WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2004
JUNE GUIDE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
11
CRIME STATISTICS: WESTPORT VS. LAWRENCE
Some students see Westport as being more dangerous than downtown Lawrence, but the crime statistics show a different picture. The comparisons cover January through March 2004. The Westport and Lawrence crime statistics are Uniform Crime Statistics, which summarize incidents by the most serious crime reported in the incident. If an incident contained a murder and a burglary, only the murder would be counted.
2004 Westport Downtown Lawrence
Murders 0 0
Rapes 1 11
Robberies 11 16
Aggravated assaults 9 48
Non-aggravated assaults 29 246
Burglaries 19 127
Theft from motor vehicle 43 197
Theft of motor vehicle 27 53
Property damage 14 223
Narcotics possessions 6 64
A burglar enters a building, not necessarily through force.
A robber uses violence or threat
A thief steals without threats, violence or plundering
Sources: The Lawrence Police Department and the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department
problems with crime in Westport.
When she had gone out on Massachusetts Street at night, Dreiling encountered lewd comments. Men in Lawrence have tried to grab her and they have tried to take her picture, she said.
But the same can't be said for Lawrence.
In August, Joe Rogers was jumped outside of the Granada, 1020 Massachusetts St. Earlier that night, a man had been kicked out of the bar for fighting. When Rogers, Overland Park senior, went outside to meet some friends, the man mugged Rogers.
The mugger hit Rogers over the head and pushed him onto the sidewalk. Rogers lost his wallet and part of his tooth.
After an Oct. 5 shooting outside It's Brother's, 1105 Massachusetts St., students' opinions of the bar plummeted.
Before the shooting, Jason Greller would be the bar every Thursday night and sometimes on Friday and Saturday. But witnessing the shooting had changed his perceptions of the bar, he said. The senior from New Hope, Minn., was hanging out with friends when he heard a loud shot.
"Everyone panicked, and ducked down," Greller said. "We just stood outside for twenty more minutes and kept talking."
Now Greller will only go to the bar once every couple of weeks. When he does go to Brother's, he tries to leave the bar immediately after it closes.
Despite the shooting and negative perceptions, Lawrence Police Sgt. Mike Patrick said he rated the safety of downtown Lawrence very high. An average of 16 to 23 officers patrol downtown Lawrence on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, he said.
Unlike Westport bars, some Lawrence bars try to only open their doors to KU students. Bouncers at Abe & Jakes Landing, 8 E. Sixth St., sometimes ask to see students' KUIDs if they suspect bar-
goers are not students.
Mike Logan, general manager, said that the bar caters to KU students. He wants the bar to have a local bar feeling and not a dance club atmosphere.
But Westport appears more dangerous than downtown Lawrence, because the Kansas City media make it appear that way, Dreiling said. Kansas City's four network TV stations and two newspapers outnumber Lawrence's one TV station and one newspaper.
Stanford & Sons, 504 Westport Rd., Kansas City, Mo., houses a comedy club, two bars and Club 504, a hip-hop club. The hip-hop club attracts an inner-city crowd, which scares some KU students.
Cody Howard, news director for 6News in Lawrence, said that the Lawrence media do not aim to hide anything. His TV station's coverage of local crime differs from the crime stories that Kansas City stations air because 6News' staff of fifteen is smaller than that of a Kansas City station's, he said. Also, 6News is not staffed 24-hours a day like some Kansas City stations, so it would not have the opportunity to capture a 2 a.m. fight on video, he said.
"Lawrence does a good job of hiding things," Dreiling said. "Things don't happen when there's one TV and one newspaper."
Westport and safety
On Feb. 29, The Kansas City Star reported on the front page of its Metropolitan section that a hip-hop song called "Rep Yo City," by Lil' Jon & the Eastside Boyz had incited a fight that ended in a fatal shooting outside of the club. A story ran inside about the shooting suspect.
The Kansas City media have to compete, and that involves exaggerating crimes committed in Westport, she said.
Dan Creach, operations manager for Stanford & Sons, said that police and the
Amy Hendrickson, Lenexa resident, and Lonnell Harris, Kansas City, Mo., resident, dance together in a cage at the XO Club in Westport. The club employs security guards to pat down customers as they walk through the door.
media blew the incident out of proportion.
"Rep Yo City" was not even on that night's play list, Creach said. The suspect had not even gone to Stanford & Sons, he said.
The shooting happened one door down, in front of Kelly's Westport Inn, 500 Westport Rd., said Danny Holmes, the police officer who arrested the suspect.
Randall Smith, deputy managing editor for The Kansas City Star, said his staff aims to keep crime articles in context.
"People think urban, drugs, blue-haired white kids, black kids and gangbangers when they think about Westport," Glazer said. "People think about KU basketball when they think of Lawrence."
"Neither one of those stories made the front page, so to me, that was keeping it in context," Smith said. "It was a serious incident that can't be ignored."
Because of people's negative perceptions of Club 504, Glazer said he felt pressure to change the hip-hop club's personality. The club will become Johnny Dare's on July 1, a hard rock-style venue that will cater to college students, he said.
Glazer said the reality was much different.
Police are trying to get rid of the club because it is the only hip-hop club in Westport, said David Hodison, Club 504 security guard.
Nothing is wrong with Club 504, Glazer said. The racial stereotypes and the media have given students and others a negative perception of the hip-hop club, he said.
"Unless you're out at four in the morning on a side-street flashing your boobs out the window, you'll be fine," Glazer said.
But to Holmes, some hip-hop songs carry negative implications.
"They automatically assume that's a bad thing," Hodison said. "Hip-hop is not negative."
"Some young people listen to the music and think they have to live through the rap artists' lyrics," Holmes said. "When the reality sets in and they have to go to jail, they think we hate them."
Perception vs. reality
Crime statistics show that downtown Lawrence sees higher amounts of crime than Westport, but some students say they feel safer on Massachusetts Street because it is familiar territory. Or because they trust KU students more than urbanites. Or because Lawrence is a smaller town than Kansas City, Mo.
Lauren Vanek, May 2003 graduate, said she felt safer in Lawrence because she knew her way around town.
"When you're in a big city, things change," Vanek said. "Here, it's just college students."
When she ventures out to Westport, she feels frightened of the people there.
"The people who go there seem more aggressive," Vanek said. "They're ready to start trouble; they go to hang out and sit in the streets."
Still, when it comes down to the facts, Lawrence's crime rates trump Westport's.
"You take a chance anywhere you go," said Brandy Phillips, bartender at Westport's America's Pub and Kansas City, Mo., senior. "You just have to be smart."
Edited by Collin LaJoie