Here are the crime statistics for the period of Jan. 1, 2007-May 12, 2007 (and same period during 2006) in Hartford. This chart is a simplified version of the one found on the Hartford Police Department website.crimestats.gif

When the mainstream media (and even the alternative media) report on crime, it is usually in a way that is sensational. Graphics and music often make the crime seem more dramatic, and something more threatening than it is–most violent crimes are committed by a person who knows the victim.

Furthermore, certain areas are made to look like war zones, when the truth is that crime happens everywhere. On a recent trip to New Hampshire, I grabbed a copy of The Gilford Steamer. That’s the title, I shit you not. Gilford is a small town, that the police log for May 8-14, 2007 was published. They actually printed and broke down what the 231 calls to the police were for. Mostly, it was small town stuff (underage drinking), but they had their fair share of problems–assault, drugs, harassment, larceny, criminal mischief, domestic, and endangerment of youth.

If all the smaller towns and suburbs were to publish every last criminal account, maybe Hartford’s reputation wouldn’t be so tarnished, and maybe any time Hartford’s own violence did make the news, people wouldn’t blame the victim by accusatorily asking what the victim was even doing in the city.

If you tally up all of the arrests made to date in 2007, and divide by the number of days in period (132), it comes out to roughly 40 arrests made per day.