Defdave

Defdave t1_je82iay wrote

I've lived in big cities and small towns. Over my last 20 years of living in Springfield it has DEFINITELY gotten worse here in many ways, especially just over the last 10 years. If you are going to live in one of the surrounding towns, that is for the best. It used to be that the north side of Springfield was the "bad part" of town, but now it's even on the southside where I now live. We are looking to get out of here as soon as possible.

**Springfield police chief says gun violence is 'our No. 1 problem'**Dressed in a gray suit as he spoke to City Council in August, Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams broke down various categories of crime.He pointed to decreases in overall crime compared to 2021, including in the categories of burglary and shoplifting. Much of the chief's presentation had a positive tone until he pivoted to an issue that continues to be a major concern for his department."Having said all of that, I am going to point to what continues to be our No. 1 problem: gun violence," Williams said. "The number of shots fired calls continues to go up. Our shots fired calls are already more than we had for all of 2019."

There were 227 shots fired calls in all of 2019. The total spiked to to 337 in 2020, and 294 in 2021. The total for the first two-thirds of 2022 was already at 261.

"Those are not good numbers, and that's the one thing that continues to increase," Williams said. "The amount of gun fire and the amount of folks getting hurt is increasing."

"I was born and raised here, and it wasn't nearly this bad growing up," said Cavin Loderhose, whose brother, Colin Loderhose, was shot and killed this summer confronting a suspected thief inside his store, Anchor Tactical Supply."You would hear about these kinds of things here and there, but not like it has been."Springfield police chief says gun violence is 'our No. 1 problem'

Here are some statistics:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-city-rankings/most-violent-cities-in-america

https://www.safewise.com/blog/most-dangerous-cities/

https://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Springfield-Missouri.html

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/mo/springfield/crime#:~:text=With%20a%20crime%20rate%20of,here%20is%20one%20in%2012.

https://crimegrade.org/safest-places-in-springfield-mo/

https://realestate.usnews.com/places/missouri/springfield/crime

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2022/10/03/shootings-springfield-mo-crime-arent-slowing-down/69524635007/

Springfield is also statistically the poorest city in Missouri and tragically has high rates of depression and suicide:

https://www.ky3.com/2022/12/06/based-household-income-home-values-springfield-is-poorest-city-missouri/

https://www.ky3.com/2022/09/09/springfield-suicide-rates-are-higher-than-region-state-national-averages/

http://ozarkshealthcommission.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/CHNA-Final-Springfield-2022.pdf

BUT...at least there is a church on just about every corner here. That makes it a lot better, right? I mean most of them are doing the Lord's work in this town, aren't they? It seems like every day I'm seeing teams from 2nd Baptist and James River megachurches out there helping the needy and inspiring hope! Right guys?

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