Zone 5; 10 shootings in 18 days. What should be done?

[coredumped]

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office released statistics Friday that give some perspective on the amount of violence taking place in local neighborhoods.

Just this month, 21 people have been shot, an average of more than one shooting a day.

Of those, six people have died. Foul play is suspected in five of those killings.

Half of those shootings occurred in the same part of town -- Zone 5, which covers mostly Northwest Jacksonville and some of the Westside.

Zone 5 is where the Sheriff's Office in recent months launched Operation Ceasefire, an initiative to curb violence and send a strong message to criminals.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/21-people-shot-6-killed-in-jacksonville-this-month/27023306


zone map: http://www.coj.net/departments/sheriffs-office/patrol-division.aspx


What should be done about zone 5? Should the zone commander be held responsible? Should it be divided up in to smaller zones? You know Rutherford will just say it's a budget issue. Is that really the problem?

Jax is doing better than a shooting a day for July, this is not acceptable!

[Rob68]

How many people are supposed to be shot in huge southern city in the middle of the biggest economic depression in many many years? Poor, uneducated, unskilled and pissed off about...what do you think is going to happen?  I know...lets cut taxes so our schools ha e less money...lets cut community education programs..this city has been defunding and slashing this city for many many years and this is what you get...but I'm sure some prayer will help right?

[Kay]

How about more guns.

[Know Growth]

More Ministers,Prayer. More Reverently applied.

In the mean time,continue moving further and further away.

[Tacachale]

Just another effect of slashing 100 officers while simultaneously playing possum on the pension fiasco. Way to go, Alvin.

[peestandingup]

Nothing will be done to stop the root causes & the people in charge who push for defunding dont, and will never, have to live in places like that, so they don't care. Loss of jobs, dollar value, wealth gaps, rising costs of everything, etc of course all play into this. We're all being squeezed like oranges & the bottom of the barrel have no more juices to give, hence are deemed to have no value.

Instead, and without missing a beat, a call for everyone (including law abiding) will echo throughout radio waves, tv, online forums, etc to relinquish your 2nd amendment rights & if you dont go along with the narrative, you're a monster who must enjoy eating babies for breakfast.

Sound about right?

[Dog Walker]

The same thing is fueling the violence in Zone 5 as is fueling the violence in Central America and Mexico; The War on Drugs.

Legalize, tax, use the tax money for treatment of addicts.  Take the high profits out of the illegal trade and all of these turf wars here and there go away.

[IrvAdams]

The same thing is fueling the violence in Zone 5 as is fueling the violence in Central America and Mexico; The War on Drugs.

Legalize, tax, use the tax money for treatment of addicts.  Take the high profits out of the illegal trade and all of these turf wars here and there go away.

Yes. Overnight things would change. The War On Drugs is a misguided scam on the public whose intention and result has very little to do with reducing the distribution or usage of drugs at all. Addicted users need intervention and rehabilitation, not incarceration.

[JaxJerry]

It is all George Bush's fault!

[thelakelander]

Sounds like we need an annual real life"Purge".

[Crabernacle]

The Onion has a compelling idea, legalize brandishing your weapon at head level at all times. I'm feeling safer already.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxlunxSZ-Yc&t=0m36s

[IrvAdams]

The same thing is fueling the violence in Zone 5 as is fueling the violence in Central America and Mexico; The War on Drugs.

Legalize, tax, use the tax money for treatment of addicts.  Take the high profits out of the illegal trade and all of these turf wars here and there go away.

Yes. Overnight things would change. The War On Drugs is a misguided scam on the public whose intention and result has very little to do with reducing the distribution or usage of drugs at all. Addicted users need intervention and rehabilitation, not incarceration.

Did things change overnight after Prohibition?

Definitely yes. Both going into Prohibition and coming out of it things changed quickly. Unfortunately, a good argument can be made that the most long-term damaging drug of all is now legal while many others of lesser impact are taboo.

[AKIRA]

So, all the people involved in the drug game will wake up on the day of legalization and go get proper jobs, becoming law abiding citizens?

Prescription pills are legal and taxed, more or less.. the tramatic effect of those opiates cannot be understated.

[IrvAdams]

So, all the people involved in the drug game will wake up on the day of legalization and go get proper jobs, becoming law abiding citizens?

Prescription pills are legal and taxed, more or less.. the tramatic effect of those opiates cannot be understated.

Many of the people arrested in the drug busts are simple users, not suppliers or operatives. They are not making a living pushing drugs, they are simply chemically or psychologically addicted. Put them through a program to relieve their addiction, and they very well can be working, contributing members of society. As for the pushers, well, legalization instantly puts them out of business.

Yes, prescription drugs are legal, and taxed, and most certainly over prescribed and overhyped by the pharmaceutical industry. How long do you have to watch TV before seeing an ad for a pill to cure or relieve something, or elevate your mood, or make you like people, or whatever. And all this is OK, but possession or use of a wild herb is illegal? Forgive me, I'm a tad puzzled.

[AKIRA]

No, you are wrong.  Most arrests within a "drug bust" (tv term) are sellers.  The users, be they weed or cocaine, usually get arrested for those things as a secondary offense, such as traffic offenses, theft, etc.  The folks selling and running the nacrotics are not nice people who would otherwise seek legal employment, if not for the few measely bucks you get slinging dope.  I don't personally see drugs as the reason there are some many shootings in Z5.  I see the drug usage in that area as a symptom of the core problem.

The point in bringing up pills is to show a regulated drug that is causing a massive problems.  "Legalization" is not curbing that problem... the draw to become addicted to too great.

As far as "putting people through programs" to cure their addiction... well, easier said than done.