by Pastor Daniel Thompson
An opinion on the article in the Wichita Eagle dated 12-31-01 titled "City's violent crime spiked in early 2001"
How comforting it was to hear from the Chief of Police that the total number of violent crimes is still "running below the record levels of the 1990's. It appears that the city has a new standard concerning violent crimes in our city: "the record levels of the early 1990's". I would like to ask the question, If we experience a record number of violent crimes in 2002, will that become their new standard for the future? If there are 3,000 people who experience violent crimes in 2002 and only 2800 in 2003, will they comfort us by saying the total number of violent crimes in our city is "running below the record levels of 2002? I am sorry, I find little comfort in this reasoning.
No matter how our police and city officials try to soften it, our city's violent crime increased an alarming 30.7 percent in the first half of 2001. Only six other cities in the entire country were higher. Only six! In fact "96 American cities showed increases of less than 30.7 percent, and in 113 cities the number of violent crimes dropped or remained unchanged."
The Wichita Police department is concerned that the information gathered by the FBI for their report could be "misleading" due to the method used in recording violent crimes. There are obvious reasons for their concern, especially when the numbers came out so miserably! But I would suggest that every crime report that is produced for the people of Wichita is misleading, whether produced by the city or the FBI. Neither takes into account the thousands of children that are viciously murdered each year in our city. The dispute over whether these crimes should be considered "criminal acts" or simply "victims" matters little to me. I would only ask that they be included in your reports. At least an asterisk with a note at the bottom would acknowledge that our city recognizes the loss of innocent life caused by an extremely violent crime.
The article quoted the police captain as stating "it's hard to put a finger on any one particular reason" for the crime increase. I believe God has put his finger on the reason: Abortion. "Since thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee." The primary problem of violent crime in our city is not due to a slowing economy or our police force, which I believe to be excellent. It's our tolerance for abortion.
Pastor Daniel Thompson
Operation Save America- Wichita
