◼ DA candidates square off: Debate raises issues of marijuana legalization, crime rates in Humboldt County
(Correction to the article: Gallegos took office in 2003, not 2002. He was elected in March of 2002, did not take office until January of 2003)
Egads!
ReplyDeleteTwo related pieces of surprising research recently in the Times-Standard news that shoud be interesting to everyone living in Humboldt andone the DA candidates need to address:
~This quote is from the DA candidate debate article of 10/08/10:
"In June, the California Department of Justice reported that violent crime across the state in 2009 had dropped from the previous year by 6 percent. Humboldt County, however, reported an increase of 17 percent in violent crimes, with assaults rising more than 20 percent and homicides more than doubling, going from three in 2008 to eight in 2009.
Gallegos countered by saying that crime has actually been reduced during his time as district attorney, except last year, and attributed the recent increase to a faltering national economy.
”Since I've taken office, Humboldt County has become safer,” he said."
**********
~And this by Leo Sears (thank you) in his recent opinion article of 10/06/10:
"Eureka is the county's retail and social services center, and our already reduced police department must contend with 169 known sex offenders, 553 parolees, 496 supervised probationers and hundreds of unsupervised probationers living in the city, many of whom are drawn to drugs and contributed to the 166 violent and 2,267 property crimes last year, totaling 10 for every 100 Eureka residents."
**********
~Whatever you make of this, it's an eye-opener for sure about Crime and Crooks in Humboldt and Eureka. The numbers are astounding.
I hope the DA candidates address this issue again.