This is the last article in a four-part series on issues related to crime in Durham.
Despite improvements in statistics and a proliferation of programs designed to prevent crime, many city leaders remain frustrated by perceptions, which some say are fueled by the media, that Durham is a haven for crime.
"One of the biggest challenges in Durham is to rid itself of the perception that there is a lot of crime here," said Lewis Cheek, Durham mayor pro tempore.
"If you look at the actual statistics, Durham has become a much safer city over the last few years," said Thomas Stith, a City Council member. "We still have the challenge in some of our neighborhoods that have not benefited from the reduction of crime."
Although some attribute the perceptions to small pockets of town with stagnantly high crime rates, others fault the way crime is reported, arguing racist overtones dictate coverage.
John Schelp, community committee chair of the Durham chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said local newspapers tend to prioritize crimes affecting the wealthy.
"I think race taints the whole discussion on crime," said Randall Gilbert, a spokesperson for the People's Alliance, a local liberal lobbying group. He said he feels The Herald-Sun of Durham tends to write with a racial perspective that makes it hard to separate the issues of racism and criminal activity.
Bill Hawkins, The Herald-Sun's executive editor, said that although the newspaper does play a role in shaping the public perception of crime, it strives to report accurately and fairly.
"We don't have much choice. We report the crime that's reported," Hawkins said. "If you look at many of our stories there is no mention of race.... Where we make it an issue is in identifying suspects."
He added that the tendency to play up certain cases, such as the Michael Peterson story, in which the novelist and frequent political candidate is accused of murdering his wife, is related to the drama of the story, not to race. "Would it make a dime's worth of difference if Peterson, being Peterson, was black?" he asked. "No, it would have run the same way--look at O.J. [Simpson]."
Others feel that prevention efforts do not get enough press, thus allowing a more negative picture to emerge. Pam Spaulding, a board member of the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association, said crime prevention efforts need to be highlighted.
"I don't think you can ever cover [crime] enough," said Spaulding, former secretary for Partners Against Crime in District 2, which includes Duke. "It's whether it's covered in context."
She said she would like to see more media involvement at the community level, something Hawkins also said he would like the paper to do.
Shelp also faulted television coverage of crime as being sensational and more concerned with providing entertainment, not finding the root causes of crime.
"[But] that's not as exciting and as sexy... as it would be to show the flashing red lights, the blood on the curb," he said, adding that local television coverage reflects a national trend of "dumbing down."
Rob Elmore, news director with WTVD, the local ABC affiliate, said he feels the television station performs a public service in reporting crime and emphasized the importance of diversity of coverage.
"I know what we focus on here and it's not on the daily crime report," he said. "Some days, crime is the big story but not nearly as much as it used to be five years ago."
The police also recognize the need to address perception, said Lt. John Mozart, spokesperson for the Durham Police Department, though he emphasized that the department's primary objective is to reduce crime.
"[We try] to point out the inaccuracies and the fallacies of what the actual perceptions are when it compares to crime," he said.
The way the police interact with local media sources may also affect the scope of crime reporting. Hawkins alleged former police chief Teresa Chambers, delivered The Herald-Sun incomplete crime reports. "In a nutshell because she was angry at something we wrote about her, she gagged her staff," Hawkins said. "It was an outrageous abuse of the public records law."
Though practices changed after the city attorney became involved, Hawkins said current police reports still sometimes leave out information. Despite this complaint, he expressed satisfaction with the current chief of police, Steve Chalmers.
Mozart said he was not aware of a gag order under Chambers, although he said some officers may have refused to speak with the press.
He defended the department's choice to keep some information out of police reports. "We don't release information that would compromise a pending or ongoing investigation, the details of the crime so to speak," he said.
Elmore said WTVD has a good working relationship with the police.
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