A Safer North Charleston: Post & Courier
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Few mayors would hail a No. 22 national ranking in the category of “most dangerous” U.S. cities. But North Charleston’s Keith Summey does, and rightly so. He cites the shift from No. 10 in 2007 to No. 22 in 2008 as additional evidence of a positive trend.
North Charleston Police Chief Jon Zumalt and his department have been teaming up with community leaders on a series of coordinated initiatives, such as embedding officers in high-crime areas and improving relationships with residents to enhance public cooperation with law enforcement. Those efforts apparently are paying off.
As reported last week in The Post and Courier, Mayor Summey, while stressing that “we are not satisfied yet,” pointed with pride to the change for the better in the recently released most dangerous city rankings from Washington-based CQ Press: “I think it shows the police department is making great strides in reducing crime.”
Some law enforcement experts find fault with what our story called the “unique analysis” of FBI statistics that produced the CQ Press “most dangerous” rankings of 393 U.S. cities for 2008 (Columbia was No. 111 on the list, Charleston No. 134).
But Chief Zumalt, like Mayor Summey, welcomes the No. 22 spot as a measure of progress. Beyond that ranking for 2008, the chief said that so far this year North Charleston is on track for a 22 percent decline in violent crime. Sounds like next year’s ranking will reflect an ever safer city.
As Chief Zumalt put it: “This is just huge. There is a sense of urgency in North Charleston, and we are focused on two things: bringing down crime and gaining trust in the community. Everything we do is toward those ends.”
Every quantifiable advance in the fight against crime in North Charleston makes it a better place to live and work.
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