Poor Economy equals more Crime

Desperate times call for desperate measures. As the economy continues to decline, the crime rates continue to rise.

Many cities are struggling to find the solution to this recent increase in crime and the city of Reading is no different.

Reading resident Stephanie Capellupo fears that the city will continue to get worse.

"I try not to think about all the crime that happens," Capellupo said. "But I am not naive, I know it happens and I just stay away from locations where it is prevalent."

The timing to cut the Reading Police force couldn't be worse.

An independent research study was conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum and the study indicated that 44% of police departments believed that the increases in crimes were directly related to the poor state of the economy.

Reading Resident Richard McCullough has been through this before.

"I grew up during the depression. I remember playing baseball with bottle caps and my parents trying to find work to put food on the table," McCullough said. "Once I was old enough to work the economy began to come around and the city worked out the depression. I never imagined Reading would be back in this situation."

Reading currently ranks as one of the poorest economical cities in the state of Pennsylvania, thus the reason the city is forced to make cuts to the police force, while the crime rates continue to rise.

Reading is currently planning to cut 45 positions in the police department but it's not going to stop criminals from committing crimes.

Reading resident Shawn Clark feels nervous about the position cuts.

"With fewer police officers on patrol, there is more of an opportunity for crime to take place," Clark said.

District Attorney John T. Adams is exploring the options of filling the void of the missing police officers.

One idea is to assign county detectives to fill the void, but the number of criminal arraignments has already dropped significantly.

So where should the city go from here?

Well, it is evident that something drastic needs to happen. When reading the Reading Eagle, there are always articles written about home invasions, shootings, drug deals, murders or arraignments for crimes committed.

When reviewing the police logs it's even more frightening. The log provides the incidents that happen, but are not significant enough to be turned into a full story.

To make things even worse, the Reading police has lost all confidence in their Chief of police. The Reading police union voted unanimously that he cannot lead the department.

Despite all the negative things that continue to transpire in the city, residents remain optimistic. Jarrad Minggia is among one of the hopeful residents who pray violence will stop. He expressed the pain he feels from losing his brothers at a candlelight vigil in Reading's Mineral Spring Park.

The vigil was designed to remember all those
who lost someone to a violent crime.

Reading resident Jermaine Tyson attended the memorial.

"It was a very sad, but special day. It was a day to commemorate all the special moments we had with our lost loved ones," Tyson said. "Hopefully we can reach a day where there is no longer violence."

As Reading continues to fight through these tough times, we can only hope the economy will rise, more police will be hired and crime will again fall. Till that day comes, be safe, live happy and remember those who have lost their lives. Hopefully we can reach a day when crime will be obsolete.