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Gillian Butler's avatar

I too live in Portland, and I am totally with you on this one. I generally feel safe in my neighborhood and walk or jog every day. However, a few weeks ago, the street racers took over a major intersection a few blocks from my house. The noise was so loud, it sounded as though they were going to come through my window. It went on for well over an hour. Lots of loud fireworks and screeching tires. In and of itself, this incident was not life threatening. I understand that the police would need a very large crowd control contingent to shut it down and they didn't have the resources at the moment (there were shootings in other parts of town). As a former 9-1-1 dispatcher who had to prioritize police calls, I get it. However, I was scared and frustrated that no one responded. A neighbor was injured when he was punched in the face after trying to video the activity with his phone.

I got off NextDoor because of all the homeless bashing that went on. But I also don't think it's helpful to allow people with untreated mental illness and addiction problems to live on the street, so I support efforts to provide housing and shelter and treatment.

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docrhw Weil's avatar

Hoover may have been writing more about the widespread flouting of Prohibition laws and the related gang violence. So in parallel with that time one step in the right direction would be to end Nixon's grotesque "war on drugs" and decriminalize (if not legalize) soft ones like pot. I agree about the rising rates though; here in the Twin Cities there certainly are a lot of reports about catalytic converter thefts and home invasions. How much crime has increased versus how much is simply being better reported may be another question, but it certainly is not good.

Using fear to gain power is of course an old, old tactic that many dictatorships have used. And it works well in mass media--Fox (what I call the "Goebbels Network") seems built on it. It's especially effective when tied in with racism, like Bush's infamous Willie Horton ad. Trump has an instinctual feel for such hate, going back at least to his ads calling for execution of the Central Park Five. Crime rates may well oscillate down again, but there's no easy way out of this except time, education, and getting to know other groups. Combined with intelligent policing and social changes (not least some real gun controls) that may work. I don't know if we have time.

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