Let’s Not Take Safe Cities for Granted

I am writing this letter in response to Irvine being chosen the “safest city in the nation.” Teenagers in Irvine take their great fortunes for granted. Spending every Friday night at the movies can be boring, but living in Irvine, the safest city in the nation and where everyone is a part of the Great Family, there’s nothing more one can ask for.

Growing up in the ‘90s where crime is an ever-growing problem, it is extremely difficult to avoid temptations and peer pressure. But with a great community like Irvine, there is always someone to turn to in a time of need, a guiding light in the tunnel of darkness.

Irvine offers the best education for children, and the many activities we are involved in busy us, preventing violence, promoting peace and success.

The murder of Jenny Lee shook the community, but it makes one wonder how bad it must be in other places where murder and other crimes are a part of their everyday lives.

CHRISTINA Y. OH

Sophomore, Irvine High School

* The headlines of one of our local newspapers read “Irvine gets title of ‘America’s safest city.’ ” Last year, the Morgan Quinto Press named Huntington Beach America’s safest city, using selected criteria. They opted to use only the 100 biggest cities, and using only their opinion of violent crimes. Evidently, they don’t have the resources to do the math to determine per-capita. This year, they selected all but six of the 201 cities with populations of more than 100,000, and again using their opinion of violent crimes. This criteria pushed “Surf City” down to number 8.

A Huntington Beach police spokesman boasted, “We’re still No. 1.” Their patrol cars still are labeled with the lie “Policing America’s Safest City,” even with pending investigations of shooting deaths of citizens at the hands of the Huntington Beach police.

Last month, the Department of Justice released the Uniform Crime Reports. The good news is that albeit very negligible, the overall crime in Orange County has decreased 5% from 1993 to 1994. The bad for Huntington Beach is that even along with the slight improvement trend, Huntington Beach is still one of the most dangerous cities in Orange County, per-capita, again.

To examine these statistics further would be too subjective. You can tell any story you want limiting criteria and using selective statistics. Exaggerated example: “Violent crimes” in Santa Ana were down 3%, but up 8% in Seal Beach. You have now selected statistics to support an argument that Santa Ana must be safer than Seal Beach.

But this is not to say Huntington Beach’s finest have not been busy. They have been making picket signs, holding protest demonstrations (to gain public sympathy for their never-ending quest for higher salaries), threatening the City Council and citizens, blue flu protests and other job actions, suing citizens and their own leaders.

Twenty-eight of the finest officers in the state (as at least one council member describes them) felt compelled to sue the city administrator, a police captain and their own police chief. These Rolls-Royce cops are each suing for the $5,000 maximum allowed in small-claims court. Do the math.

Next time you see “Policing America’s Safest City” on a Huntington Beach police car, ask yourself, why are they lying to me, and why do we continue to highly compensate such a police service while sensible alternatives exist?

JAMES BRIDGES

Huntington Beach