Has discussing crime or crime statistics become a new taboo?
For some time, real estate agents have been forbidden to disclose crime statistics in a neighborhood of interest to a potential buyer:
According to the guidelines of the Fair Housing Act and preventing blockbusting, real estate agents are not supposed to discuss the crime statistics of a particular area.
One professional advises directing buyers to the local police department:
If a buyer wants to know the crime statistics of an area, smart agents will direct buyers to the police department or other sources of information. An agent should never ever disclose crime stats or say a neighborhood is a relatively safe place to live even if she believes it to be true.
How they balance that against the duty to disclose all relevant information, I’m not sure. If a neighborhood is unsafe, isn’t that just as relevant as whether defects in the house make it unsafe?
And if a news item I saw earlier is any indication, the emerging rule is to no longer allow even the police to discuss crime statistics of an area.
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida – A veteran officer with a clean record is being investigated by the St. Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) after he warned the father of a robbery victim about a dangerous part of town.
Officer Thad “Stu” Crisco, who was recently in headlines for honoring his fallen partner David Crawford, allegedly warned St. Petersburg father Bob Esposito about letting his 16-year-old daughter hang around the Northshore Pool at night. Esposito’s daughter was one of five teens robbed by a group of armed men there about 10:30 p.m. on a recent weeknight.
“I wouldn’t come down here at night,” Esposito said of the Northshore Pool area and Downtown, where he admits he used to loiter as a teen. “And I was told by one of the police officers not to come down here either.”
That comment, made by Crisco the night of the robbery, was inadvertently relayed to his superior when Esposito was following up with SPPD. The department then launched an investigation into “disparaging comments against the city.”
“I’m shocked,” Esposito said. “His job is to serve and protect, and as far as I’m concerned, he gave me information. I think he did his job. I think he did it very well.”
I’m shocked too. If even the police are not allowed even to warn citizens that an area is dangerous, what good are they? Doesn’t that go to the heart of their basic purpose? How would a concerned citizen learn whether the house he is thinking of buying is in a high crime neighborhood? How would a tourist or out-of-town visitor learn which neighborhoods might be safe for walking around?
At the rate things are going crime statistics will soon be classified information.
Where are the safety Nazis when you need them?
MORE: Might the First Amendment apply here? Don’t real estate agents and police have a right to discuss crime statistics?
Comments
One response to “Your safety is now an unsafe topic”
Being “PC” is the issue, in the end. And St. Pete is the politically correct capitol of the world.
My wife’s grown daughter, having lived through the turmoil that was South Africa the last two decades and just two weeks ago became a naturalized citizen of America, had this advice for me when I was considering the purchase of this house for her mother and me:
“Go park in front of the house at 10 pm on a Friday or Saturday night. That will tell you all you need to know.”
Fortunately, as it has turned out, I have very quiet and friendly neighbors who don’t feel the first need to debauch themselves or another’s property. What was funny was, they were all wondering about me! But I have apparently passed muster. 🙂