Asking for trouble

A neighbor of mine was shocked when a group of homeless men jumped him at 2 a.m. while he was walking his dog. Oregon’s crime rate is at its lowest in 40 years and I worry that our newfound safety is making us complacent and therefore more vulnerable.

When was the last time you found yourself clutching your purse while walking down Northwest 23rd Avenue? Or jogged a little faster out of Washington Park because the sun was setting? Oregon’s lower crime rate and inundation of sunny media coverage has created an environment where residents may neglect common-sense safety precautions.

A quick search on The Oregonian’s Web site for “Oregon crime rate” brings up dozens of articles eager to point out the 16.9 percent decrease in violent crimes and property crime drop of more than 10 percent. What many of the articles fail to focus on or even mention is that the decrease was not uniform: Reported violent crime fell in Portland, Salem and Gresham but it went up 15 percent in the rest of the state, according to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. Reported property crime also increased in Beaverton and Gresham amid statewide decreases.

An additional problem is in the data itself. According to the Lake Oswego Police Department, data can be misleading because it relies on reported crimes alone. The amount of crimes reported varies from area to area. The severity of the crime also contributes to the level of reporting—most violent crimes are reported while minor property crimes are not.

Which part of the state is the most dangerous? Eugene has seen a 15–20 percent increase in every type of crime in the last year. They can’t all be attributed to LeGarrette Blount, so why the spike? In July, Lane County officials blamed it on cuts to law enforcement budgets. In 2007, Lane County had 1.2 officers for every 1,000 people. Compare that to Multnomah County, which has two officers per 1,000 and you can see what an impact police presence really makes.

Officials and the media have been lauding Oregon’s decrease in property crime, but have failed to express how often those crimes occurred in the first place. Oregon had the 18th-highest reported property crime rate in the country in 2007. We’re now ranked 23rd.

While I’ll admit that’s a vast improvement, it didn’t prevent my bike from being stolen last month. I naïvely believed that because I lived in a safe part of town, I could leave my cheap Sports Authority bicycle chained to a beam in my carport. I called the police as soon as I saw my chain cut in half, lying on the street like dirty laundry. The officer that I spoke to was very empathetic but informed me that the only real way I would get my bike back was if police happened to come across it while raiding a meth house. The worst part is, I had no one to blame but myself. I eschewed common safety precautions for convenience and left myself vulnerable.

There are other ways we make ourselves targets without even knowing it. A recent investigation by the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., suggests that even something as innocuous as listening to an iPod on the MAX makes you a prime target for potential thieves. iPods are worth several hundreds of dollars and carry a certain sense of status recognition. (Just ask anyone with a Zune.) Those iconic, obnoxiously white headphones are clear indicators to your friends that you’ve got an Apple product, but make you easy to pick out by thieves.

Not to mention listeners are also unaware of their surroundings. iPods are concealable and lack a mechanism that would prevent a thief from using it or getting pinpointed.

I’m not trying to scare anyone or preach about the benefits of a vintage Walkman. I’m urging students to be cautious amid the frenzy of feel-good data the media is producing. Susan Nielsen, usually one of my favorite columnists at The Oregonian, wants residents to set aside some fear of crime and relax what she feels are unnecessary safety precautions. She mentions deadbolts and burglar alarms. While I agree that irrational fear can dictate behavior rather than inform it, simple acts like locking a door or parking in well-lit areas set up a precedent that will keep you safe, no matter which part of the state you are in.

Don’t rob yourself of your own safety.