‘Why Its Getting Worse’
The Department of Justice blames it on population growth, old social problems, and wanna be Crips and Bloods.
Carjacker’s, home invaders, and stick-up kids are making the TV news every single night. Street thugs and criminals are everywhere, and last year they killed 122 people in Orange County alone.
Violence and mayhem seem to be the order of the day. Oh, and let us not forget the repeat offenders.
What is being done about it?
For starters, you have politicians sitting around, wringing their hands, concerned that the tourist industry will be affected. Then, there is the bad publicity. There is a reason that Orlando is no longer the number one tourist destination in the world.
OPD and the Orange County Sheriffs Office both look like they’re on the losing end of a battle taking place here in Orange County.
We also have high profile preachers who hold highly publicized meetings in the hood lamenting the drop in church attendance and its subsequent contribution to the crime problem. Then they hurry home in their expensive cars to their gated sub-divisions.
And all of the police, guns, jails, and church in the world are not going to solve the crime problem in Pine Hills or anywhere else in Orange County, Florida because of one single fact:
Criminals, after all, are criminals. Criminals in Pine Hills and the rest of Orange County do what they do best. They figure out ways to make money from criminal activities. Because criminals can’t get jobs.
Here, in the state of Florida, once you’re a criminal you can almost never be anything else. You’ll almost never get a job. Never rent a decent apartment, and never get a student loan. Which means a criminal can never leave the ‘hood’.
Many reports suggest that Orange County’s long neglect of education, history of low paying jobs, and tradition of racism helped create the ‘hood’ underclass that is now terrorizing the rest of us.
The gentrification of downtown Orlando has had a two-fold negative effect on the County, resulting in a wider criminal sector and relocation to older parts of the area.
Pine Hills has seen an influx of criminals in the last few years. When residents complained back then, they were rebuffed by politicians and the Sheriffs office.
Now we have a problem.
Does that mean that the rise in crime is just beginning or that the criminals amongst us are here to stay? I don’t think so, but I will admit to being somewhat more concerned than I use to be.
This growing and active criminal population amongst us is out of control. Victimizing themselves and the innocent, they have no regard for their neighbors or public safety.
And we tolerate it.
Public safety should be a major concern for most of the residents here. Even for the anti-snitchers.
The anti-snitchers are almost as guilty as the criminals themselves. Their silence glorifies the problem and encourages thugs to run wild.
Perhaps law enforcement should create incentives for reporting criminal activity. Maybe offering car rims, sneakers and video games would encourage some our residents to ‘drop a dime’ on the thug next door. We could possibly establish a point-system, an accrual method that would benefit repeat snitchers.
And that would benefit all of us.
