Newspapers with archives:
www.trentonian.com www.nj.com/times/
I suggest Google for your crime statistics research as the FBI publishes these reports in great detail. If that does not satisfy your appetite, the Trenton Police Department non-emergency number is 1-609-989-4111.
Lastly, you can review all of the states "liberal feel good" spending, at this site:
www.state.nj.us/treasury/omb/
Hope that helps.
The tradition here at ET is that anyone making statistical or factual claims should be able to substantiate them with specific references. Linking to a newspaper or government homepage isn't sufficient to fulfil that requirement.
Are you able, please, to provide links to the specific pages that provide evidence for your assertions?
If so, it should be easy for you to find such documentation, much easier than for me 6000 miles away. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
According to the 2003 stats published by the FBI, crimes reported in Trenton prior to the opening of the river line were as follows -
Population: 86,130 Murder: 13 Forcible Rape: 36 Robbery: 645 Aggravated Assault: 824 Burglary: 1,073 Larceny or Theft: 2,514 Car Theft: 1,090 Arson: 26
In 2006, the stats were as follows
Population: 84,703 Murder: 18 Forcible Rape: 31 Robbery: 632 Aggravated Assault: 593 Burglary: 806 Larceny/Theft: 1,211 Car Theft: 460 Arson: 23
This does not look much like a crime surge to me.
An article on the 5th year anniversary of the River Line in the Burlington Times seems to fit with the original poster's appraisal.
The River Line at 5
It's been five years since the launch of the River Line, NJ Transit's Camden to Trenton light rail line and we think it's a qualified success. The line has fulfilled a need for additional public transportation in the county and provided a much needed economic boost to some of the towns it spans. New restaurants and shops have opened in Riverton and Burlington City, and new townhomes were built near the River Line stations in Cinnaminson and Delanco. -snip- NJ Transit also needs to make the safety of its riders and River Line neighbors a priority. While police officials and nearby residents have said criminals sometimes make use of the line for illegal activities, crime statistics don't show a significant increase in crime in the towns served by the rail line. Regular users also have raised concerns about vagrants and panhandlers, as well as drug-dealing, on some of the station platforms and in some of the cars. NJ Transit police officers do patrol the 34-mile line route, but we believe a substantial increase in ridership should correlate with an increase in security patrols at the stations.
The line has fulfilled a need for additional public transportation in the county and provided a much needed economic boost to some of the towns it spans.
New restaurants and shops have opened in Riverton and Burlington City, and new townhomes were built near the River Line stations in Cinnaminson and Delanco.
-snip-
NJ Transit also needs to make the safety of its riders and River Line neighbors a priority.
While police officials and nearby residents have said criminals sometimes make use of the line for illegal activities, crime statistics don't show a significant increase in crime in the towns served by the rail line.
Regular users also have raised concerns about vagrants and panhandlers, as well as drug-dealing, on some of the station platforms and in some of the cars.
NJ Transit police officers do patrol the 34-mile line route, but we believe a substantial increase in ridership should correlate with an increase in security patrols at the stations.
A preliminary google search on "river line crime" and "river line new jersey crime" turned up the above article, info on the new station, and the ET article here, but not much about serious crime problems created by the line.
2007: Population: 83,551 Murder: 25 Forcible Rape: 15 Robbery: 595 Aggravated Assault: 530 Burglary: 852 Larceny/Theft: 1,408 Car Theft: 385 Arson: 21
It seems murder is the only field where there is an apparent growing tendency, but then, the sample is small. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
2005: Population: 85,566 Murder: 31 Forcible Rape: 21 Robbery: 805 Aggravated Assault: 658 Burglary: 962 Larceny/Theft: 1,940 Car Theft: 672 Arson: 27
2004: Population: 85,911 Murder: 18 Forcible Rape: 47 Robbery: 576 Aggravated Assault: 716 Burglary: 987 Larceny/Theft: 2,027 Car Theft: 791 Arson: 27
For all but murder, the trend is the same in earlier years, so I will table only murder -- which on the longer term does show an upward trend, but it began before the River LINE: 2002: 19 2001: 13 2000: 14 1999: 8 1998: 15 1997: 12 1996: 14 1995: 16 *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
So - any other devastatingly compelling evidence for this 'crime wave'?
Shall we compare deaths from road accidents along the length of the line for the same period?
Everyone knows about this, so I shouldn't have to do your research to confirm it, but here is a source:
x Cranky driver complaining in the online comment thread of one of the stories about the River line over the past five years in one of the local papers that have online stories and comments. I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.
2003: Car Theft: 1,090 2004: Car Theft: 791 2005: Car Theft: 672 2006: Car Theft: 460 2007: Car Theft: 385
what is well known and documented in the area
In other words, "see, everyone KNOWS that the River LINE brings crime, what kind of nut are you to deny common sense?!"
And the underlying belief that makes such an argument possible is the notion that mass transit is something only the poor use. Since poor = criminal to many Americans, it's all too easy to just blindly assume that mass transit is going to make it easier for that thug to show up in my quiet suburban neighborhood. And the world will live as one
While Camden is much worse, Trenton was not a low crime area as the poster implied. That page with the 2003 statistics shows all violent crime, as well as burglary and car theft, way above the US national average. For example, in all violent crime, Camden was 4.02 times, Trenton 2.95 times the national average. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
