An editor of housing industry magazines picked up on the Bee article about the recent crime wave in North Natomas.
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An editor of housing industry magazines picked up on the Bee article about the recent crime wave in North Natomas. Property crime in North Natomas has been on the rise, and it recently took a violent turn. In a three-week period in June, robbers pulled off 15 home invasions and 14 street holdups in . . . Natomas. Handguns were used in all the home invasions and most of the street robberies . . . Some residents, looking for answers, have focused on affordable housing complexes. They say such a concentration of poverty creates a fertile environment for criminal activity. “Being poor doesn’t mean you’re a criminal, but we all know there are many correlations between poverty and criminal behavior,” said Angelique Ashby, president of the Creekside Neighborhood Association in North Natomas. “You can’t have it overwhelm the community, which is what it’s starting to do in Natomas.” The city’s Police Department puts a high number of patrol officers in Oak Park, downtown and some neighborhoods in south Sacramento – areas with high rates of violent crime . . . But in many of the neighborhoods where a high proportion of the crime involves car break-ins and home burglaries, police staffing levels tend to be lower. The issue of who gets the cops has come up again with a recent wave of home invasion robberies in Natomas [where residents have] long complained about a lack of adequate police protection. And, they note, it’s taken a series of violent crimes to get more cops into the area. “While it’s easy to logically say that stolen cars and property damage is a lower priority than violence, these are the types of things that if you don’t do anything about them, it can escalate,” said Angelique Ashby, a North Natomas resident who is president of the Creekside Neighborhood Association and co-founder of a local public safety committee. “And that’s what we’re seeing right now.” It’s time to wake up, drop the denial, look around. . . Sacramento is a big city with an alarming crime rate, second highest of all major cities in California. Sacramento’s Police Department is too small . . . The residents of Natomas are engaged. With almost no notice, more than 400 people turned out for a community meeting Monday night where police and civic leaders addressed the home invasion spree. “Going door to door is not popular in Natomas,” said Angelique Ashby, a 33-year-old consultant and Natomas resident. “It’s a connectivity community. … With e-mails, you can plaster all of Natomas in eight minutes. . .” A rash of robberies across Natomas has residents and cops on alert, while many in the area are attacking city officials for not devoting enough resources to help keep the neighborhoods safe. . . “What’s obvious is that people are scared,” said Angelique Ashby, a North Natomas resident and the president of the Creekside Neighborhood Association. “What isn’t so obvious is that people are mad. . .” From a lack of an organized community center and police substation to poorly designed parks, streets and schools, city officials have “not represented our interests enough and we haven’t gotten the resources we need,” she said. “When you talk about the money raised by (development in) Natomas, that’s where it gets frustrating,” said Ashby, who is also the co-founder of the North Natomas Crime and Safety Committee. “Not enough money generated by this community came back to this community.” “This is a very significant spike in home invasions and robberies,” said Capt. Daniel Hahn from the Sacramento Police Department. . . The crimes have taken place all over the map, not confined to any one area of Natomas. . . “Now you’re talking about very brazen acts of individuals with guns,” said Angelique Ashby, a local resident, “maybe even no mask, just coming in and saying, ‘Give me your stuff or I’m gonna shoot you.’” Angelique is heading up the Creekside Community Association, and she’s now on a first-name basis with Sacramento’s top cops. |
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