Crime Hype

For police officers and judges, dishonesty is a firing offense.

Without integrity, none would trust them.

So why are these law enforcement officials lying to hype crime?

Eugeneâ€™s acting Police Chief Pete Kerns and a gaggle of local judges have declared that the area suffers from a crime wave of apocalyptic proportions. The local mainstream media has repeated their crime claims without question, causing much confusion.

Here are the documented facts:

According to the FBI, Eugeneâ€™s violent crime rate has fallen 53 percent and its property crime rate has fallen 43 percent since 1997. Hereâ€™s the data table from the U.S. Department of Justiceâ€™s official online database:

Using the same DOJ database, out of 398 cities with more than 100,000 people, Eugene ranks 280th for violent crime rate and 90th for property crime rate.

Congressional Quarterly ranked 385 cities based on overall crime rate using FBI data. Eugene ranked 224th highest:

So why are they hyping crime? Well, the police have been pushing for huge budget increases for more than a decade. The judges apparently listen more to the police than the evidence.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!