Where Do The Children Play? - Gang Violence in OKC

"Cities are never random. No matter how chaotic they might seem, 

everything about them grows out of a need to solve a problem."

 - Neal Shusterman, Downsiders

We normally keep it pretty light-hearted at CarlessInOKC, but today I want to talk about something more serious.

What is the scariest thing about a city? The buildings aren't scary. Streets as a physical construct, aren't scary. Parks aren't scary. Sidewalks aren't scary. What's scary are things that are out of our control: weather, loose animals, and most of all, other people. 

I recently had the opportunity to work with a school in the northeast of the city, where the group I was with taught 5th graders about walkability. We took them on a walk in the neighborhood around the school and got them to talk about areas that needed improvement. When asking them what the biggest impediments to walking to school or around their neighborhoods was, a surprising theme arose -- they didn't rank lack of sidewalks or bike lanes highly, nor the amount of lighting; they were afraid of kidnappers, of gangs, of being hit by cars, and of vacant buildings (because there might be scary people in them). Their biggest hindrance to being out and about is that they don't feel that they can trust the other people who would be around. 

We got the students to write letters to their Councilman, and one stood out. 

This 5th grader's letter was one of the most eye-opening things I've seen since beginning work in OKC. He wants to be able to play outside, go to his park, play basketball, but he's afraid of the people he may encounter on the way. It's an injustice that a child can't enjoy his neighborhood for fear of violence. 

Gang violence is an issue in Oklahoma City, and it's not easily remedied. In fact, Oklahoma City was ranked in the Top 5 U.S. cities for worst gang violence by the CDC. In neighborhoods with high poverty and low social mobility, gangs have become a solution (albeit a faulted one) to the problem of a lack of support from a community. The violence and illegal activity are side-effects of a much deeper problem. The maps below show where the highest rates of gang activity occur, as documented by incidences that resulted in police action.

Heat map showing where gang violence occurs

Map showing ZIP codes with highest rates of gang violence

Here are the incidences of the top 5 most common gang-related crimes committed since 2008. Notice the upward trend of drug-related arrests.

Year	Drive-By	Assault with a Deadly Weapon	Poss. Of Controlled Substance	Poss. Of Firearm	Shots Fired
2008	123	135	9	24	65
2009	98	125	7	25	58
2010	86	98	14	15	30
2011	129	108	36	25	30
2012	189	91	91	47	X
2013	85	87	162	86	X
Total	710	644	319	222	183

Crime is a complex concept, and it would be a dubious venture to attempt to correlate any social trends with the numbers above; however, it is interesting to see the reliance upon drive-by shootings in a city that is known to be very car dependent.

39 of the 63 ZIP codes within the Oklahoma City municipal boundary have at least one recorded incident of gang violence. The table below shows the five ZIP codes with the highest number of gang-related incidences since 2008, as well as the five ZIP codes with the highest number of gang-related incidences per capita (population of respective ZIP codes).

ZIP	73111	73119	73129	73114	73108
Total Incidences	308	284	238	231	210
ZIP	73111	73105	73108	73117	73114
Per-capita Incidences	26.14	19.00	13.68	13.48	13.26

Often, these areas with the highest incidences of gang violence seem to be forgotten when all the great improvements to the city are occurring, and the situation doesn't seem to be getting much better. The quality of schools, grocery stores, housing, and infrastructure decreases because these areas must compete in a free-market economy with regions of the city that have more wealth and a much more well-represented citizenry.

"Bad areas of town" needn't remain that way, and they don't have to be "gentrified" to improve. What we need is a concerted effort by the community to improve blighted areas -- incentivize revitalization and rehabilitation of housing in the area; improve streetscape designs so that people without vehicles can access their daily needs; incentivize grocery stores and clothing stores to open businesses in these areas; and grow a sense of total community such that people from all over the city can participate in helping to bring these areas up to a more livable standard. We need intervention in the lives of at-risk teens, and support for families. We need a lot.

It’s difficult to overstate the importance of being able to trust people in your community. No child should be afraid to go to the park because of the threat of violence. They can't drive, and they are citizens just like the rest of us; we should build sidewalks and bike lanes with that in mind. Oklahoma City has so much potential, and I’d be very happy if it could be realized for everyone across the city, regardless of where they live, what their income is, and how old they are. 

I don't pretend to know how to solve all of the issues related to scary people, and I would love to hear from you about your ideas to improve conditions for children; maybe, together, we can make a difference.