So far I have been able to maintain a streak of two months now of analyzing crime patterns for the Bon Air/Highgate Springs Neighborhood.
-Some of this disclaimer stuff is repeated in the name of clarity----
For the record this area has the following boundaries:
West: Bardstown Rd
North: The Watterson Expressway (I-264) and Taylorsville Rd
East: Furman Blvd.
South: Hikes Lane.
The Bon Air/Highgate Springs area is in the 40220 and 40218 zip codes.
For the record again my information source was the Courier-Journal's database on crime by zip code (http://datacenter.courier-journal.com/community/crime). The disclaimer of using this includes technical glitches in the system where days are missing, and possible errors in the “geo-coding” process where the block number may be wrong due to the automated conversion of police information to the CJ website. So, this information may be flawed, but then thankfully, this is just a blog, and you are welcome to look for yourself, in fact . . . again I hope you do.
My process continues to be to paste the web information into a word processing file, count up the total number of reports, and then sift out the irrelevant reports. I then pasted the information into a spreadsheet and then sorted the data in a number of ways.
The sad news is that the police were a little busier in October than in September in our neighborhood with 34 calls and the 40220 section had more calls than the 40218 section. The good news is that there were no sex offender-related offenses.
In the 40220 zip code section of the neighborhood the police had 18 calls for October (compared to 12 for September). In the 40218 zip code section there were 16 police calls (compared to 19 for September). The types of crimes most occurring were:
• 11 theft by deception
• 5 possession of marijuana,
(1 possession of a pot plant, one dealing cocaine)
• 5 burglaries of various severities
• (overall 7 drug related offenses)
• 3 assaults
• 3 criminal mischief charges.
Persisting trends
The two areas that were the busiest the last time were also the busiest this time. They just changed places. I would conclude that both of these were high traffic business districts with a high intensity of rental housing.
The most active area is that Southeast section of the neighborhood. This the area comprising Stanton/Noe/Furman/Hikes Lane. I have included the incidents on Klondike Lane this time since that was specified. There were the following incidents.
• POSS OF MARIJUANA
• BURGLARY - 3RD DEGREE
• TRAF CONT SUB-1ST DEGREE-1ST OFFENSE-COCAINE
• POSS OF MARIJUANA
• ASSAULT - 4TH DEGREE (DOMESTIC VIOLENCE) NO VISIBLE INJURY
• THEFT BY DECEPTION-INCL COLD CHECKS U/$10,000
• THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING/DISP-ALL OTHERS -MISD
• BURGLARY - 2ND DEGREE
It appears that there were a few drug deals going on and there were some retail-related thefts.
The 3300 block of Bardstown Rd was the second most active spot. Here is what happened there:
• HARASSING COMMUNICATIONS
• MISSING PERSONS
• POSS OF MARIJUANA (twice)
• THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING - GASOLINE - U/$500 MISD
• THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING - GASOLINE - U/$500 MISD
• THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING/DISP-SHOPLIFTING -MISD
• THEFT OF PROPERTY LOST/MISLAID/DELIVERED BY MISTAKE MISD
It appears that at least three times something happened at the two convenience stores.
Dishonorable mention
There were two locations that had at least two incidents at different times.
The 3500 block of Brockton Lane (40220—in the northeast section of the neighborhood). There was one criminal mischief incident, and one theft incident. These are apartments that have a reputation of being a little rowdy.
The 2500 block of Fureen Drive (40218—in the southwest section of the neighborhood). There was one criminal mischief incident and one assault incident.
Two-month trends
Of the 66 crime incidents for September and October, the scores are the following:
• 21 of them were some kind of theft.
• 12 of them were burglaries.
• 11 of them were drug-related offenses (I totaled)
• 6 of them were criminal mischief calls
There were 16 miscellaneous incidents.
For September and October, The 3300 block of Bardstown Rd has had 16 reported incidents. It is by far the winner of a prize no one really wants.
The Southeast quadrant comprising Stanton, Furman, Noe and Hikes also continues to be a busy place.
It does appear that the High School has nipped whatever crime problems it had in the bud. Barney Fife would be proud.
In one of my conversations in the past few weeks, I have some ideas that I want to flush out regarding the 3300 block of Bardstown Rd. One guy I talked with said that there was a lot of gang-related loitering going on in some of the restaurants after dark. I hope to go and get a snack to see what is there. If it is gang-related, we may have a button we can push to get some action taken.
Otherwise, I plan to do this again next month and continue to expand on the trends. I am hoping that we can use this information overall to start initiatives to improve both the ambience and livability of the neighborhood.
This is a total shame, I grew up in this area and my parents never worried about us when we were out late, This was a area where there was no crime. Seems it basically started over the last 10 years and is growing. First it seemed to be on the other side of Bardstown road where the turtle creek apts are, but now seems to have moved more into the other areas.
It is a running commentary on the news and occurances and in the Bon Air and Highgate Springs Neighborhood. It also contains philosophical discourse on what the neighborhood needs for it to be vibrant and robust.
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Bon Air Observer