Antidote for Crime

Terronne Cuthrell

Writer

With crime steadily climbing in the Fayetteville area, Police Chief Harold Medlock completed a full internal review and saw the need for a bigger force. According to the Fayetteville Observer, property crime continues to be a huge concern of the community. In 2012, Fayetteville’s property crime rate was ranked 14 in the nation amongst cities of at least, 100,000 people or more. Now that’s a problem, and though 2013 showed slight decreases in crime rates, Fayetteville still has a long way to go.

Lowering crime in Fayetteville has been one of the primary priorities of local officials for a long time, and it is one of the biggest concerns of community members. I attended the 2014 Mayoral Debate held here at FSU, and lowering the crime rate was a topic that both candidates thoroughly discussed. City Council Member Valencia Applewhite proposed a recreational center. Afterschool Alliance, an organization devoted to expressing the importance of afterschool activities for America’s youth, reports:

“A study of afterschool programs established through the California Juvenile Crime Prevention Demonstration Project in 12 high-risk California communities found that, compared to when they started the program, crime and delinquency-related behavior among participants declined significantly after students completed the program.”

According to the 2012 FBI Uniform Crime Reports, California had about three times more property crime than North Carolina. That being said, if afterschool programs can make a difference there, they can make a difference here as well.

There are a lot of great solutions proposed, but now it’s time to agree on a solution and put it into action. With a determined Police Chief, Harold Medlock, it seems that a solution is not beyond our grasp.

In addition, lowering crime around the community is at the top of City Council’s agenda as well. Chief Medlock presented his proposal to City Council at their annual retreat.

His proposal sounds appealing but the reality is that hiring additional officers would require funding. He mentioned that hiring one officer with all the needed equipment, training, uniforms, and salary would cost about $100,000. But, he intends on bringing that down to $75,000 through means of refurbishing used equipment and balancing new hires with veteran officers.

Another huge factor in all of this is the time it takes. Hiring a new police officer takes approximately 11 months of training and preparation before the officer is ready to hit the road on their own. This is why Chief Medlock plans to hire veteran policemen as well. According to him, “They’ll only require about 8 weeks of training, also experienced cops understand the importance of relationships and usually try to avoid confrontation. They know how to talk to people, and get them to cooperate.”

For Chief Medlock, hiring these additional officers is only step one. He said “It’s time for us to get out of our cars and shake the hands of the people of the community—both good and bad. We have to build relationships with them. With this relationship comes cooperation and the community will feel more comfortable sharing information with us, and we can share information with them.”

The proposal set forth by Chief Medlock is a step in the right direction, and through our conversation I can tell he is confident in its results. Even if Chief Medlock’s proposal is approved, the impact on crime will not be felt immediately. With the time it takes for hiring and training new officers, it may be a few years before benefits are seen.

Featured image courtesy of MCT Campus.