Thread: CRIME SPREE? Depends Who You Ask.

Northeast PA Business Journal - News - 11/08/2007 - Crime spree? Depends who you ask.


Crime spree? Depends who you ask.
By: Kathy Ruff



Since the dawn of time, societies have encountered problems in dealing with crime. Once again, crime has become a focal point in efforts to curb illegal immigration.
The murder of Derek Kichline took center stage, a crime that prompted the City of Hazleton to take action about the growing offenses perpetrated by illegal immigrants and gangs.
Kichline was shot and killed in his car on May 10, 2006 by four men later identified as illegal aliens. On that day, another incident involved a 14-year-old gang member and illegal alien, who fired shots on a playground and flashed money at kids as he attempted to recruit new members. Authorities later found the juvenile possessed crack cocaine.
These stories and many others across the state set the stage for the release of "Invasion Pa.: National Security Begins at Home Keystone State Report." The report highlights 120 incident reports and crimes perpetrated by more than 3,100 illegal alien "invaders" taken from testimony at the House Republican Policy Committee hearings on illegal immigration reform last year and newspaper headlines across the state.
"I don't think I would term it immigration," says Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler), "I would term it an invasion. An immigrant is somebody who has a desire to come to the nation and live in the nation under the rule of the law, who wants to assimilate into the culture rather than invade our nation and take what they can get and leave with it. They are tapping into the illegal job market or into public benefits, working to steal the American dream rather than just to legitimately earn it."
Metcalfe believes illegal "invaders" contribute to an increased outbreak of crime across the state.
"Based on the information we have received, we have documented over 3,000 illegal alien invaders who have been documented through those media reports and through the hearings that we held," says Metcalfe. "It's being documented routinely that within our society some of them are committing murders, property theft, identity theft and some are sexual predators."
Metcalfe and other state legislators introduced a package of bills they hope will help to curb the flow of illegal aliens and the crimes they commit (see sidebar). But all of the bills remain stalled in a variety of committees since March of this year, a testament to the lack of political support to move forward on such measures.
"Some of this same type of legislation has been adopted in Oklahoma, Georgia, Arizona and Colorado," says Metcalfe. "We had reports from George and Oklahoma of the success they are having because illegal aliens are leaving their states because they are having a harder time finding employment."
Metcalfe estimates the cost of illegal aliens in the hundreds of millions of dollars for education, health care and incarceration, but he believes it's impossible to access the cost social, emotional and physical costs to victims of crimes committed by illegals.
"Any crime that is being committed by an illegal alien is a crime that would not have happened if that person were not here illegally in the country," says Louis J. Barletta, mayor of City of Hazleton. "We had a six-year-old girl who was raped by an illegal alien. What do we tell the mother of that child? We had a 29-year-old city man who was shot between the eyes by two illegal aliens. What do you tell his parents?"
Barletta notes that the city spent over half of its annual police overtime budget on apprehending those involved with that murder.
"This is money that could be and should be spent trying to take other criminals off our streets," says Barletta. "We arrested an illegal alien who was selling crack cocaine while children were on swings and sliding boards and this is a playground that was filled with Hispanic children. It took our detectives five hours to determine who he was. He had five different Social Security cards, again, time that the detective could have been spending trying to take someone else off our streets. We wouldn't have had to if our federal government did its job and he wasn't in our country to begin with."
Barletta says the city's violent crime increased 60 percent from 2003 to 2006, a growth rate that demands all its available resources.
Investigating and dealing with crimes by illegal aliens only burdens those resources. For 2007 so far, the police department is 150 percent over budget in overtime costs.
Those costs include dealing with gang violence, an area of growing frequency that involves illegals and, many times, targets the city's legal immigrants as victims.
"They prey on the most young immigrant children, those who do not yet have a sense of belonging to the community because they are new to the community," says Barletta. "They are the easiest targets for gangs. That is why the majority of the Hispanic population supports what I am doing. Although they won't be vocal, they realize I am trying to protect the quality of life for everyone here."
Others believe the quality of life and crimes by illegals are not as dire an issue as suggested by advocates for immigration reform.
"I don't notice any sort of trend in increase in illegal immigrants and the crime going on here in our area," says Captain William Parrish, Stroud Area Regional Police Department, East Stroudsburg. "I mean, we do have problems and we work with immigration on that."
For example, in June immigration officials raided East Stroudsburg's Iridium Industries and arrested 81 illegal workers.
"As far as the effect on the police department crime-wise, it appears to be a minimal effect at this time," says Parrish. "Not that we don't come across them, but I don't know of it being a big issue."
It's not a big issue for some in the Scranton area, either.
"We have a safe community and the crime rate is blessedly low," says Austin Burke, president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce. "I believe in every class, every socioeconomic group you're going to find one type of criminal or another, so I'm sure that among the immigrants we will find some bad apples. But it's not been pointed out to me in this community that we have more bad apples in the immigrant community than we do in our native community."
That sentiment was shared by Zogby International in its study recently conducted for the Greater Hazleton Area Civic Partnership designed to identify and understand emerging trends in the region and how those would affect future development. The report indicated total crimes in Hazleton were actually decreasing while Wilkes-Barre has seen a higher rate of crime.
The report acknowledges the Hispanic population accounts for a greater percentage of total arrests, probably due to the fact that they are accounting for a greater percent of the general population. It notes that if the Hispanic population was committing more crime, the total reported crime would be going up, not down.
But statistics are only as good as the data provided. Since municipalities may voluntarily report crimes and are not required to track crimes with any continuity, no one really knows the impact illegal aliens have on crime growth.
"It doesn't matter whether you are black, white, blue or green," says Terri Ooms, executive director of the Joint Urban Studies Center, Wilkes-Barre, "We do have a crime problem here and it's emanating from the drug trade and the market here. The drug dealers are coming here and that's causing a lot of secondary crime. It's being committed by those who are illegal and legal."

caasduit
This is a Good news storey do you have a link so our Great Mods can verify the Info ?

Northeast PA Business Journal - News - 11/08/2007 - Crime spree? Depends who you ask.

It is difficult to get real crime stats for illegal aliens. Police officers in many departments are not allowed to ask anyone about their immigration status. They only find out for sure if the person arrested tells police that they are here illegally.

Thanks caasduit I got your p.m. and Im Glad to Help

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