Crime is a concern for Chattanoogans, including residents in East Brainerd, Ooltewah and Collegedale, according to the Stand public survey.
General and gang crime ranked as the No. 1 concern of Ooltewah residents; general crime ranked as the No. 4 concern of East Brainerd residents with gang crime coming in No. 6; and Collegedale residents listed gang crime as their No. 4 concern and general crime as their No. 6 concern.
There have been 35 shootings in Hamilton County with casualties since January, Stand co-founder Josh McManus told the Ooltewah/Collegedale Chamber Council during a recent presentation. Most of these occur in the urban core, in neighborhoods where the average income is less than $15,400 and the level of education is low.
The 3,000 unsolicited mentions of gang crime in the Stand survey came "long before we got into the regulation of shootings in downtown Chattanooga."
"Many of those instances came from kids surveyed in public schools," added McManus. "They may have some indicator knowledge we're not tapping into."
McManus encourages everyone to tap into their local community and find ways to help what they personally see as major issues. To that end, Stand is launching City Share, a civic engagement process with brainstorming sessions and forums to yield partnerships and solutions.
Crime is the first issue being tackled. The next City Share June 23 will allow public participants to ask questions of a variety of professionals who deal with crime from all different angles.
The first City Share forum panelists were retired Chattanooga Police Capt. Vivian Hixson who now heads up East Chattanooga Weed and Seed, Fraternal Order of Police President Toby Hewitt, Chattanooga Endeavors CEO Tim Dempsey, and David Eichenthal, president and CEO of the Ochs Center which compiles and surveys data collected from numerous places, including Chattanooga Stand.
"There seems to be a misconception among many that the crime rate in Chattanooga is just horrendous and that's just not so," said Hixson. "Yes we do have problems, we have issues."
Hewitt reported that crime in Chattanooga is down 20.72 percent from last year to date, with a 6.09 percent decrease in serious crimes, ones against people, and a 22.6 percent decrease in property crimes.
While they argued that the concern with crime is a public misconception of the facts, Eichenthal disagreed.
"I think we have a very real, a very serious crime problem in Chattanooga," he said. "If you look at Chattanooga's overall crime rate, which is more on the property crime side than the violent crime side, we have the 11th highest crime rate in the United States (based on FBI figures). I guess that's better than the 10 other cities ahead of us, but overall it's not good."
There were 18,000 arrests last year in Hamilton County, he said.
Hewitt conceded after the meeting that a criminal upswing in East Brainerd is not a misconception.
He added that the Chattanooga Police Department is at least 60 officers short of the recommended number for a city this size, which is 475 officers. Forty-one will become eligible to retire by the end of 2010, he said.
All the panelists agreed that citizen involvement is necessary in curbing and fixing the problems, beginning with your own neighborhood.
"We've all heard the saying it takes a village to raise a child; there's a lot of truth in that," said Hewitt. "There are a number of juvenile offenders in Chattanooga. The preferred method is to reach them while they're young. There are enough people in a lot of households around the nation growing up without consequences."
Eichenthal pointed out that the higher the level of education received, the lower the likelihood of turning to a life of crime.
Panelists also recommended getting involved with Neighborhood Watch or similar local groups, and establishing a personal relationship with local police.