Reported in the Buffalo News
12/17/08 06:47 AM
A man was attacked and robbed Monday night on Niagara Street after he was approached by a group of about 15 males, according to Buffalo police.
The victim, whose age was not immediately available, told Central District police the incident happened at about 8:15 p. m. between Carolina and Virginia streets.
He told police he was punched in the face at least eight times, including once with brass knuckles.
The victim also said he was kicked in the back, and his cell phone and baseball cap were taken.
He may have fractured his right ankle while running from the suspects, who fled east on Carolina on foot, according to the report.
Exactly! :( How *does* one respond to this? Mass panic is foolish. Total disregard is unwise. We need some kind of "suggestion-box-response" outlet where the police let residents know what is the actual situation and what their information status is. Does such a thing exist for Buffalo?
I understand feeling funny about attacks at the same places where you go. I know I feel funny when I hear of things happening near where I live, because (e:Drew) and I tend to walk our neighborhood a lot.
And there have been day time attacks around my building where I work and I'm in and out of the building to go places throughout the day.
I don't want to sound too crazy here, but I have what I like to call the "crime watch triage". It's around half-hour of intensive crime news reading and decisions every friday night/saturday morning.
I don't do this everyday because that would be totally insane. But the objective is to be aware of all reported crime, map it and adopt safer ways. Just to make it clear, it's not really Buffalo specific. Buffalo is actually a safe haven compared to some of the other places I have lived and worked.
The triage consists of a quick scan, map and time of the incident, assessment of whether I am likely to be next, and future precautions to make that unlikely. Some of the things that have come out of this (specific for Buffalo) have been:
- I don't walk in the south-side pavement in front of my building after dark.
- I don't go shopping at Guercio's weekday evenings.
- I don't wait at bus stops more than 10 minutes and time my transfers very close.
- I avoid main-street as far as I can and walk on residential side-streets.
- 75% of my path from home to office and back is covered by some kind of surveillance.
- I don't wait at the tube station at lean/non-rush hour times.
- I don't go walking downtown weekdays after dark.
That's a lot of restrictions on my "lifestyle" but I accept these as decisions from the triage. These gang violence reports have been out of the ordinary and I am not sure how to respond to them. They are not crimes committed by one individual against another in an opportunistic environment. They really smell of some disturbing mob mentality that I have witnessed first hand in the walled city of Old Delhi.
As (e:libertad) says in his journal -> (e:libertad,47100) I have been at these very spots at those very times in the past. I am not really a street-fighter so yes, I am concerned about these particular reports. :(
If you read the Buffalo News crime section, there's usually some act of violence or incidence that takes place in this city everyday.
That's it. I am coming back home at 4:30.