In a newly gentrified neighborhood south of Dallas, an old three-story house was converted into a Catholic Church. Over the years, a priest became close friends with a freshly graduated SMU lawyer. Their relationship had blossomed so much that the lawyer pushed the priest in his wheelchair during a Pride Parade in Downtown Dallas. Before the priest died, he sold the house-turned-church to the lawyer for his growing practice. The house was the perfect location for his immigration law office because the neighborhood was and is still predominantly Mexican. The practice has grown via word of mouth for over twenty years. Despite the hot restaurants and boutique stores and live music venues, the law office is still in a seedy part of town. Lipstick on a pig attracts tourists and local Dallasites, but can’t fully conceal the neglected apartments, abandoned buildings, homelessness, and drugs; or the shootings that occur on a weekly basis. Long ago the lawyer put up cameras and movement detection lights and alarms everywhere. There are cameras inside the house in various places as well, because an employee stole from him years ago. All are monitored in real-time on his cell phone and videos at his home.
This week the office will be bulldozed. A couple of months ago, an insane homeless man decided to walk around the property and strategically ignite fires. They coalesced into one big inferno. Because the property is so old, the asbestos in the walls carried the blaze along.
A week prior to this, the lawyer found a dead body behind his property. It was reported to have had eight bullet holes. Cops and a coroner showed up and took the body away like it hadn’t been there at all. Did they even make a record of it?
All the movements of the crazy homeless man are on video, even his stupid attempts to use a cigarette lighter flaccidly trying to catch spades of grass on fire. The fire department says, “We can’t arrest him unless we see him do it ourselves,” despite it being recorded and shown! They don’t want to be bothered. They don’t want to file the arson report. Then the police don’t want to increase the numbers in their crime reports because it takes away from the funding they receive. Lower crime rates bring more funding to cities like higher test scores bring more funding to schools.
How can we fix problems if we don’t know they exist? We know that gang shootings are rampant in Chicago. We know that homelessness and drug use are rampant in LA and San Francisco. There is a consensus around this like there was about the crack epidemic in the late 80’s in NYC. The crime in DC has gotten so bad this last year, the reporters who show up to report on it are getting their cars broken into in real time! What we don’t know is all the cases going unreported. The fire department and cops who showed up to the law office openly admitted as much. We are circling the drain.
Policemen are so demoralized. We don’t know what they face on any given day. And they don’t know what kind of crazy, fucked up situations they may be walking into either. Some compassion is understandable. Most major cities have a significant decline in new officers because they have become less and less revered over the years. They aren’t trained in skills that really matter: martial arts and de-escalation. The drop in numbers means the ones who encounter the worst of humanity have less backup. This means they’re on high alert, in fight or flight mode quickly turning into some billy-badass, military bro flying off the handle. Sure, there are bad apples with racist beliefs, but these are few and far between. Media likes to make the most of them. I’m not excusing it, but a coin has two sides.
Another friend of mine barely lasted a year as a night-time beat cop. He was so disgusted by humanity, the filth and dysfunction. He feared for his life. He felt like his job was trying to put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound. He went on to get a pilot’s license.
In a positive conclusion to the events, none of the office’s files or computer equipment were damaged; insurance is compensating a significant portion; the property developers that have been lurking around the lawyer for years are finally gonna get their deal. Because the lawyer had purchased another house on a large plot of land very nearby, all the staff have moved into it and have proceeded with running the company. During this house’s five years of vacancy, it has been gated and monitored and staged with an old police car in the driveway. These deterrents will stay. His practice just had a record-breaking month.
Yes, this one person’s experience is anecdotal. A lot of anecdotes are data. There is a lot happening in major cities we don’t know. What’s the real data?
Just as fewer people are enlisting in the armed services and our military is turning over more strategy to drones and robots, I believe robots will inevitably take over the streets. Their cameras and sensors and Big Brother capabilities can better prevent a lot of crime from occurring. Sane, calm humans don’t want to put themselves on the firing line. I can’t say I hate this idea.
* The image, Guernica by Pablo Picasso felt apropos
** If you want to read another story set in this neighborhood, Wannabe
*** Run Away is coming along. It’ll be a 10-15 minute read rather than my usual 3-5 minutes.
****The only reason I didn’t post last Sunday was because I was physically incapable. My health isn’t 100%, but we’re working on it. I’m really loving my writing again! Thank you for all your patience and support.