Perception versus Reality: Military Crime

It seems like a lot. One neighbor’s GPS and gum (yes, that’s gum with an M, not a typo) were stolen out of his truck more than two weeks ago. Granted, it was trash night, the night everyone puts their trash out on the curb before they turn in for the night, prompting an all-night parade of dumpster divers. I had several broken toys and a busted floor lamp taken from my trash can the same night of the robbery. So the neighbor calls the MPs (Military Police) to file a report. They inform him that there has been tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise stolen, including a 52 inch television, from homes in our housing area over the past month. Our housing area is not very large.

You have only to tell another neighbor of the story than they share with you the similar tales of which they are aware. The next cul de sac down a family came home to find their unlockable garage wide open. Another neighbor had the windows of their car shot out. A little over a week ago a neighbor behind us came home from running errands, only to find someone in the middle of burglarizing her garage. And we’re quite certain that a new neighbor’s kid or husband or both is smoking pot between the bushes and the trash can. A quick rundown of police blotters published in Fort Bragg’s newspaper, The Paraglide, during the month of January:

·         A 18 and 19 inch TVs stolen from the barracks.

·         Previously mentioned GPS stolen

·         Home in the Anzio Acres housing area robbed of two televisions, a Louis Vuitton purse, camcorder, and a chess set.

·         Eight cases of assault

·         Two sexual assaults

·         Twelve cases of shoplifting.

·         Nine cases of theft of government property.

·         39 cases of theft of personal property.

·         Thirteen cases of damage to government property.

·         Thirty cases of damage to private property.

The 39 cases of personal property theft include the previously mentioned GPS stolen from Biazza Ridge, a 19 inch TV stolen from a barracks apartment, an 18 inch flatscreen TV stolen from a separate barracks apartment, an iPod, digital camera and diamond ring stolen from a car, a laptop stolen from another car and a family returning from Christmas travels to discover someone had broken into their home and helped themselves to two televisions, an Xbox 360, chess set, Luis-Vuitton purse and a camcorder.  And this is just what has been reported.

Two weeks ago, I was in my room above our garage, waiting for my husband to come home so we could go to a birthday party. I heard the garage door open, and then close again a moment later. I continued getting ready and waited to hear my husband come into the house. After a few minutes I peeked out the window to see if he had gotten into a conversation with a neighbor. His car wasn’t in the driveway. He wasn’t home. I keep my van in the garage, so it generally looks like no one is home. The garage door has never locked as long as we’ve lived here, but we’ve never been too concerned about it. The following day was Sunday, and Tom had me shove screwdrivers into the tracks on the garage door in order to prevent anyone from being able to open it from the outside while we were at church. When we got home from church and I went to remove the screwdrivers and open the garage door so we could put the car in the garage, it was evident that someone had attempted to open the door.

So, is this increase in crime merely a perception based on the close proximity of these occurrences? Or is there, indeed, more crime taking place on Fort Bragg? Several neighbors have also noted a perceived decrease in MPs patrolling the neighborhood. Is there a correlation? And if there is an increase in crime, what is the installation doing about it?

For those unfamiliar with the way the military does things, soldiers are divided into two basic categories: Officer and Enlisted. Officers and Enlisted soldiers’ living quarters are segregated. However, the housing area we live in is currently being “rank re-banded.” Officers are being kicked out, and lower-enlisted soldiers are moving in. This creates an imbalance in socio-economic dynamics when you have a Major living across the street from a Private. While the Army owns the homes and the land that we live in, the day-to-day operations of the housing area is managed by a private company, in this case, Picerne. Each soldier receives an allotment for housing, called BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing). When you live “off-post,” that money is funneled into your paycheck. When you live “on-post,” the money goes right to the private company managing the housing. There is a significant difference in the housing allowance for an E1 versus an O4.

One neighbor claimed she was told that the reason for the perceived decrease in MP patrolling was due to the fact that Picerne has to pay the Army for the MPs to patrol the area. Lower BAH rates translate into fewer expendable dollars for safety, thus the fewer patrols. This just didn’t make sense to me—the Army does not contract out its services to civilian entities. So I called Picerne myself to find out the truth.

Truth: There IS an extreme increase in crime in the area lately, due largely to the presence of an active gang called The Juvenile Gangbangers. (Seriously. Perhaps they were too stoned to come up with something a little more fierce or creative.) Lucky me—these are the neighbors selling and using drugs across the street.

Truth: There are fewer marked cars patrolling the streets of our neighborhood. In the past when Picerne and the MPs have seen similar increases in gang activity, an obvious increase in patrols spooks the criminals, and they just move their business to another neighborhood. By increasing patrols using unmarked vehicles, they can maintain a presence, without driving away the criminals.

Truth: There are other plans of action underway in our neighborhood in an effort to obtain the evidence necessary to nip the crime in the bud. I was quite pleased with the information I received from the Biazza Ridge office, much of it I was asked not to divulge in order to retain the covert nature of the operations.

Okay, so we know crime is on the rise. But why?

In 2008, the Army began to relax their restrictions against convicted felons enlisting in the military, going so far as to even accept recruits with a history of burglary, theft, drug offenses, as well as assault and robbery convictions. A simple "conduct waiver" is filed to brush the convictions under the rug. ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24243460/) Recently as I sat on hold for Picerne, their on-hold IVR recording highlights the fact that you won’t have to undergo a background check to live on post. So, if you’re a soldier or Marine recruited by the Armed Services and have a sexual assault conviction on your record, where are you going to live—on-post where no criminal background check is done, or off-post where you’ll have to register as a sex offender? Do sex-offenders who live on-post have to register as a sex offender? I found some evidence from a 2006 AFAP conference that there was or is some intention to create a sex offender database accessible by military families, but there is no evidence that this was ever established. Curious to know the answer, I made a few phone calls. Military One Source didn’t know. Army Community Services/Victims Advocacy Hotline had no idea. Jag confirmed that a soldier who moves into the State, regardless of whether they live on post or off, has to register with North Carolina, IF that was outlined in the judgment handed down against them during the conviction. But this is the sole responsibility of the soldier, and the military has no system in place for families to access that information. The person I spoke with at Jag said he believes there is a notification process in the event that a soldier who must register as a sex offender moves on post, but he was not sure what that process entails, or how far that notification must extend. I forgot to ask about what requirements are in place if a sex offender is TDY at a military station. I’m confident that the answer would do little to reestablish my feelings of safety.

During fiscal year 2007, the Army recruited 67,398 new soldiers. More than 12,000, or 18 percent, needed a conduct waiver, including a handful of sexual assault convictions.  It’s doubtful that percentage went down with FY 2008’s 69,357 new recruits, particularly when more than 25% of those recruits didn’t graduate from high school. (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/militaryrecruiting2008/army2008quality )

I am satisfied that the MPs and Picerne are working to remedy the crime probably currently ravaging my neighborhood. And for that I am grateful. But this problem isn’t an isolated one—there needs to be a long-term strategy for crime prevention. Recruiting practices need to be reviewed, and the Army needs to re-think its policies for disseminating information to military families. Our troops deploy to foreign countries with the Army’s assurance that it has systems and programs in place to take care of a soldier’s family. Safety and convenience are the top reasons that soldiers move their families on-post, particularly when they’re preparing to deploy. How can these guys keep their mind in the game if they have to worry about their quarters being broken into? People are moving off-post because they don’t feel safe living in a community guarded by armed security personnel at every entrance. For the first time in my "career" as a military wife, I don't feel safe in my own home. I'm afraid to let my children go outside and play. I see the work Picerne and the MPs are doing to clean up the crime in my neighborhood. But how long will it last?