The economy is showing no time of improving anytime soon. Last week, the nation’s 107th bank failed and the unemployment situation is getting worse. In the city of East St. Louis, Ill., at a recent city council meeting, Mayor Alvin Parks announced that effective this week, the city will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers and 11 firefighters.
Historically, East St. Louis is safer than less than 3 percent of all the cities across the nation with 1 in 58 subject to being victimized by violent crime. With a population of almost 32,000, 98 percent of the city’s population is African American.
Many feel that this decision will make the already horrid environment, which is already overrun with gang activity, drug dealing and murder, even worse. The mayor notes that there are no signs that the weak economy will be improving and that such cuts are necessary to meet budget constraints.
Based on 2007 data from the FBI’s the city murder rate is 101.9 per 100,000 people and has a high rate of rape, exceeding 250 per 100,000 people. The median income for a family in East St. Louis is $24,567. Half of the residents live in poverty with 75 percent living on welfare. The current unemployment rate is above 30 percent.
This is a startling new trend. The city of Oakland, Calif., recently laid off 80 police officers, citing budgetary concerns. Other cities have indicated that they will have to reduce their police departments in the near future. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
