-crime area? An analysis of the latest comput erized crime data revealed that it is not ; Overall, Lincoln’s crime rate is among the lowest in the country for a city its size. Most of the nine crime categories j used for this story — assault, auto theft, burglary, disturbances, larcenies, narcotics, robbery, vandalism and mis cellaneous weapons offenses — had rates with one or less than one inci dent per 100 people in 1995. When compared to each of eight other neighborhoods near the down town core, Malone ranked no higher than fifth in any of the nine major crime categories. Malone ranked fifth in narcotics, seventh in assaults and burglaries and sixth in auto thefts. The comparison areas included census tracts that closely bordered