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Shots Fired -- Crime Watch Time
Recent Providence Journal Articles Detailing Crime / Crime Watch List
Let’s get the Crime Watch up and running. Now is the time, the community needs you, active crime watchers, to commit what time and energy you can to move our Crime Watch plans forward. Remember our goal is to have a Crime Watch sign on every Mt. Hope street.
We are compiling a Crime Watch list: locations, addresses where illegal activity is taking place, incidents, etc. etc. Contact us vie e-mail at CrimeWatch with any information about crime in Mt. Hope. If you wish to remain anonymous that is fine. Details are very important, names, addresses, streets, descriptions, etc etc.
We’ve made great progress in the last year, now is the time to consolidate our gains, get organized and follow through with our Crime Watch organization.
The ProJo has been reporting a lot of crime lately across the city.
Saturdays’ ProJo featured this little item on page A 4: Shots fired in Mt. Hope; teen injured, and the piece explained that the shots were fired at William Ellery Place, which is off of Doyle Av, and according to police the shooter was driven there, got out of the car and fired several shots at around 2pm, in the afternoon, then fled.
I’m no expert but this sounds like drug or gang related or both. A number of people were in the area and it is just dumb luck that no innocent person was killed or wounded.
Also in Saturday’s ProJo, Robber flees Stop & Shop, tells about a 3pm robbery of our local Stop & Shop.
Saturday’s ProJo featured this article also: East Side robber hits dry cleaner and Inn. The article chronicles the tale of this criminal who has committed 10 robberies and two more attempted robberies. He targets small business. One Mt. Hope business was robbed, the map shop on Main Street.
In Tuesday’s ProJo, this: Spate of shootings leaves 3 young people injured, ( for some reason they've taken the story off their site?) about two shootings in South Providence and one in Reservoir.
It also announced the robbery of the Sovereign Bank at 551 North Main Street in University Heights by a female bank robber, Sovereign Bank hit by robber. Isn’t that the 2nd bank robbery in Mt. Hope this week?
ProJo detailed a fight in a club, Man badly injured in fight at S. Providence nightclub, that mentioned names that have been in the news quite a lot lately, Mambo, a nightclub, Titin, proprietor of Mi Sueno, and Marroocco, who sold him the liquor license. In a move opposed by the police, the licensing commission transferred a liquor license to Titin from Marroco. I think I’ve seen this name in connection with Ms. Pontarelli’s reprimand by Mayor Cicilline for providing an e-mail list of names of city employees to the proprietor of Café Mediterraneo, Gianfranco Marrocco, for a Cicilline fund raiser. The name also rings a bell in relation to last week’s Dominican Festival, in which, again opposed by the police, the licensing commission allowed Café Mediterraneo, operated by Gianfranco Marrocco to remain open an extra hour when at the police’s request many clubs closed early that night. Gianfranco Marrocco ran the Cicilline fund raiser at Café Mediterraneo, and critics imply in the ProJo article that he gets favorable treatment from the City.
Moving on to Wednesday’s ProJo, Another shooting leaves 1 hurt, details a South Providence shooting and states “- the fourth shooting in Providence is less than two days.”
Thursday’s, today’s ProJo featured this: Electronics store owner robbed and assaulted, which detailed the vicious and violent beating and robbery of a small business owner as he closed up shop on Manton Av.
The good news: Cocaine arrest nets deportee, authorities say, tells of the bust of a career criminal and the infiltration of a cocaine dealing operation. Congrats Lt. Verdi! You and your guys do good work.
Crime Stats
If it’s true that crime stats are down in Providence it should make one wonder about the nature of crime stats and how they are compiled. For each crime or incident documented by the police for their crime stats, how many crimes go undocumented and not included in the crime stat report, 3 to 1, 4 to 1? It is a good question. I don’t know the answer.
You can read my post in July The Big Lie of Crime Stats to get my opinion on how stats are manipulated.
It is clear that the Providence Police have their hands full and that they are doing the best they can in many respects. Still, crime prevention, and not just reacting to crime, must be an approach incorporated into their daily techniques. Crime prevention calls for more police personnel. I firmly believe that we need more police in uniform and on the streets in each district if any of us expects to feel safe in Providence.
CRIME WATCH
Let’s get ahead of the curve, let’s get ahead of the wave, let’s get our Crime Watch running effectively.
What’s going on in your neck of the woods? E-mail, CrimeWatch .
Posted at August 17, 2005 11:55 PM