Perceptions of Crime: What you don't know about Topeka
4 p.m. Thursday, May 8, 2008
Ask people about crime in Topeka's Highland Park Neighborhood and this is what they say:
"Judging from the news it seems to be pretty bad," Jason Heitman said.
Larry Taylor said he thinks crime in Highland Park is "out of control."
"Maybe young people shouldn't be sitting out in cars in front of houses," Topekan Carole McFarland said, "because it seems like a couple of them have been shot doing that."
Just last week, two people were shot and killed in Highland Park, which is half of all the city's murders this year.
But, a 49 News investigation found over the last four years, this area of Highland Park between I-70 and 29th Street and Wittenberg Road and Adams Street has seen five murders.
According to police records, that's 12 percent of the murders in Topeka over the last four years.
Crime Maps
To see a breakdown of crime and where it has occurred in Topeka, tap into violent crime or property crime.
Also, the Topeka Police Department Web site has a very informative tool for researching crime statistics at topeka.org/crimestats.
The area of Topeka North of the Kansas River has a reputation for being very violent but over the past five years there were four murders there.
That's less than one-tenth of all the murders in Topeka over the past five years.
Compare those to the area between Kansas Avenue and Lane Street, from Huntoon Street to 4th Street.
It's considerably smaller than Highland Park, with a better reputation, but had 10 murders in four years.
That's 25 percent of all the murders in Topeka over the past four years, according to police records.
But, people who live here don't seem to know about it.
"Between this block where I live at, there isn't major amounts of crime," said Greg Garret who lives near the block of 6th Street and Tyler Street.
49 Crime Tracker: This map plots all the homicides the Topeka Police Department has investigated in the last five years. See for yourself where many of these violent crimes have occurred.
"The fact is, crime is occurring all over the city of all different types," Topeka Police Capt. Ron Brown said.
So what's behind the negative images of certain neighborhoods?
Topekan Joe Hennes thinks it may go back to simple stereotypes.
"In my mind, I'm seeing Highland Park as maybe not as affluent as some of the other sections of town," Hennes said. "I think people just associate high crime rates with people who don't have as much money."
Brown says media coverage may also play a part.
He says if you see a shooting on TV, read about the same shooting in the paper and also hear about it on the radio, crime can seem three times worse than it actually is.
"So as a result of that, maybe there's more of a perception of a lot of crime," Brown said.
But is crime really going up in Topeka?
"I think its getting worse," James Taber said.
Nicholes Foster says he thinks "it's worse than it should be."
"Crime in Topeka is rampant like it is in every other major city," Garret said.
Actually, crime is down. In the first quarter of this year, crime dropped by 23 percent.
And rather than being centered in any particular parts of town, like Highland Park, the crime is spread all through Topeka.
"If we don't work together, we're gonna end up losing," Taber said.
By working together, Brown says neighborhoods can significantly reduce crime. A case in point is the area of Oakland, north of Seward Avenue.
"I do think Oakland has changed a lot just in the last couple of years," Neighborhood Improvement Association President Cheryl Hennessee said.
There hasn't been a single murder there in the last four years, and it has considerably less crime than areas surrounding it. Hennessee credits that to a strong community.
"We need people to take a stance and call police when they see criminal activity going on," she said.
Hennessee says Oakland used to have a big drug problem, but since the community started reporting problems to police, it has virtually become non-existent.
"We cannot do anything to control crime unless we all get involved," Hennessee said. "The police cannot be everywhere all the time."
And if you rent, chances are your neighborhood has more crime because it is harder to organize the community when the people consistently change.
Brown says renters are also less likely to call the police for things like dogs barking or loud parties.
They may seem like little things, but Brown says they lead to bigger things later on.
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