Problem Essay

Cody Balderamos

9/4/14

Professor Rasheda Young

English 1100

 

Problem/Solution Essay

 

Have you ever walked out of your own house thinking that at any second, you could get shot, stabbed, or beat up?  Some may not know the feeling, but I know exactly what it feels like, along with the rest of my community.  We live literally footsteps from a place that is slowly becoming one of the most dangerous cities in NJ.  More and more gangs are being created, which is only exacerbating the situation.  The crime rate in Jersey City, NJ is rising rapidly, something needs to be done about it, and the police are pretty much our only answer.

In order to lower the crime rate, and make the people in the community feel safe again, the police need to pick it up.  Arresting everyone for no reason, and over abusing your power is not going to help.  But really cracking down on gangs like “Bloods” and “Crips”, and not being so nice about serious crimes and problems that these gang members are committing would help out a lot.  I hear about cops over in Ferguson, Missouri killing teenagers for no type of reason whatsoever, and it’s a shame.  But it seems as if it is the exact opposite in Jersey City.  Cops are hearing about crimes, showing up to the situations, and not doing anything about it besides calling parents and bringing kids home.  It’s scary to think that kids can brutally beat up another kid to almost his death and go home that same night with nothing to worry about unless the kid that got beat up “snitches.”  Then the cop somehow can still go to bed thinking he did a good job at work today, as if a real criminal and potential murderer isn’t still out there without a worry in the world.

            About 5 months ago, a kid that my friend John knows had a little situation with the “Bloods” gang, his name was Mike.  Mike was walking home from the store one night and he passed the projects on Martin Luther King Boulevard.  He had on a nice gold chain and diamond ear rings and was dressed rather nice.  The Bloods saw him and saw an opportunity.  A bunch of them ran up to Mike and grabbed him, cursing and trying to stop him from screaming, which they did once they pulled out a knife.  They didn’t take any of the food that he had, but they did take his chain and ear rings from him, then pulled a gun out and told him he was going to die if he said anything to the cops.  Mike clearly didn’t care about that because he called the cops anyway.  When they got there, he told them exactly what happened, and he even gave away one of the Bloods names.  The cops took him to his house on 42^nd street, explained to his mother what happened, and told the family that they would come back tomorrow to discuss the crime.  A few days passed and still no word from the police.  Mike knew nothing happened to the Blood members too because they did the same thing to another kid he knew like a week later.  It is situations like this that scare the community, and make real criminals feel safe for some reason, as if nothing is going to happen when they commit crimes.  The cops knew where the kids were, and exactly who did it, but they decided to forget about everything because no physical harm was done to Mike.  It is a shame when you think about it.  What is even scarier for me, is the fact that stuff like this, even worse things, are happening so close to where I live.

            There is another situation that went down in Downtown Jersey City on 17^th street, about a month ago where a kid got shot down by police in front of a Walgreens.  Lawrence Campbell went to the store and punched the security guard in the face and took his weapon.  He then waited outside for the cops and told one of the witnesses to “watch the news later, I’m going to be famous.”  When the first cop car arrived, Lawrence shot one of the police officers in the head, killing him instantly, then another cop car arrived and they shot Lawrence down where he was standing.  That story is absolutely insane to me that cops are being killed so easily.  How easily could this kid have killed a civilian?  What if my little brother, or my mother, was walking to that store and the kid decided to kill one of them.  It’s scary to think about.  I live no more than a mile from where this happened, what if one of these kids come to my house?

            The cops in Jersey City need to start getting more serious about the city because people are dying.  I feel as if they’re scared to do their job.  More cops need to be on duty, and they need to start taking action when the opportunity appears.  If you have enough information about a crime, you need to take care of the crime. Or how about you try your hardest to prevent the crimes from happening by having more and more cops on duty.  Stop worrying so much about the guy driving 10 miles over the speed limit and start focusing on the murderers and gang members living in the area!