In my opinion, the image of Howard County has been going down the tubes in recent months. There have been numerous murders in Columbia and other crimes like assaults, vehicle thefts and bank robberies. However, the Long Reach area of Columbia is posing the biggest concern.. The crime has gotten out of control. In July 2011, 17 year old Christian Hall was stabbed multiple times in his home on Airybrink Lane just passed the Long Reach Village Center. Xavier Bates, also of Columbia and a junior at Long Reach High School was charged in with his murder. Bail bondswoman, Nicole McNair was shot in September 2011 on Hayshed Lane (a neighboring street to Airybrink) while collecting payment from Dominique McDonald, who was ultimately charged in her death. It’s not just the murders. It’s also the drugs, which run rampant in that area. There are multiple people that live in the Hayshed area that sell drugs out of their homes. Some would assume that in an area with its own police office would be safer, but that isn’t the case. The image of Long Reach was addressed recently at a Town Hall meeting. Some chalk it up to the fact that it’s “Long Reach….We expect that,'” But, the fact of the matter is it is still Howard County. This county has always been held to a higher standard considering it is one of the richest counties in America. Long Reach has tried to improve safety by employing a 24 hour security detail. However, I don’t believe this is doing justice. People are still able to sell drugs and get away with things right under the security guard’s nose. I believe it is up to Howard County police officers to stop spending all of their time being concerned with insignificant things and start focusing on the bigger picture.
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I personally like to look at police officers as the goalkeeper in a soccer game. They are the ones that are watching and attempting to anticipate the next move before it happens. However, sometimes the ball makes it into the net. Even though the ball had to travel through 10 other players, the blame usually always falls on the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper is partly responsible for the scored goal, but the rest of the team needs to take responsibility too. If every other player on the team did the best in their position, maybe the goal wouldn’t have been scored. Blame shouldn’t be placed before responsibility is accepted.
ReplyDeleteI heard bout that story. It was shocking to me when I found out about the murder. Long Reach gets a lot of talk now on how it is turning out from bad to horrible. There are apparently "gangs" of teens from LR now. It's kind of mind blowing on how many stories you hear about drugs and Long Reach. Not all of them are said to be true. But, a lot of people try to avoid that area. I've been going to Long Reach events and have friends around that area since I was in 9th grade. It is not so bad as seem so bad as people think.
ReplyDeleteIt is certain that Howard County is way safer than Baltimore County, but I also feel it is getting more dangerous than before. I personally live around Long Reach High School, and love to go and eat burgers at 24-hour McDonald's near my house at 2 in the morning, but after reading your post, I feel fear came over me.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I watched a video clip of Chris Rock, a famous comedian, talking about the bullets control, and I thought he's saying a cool solution although it sounded like a joke. You can check out from here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWjhTWv9eUs
And as a resident of Howard County, I hope the county to try a lot more effort for keeping public security.
I knew about the stabbing since my sister lives on Airybrink Lane. I have a 10yr nephew and it concerns me that he is surrounded by these things that really didn't exist in Howard County before. The police here (in my personal opinion) don't do much. I live in an area that has had drug dealing, shootings, and even a televised hostage situation. You think by now they keep a close eye in my neighborhood or when called for incidents they handle it like professionals. They don’t! I have numerous stories of why I now see HoCo police this way. I feel that when it comes to places like Long Reach or my neighborhood they simply either don’t want to deal with it, or maybe they don’t know how. Yet, they are quick to react if they see someone who doesn’t “belong” in a rich neighborhood. A few weeks ago I went to a house party in the River Hill area, after the party some of my friends and I were outside our cars talking and someone called the cops because “some Mexican’s” were hanging around. I could understand if we were being loud or that it was late at night, but it wasn’t. The cop had the nerve to ask us why we were there and even after explaining why and showing him which house we had come from he told us that some people were concerned for their safety and we must leave. Really?? Why don’t the cops do the same when I call for guys selling drugs and cackling loudly at 2:30 in the morning? Guess I should live in a better place to get the cops to do their job??
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