‘Polite’ Michigan City Doesn’t Want to Boast About Its Low-Crime ‘Year of Oddities’
Grand Rapids, Michigan Kbiros / Shutterstock.com
Was it a fluke or something to trumpet? Grand Rapids stays characteristically modest.
Sometimes, when there are enviable crime statistics to be very proud of, local officials will celebrate with a press release or triumphal media announcement.
But sometimes it’s better to be modest when it might be tempting to trumpet a success.
That’s one lesson from Michigan’s second-largest city, Grand Rapids, a place that recorded what Grand Rapids Police Department Lt. Pat Merrill described as a “year of oddities” for crime in 2014 in an article in Sunday’s Detroit News, which reported:
The city of 188,000 had only one bank robbery, no murders involving a gun, and just six homicides overall, a rate of 3.2 per 100,000 residents.
Detroit had that many murders during an average week in 2014. And that was a slow year.
But the number of aggravated assaults rose, so the decline in gun murders might be attributed to bad aim and successful medical treatment of wounds.
The News reported that local officials and law enforcement in Grand Rapids don’t want to take credit for the low crime numbers.
And for good reason: What if the enviable numbers end up being statistical oddities and there’s a spike next year?
The News wrote:
The low number gave Grand Rapids something new to crow about. Not that its polite citizenry would ever do so.
The city has a resilient economy that laughs at recessions and enjoys a bustling downtown of clean streets and tidy office buildings.
Grand Rapids, which grew up in the 19th century and early 20th century as a major furniture manufacturing city, these days is known for its craft brewing scene, revitalizing neighborhoods and annual Art Prize competition.
The news of the low crime numbers is another feather in the cap for Grand Rapids, which has benefitted from a diversified economy, low-cost of living and strong long-term local philanthropic support for its cultural and education institutions.
And while Grand Rapids didn’t escape the Great Recession, it weathered the state’s economic turmoil better than most places.
Check out GovExec State & Local previous examination of Grand Rapids’ use of brownfield redevelopment and plans to restore the Grand River’s rapids through downtown as a way to boost recreation and tourism.