Gun Violence on the Rise in Tampa

Originally written for class (Fall 2015)    

  Playing a pickup game of basketball shouldn’t be dangerous. Neither should leaving a grocery store nor eating at a restaurant nor walking home. These are activities we do everyday without much thought, but they have been deadly for some Tampa residents.

      Over the past several years, overall violent crime rates have declined both in U.S. and in Tampa. Violent crimes have shown a 14.5 percent decrease from 2004 to 2013 nationwide, as reported by the FBI. However, gun-related violence in Tampa is growing.

From January to June of 2014, all gun-related incidents numbered 320. This year in that same window, there have been 443 of these crimes, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office website. Much of this violence took place in settings like those mentioned above.

            Shootings, specifically, in first few months of 2015 doubled that of the same time frame in 2014, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office website. As of Independence Day, the total number of homicides this year (most of which involved guns) had reached 21, as reported by The Tampa Tribune. That’s only one short of the 2014 total, just past the halfway mark of the year. The uptick in numbers is startling given that The Tampa Tribune reports a nearly full two percent decrease in crime overall in the city.

            The rise of gun-related violent crime is not because of fewer police officers on the job in Tampa. In fact, the number of police employed in Tampa has been consistently above the Florida average per capita since 2001. The Tampa crime rate has also been consistently above the U.S. national average during the same time period, according to a 2013 report by City Data.

            So what is causing gun-related-homicides and shootings to escalate this year? Tampa Bay Times crime and law enforcement staff writer Dan Sullivan thinks there are many contributing factors. “While each case is different, there have been a few commonalities to the violence. Most of those killed have been young African-American men. The local police have been somewhat hesitant to say it, but I think a lot of the killings have been gang-related,” Sullivan stated. The Tampa Police Department did not respond for comment on this phenomenon.

            Sullivan also believes that some of the violence is a direct result of the racial turmoil in communities like Ferguson, Mo. and Baltimore, Md. These events appear to have triggered a kill-or-be-killed mentality in many U.S. communities that may have arrived in Tampa with 2015.

            “I think the attention those cases received, and the sense of injustice that many felt from them, stoked a feeling of distrust toward authority [police in particular]. And that, in turn, has contributed to a degree of lawlessness in some communities,” Sullivan surmised.

This year has also been a banner year for stolen firearms, and guns that can't be traced to a suspect only increase the problem as they spread throughout the city. Halfway through this year, the Tampa Police Department had recorded 177 stolen firearms. That is nearly 40 more than the first six months of 2014, according to The Tampa Tribune.

            With the swell of gun-related violence, it makes one wonder if University of Tampa students are at risk. University of Tampa student and criminal justice major, Brianna Jones remains unfazed by the gun-related incidents in the city. “It really doesn’t worry me much because I recognize that Tampa is growing more and more every year and with a bigger city comes different rates of crime,” Jones explained. This idea that crime increases with population growth per capita is a supported theory put forth by criminology researcher John Braithwaite in the mid-1970s

            The university also has methods in place to maintain a safe environment on campus. “Campus Safety works with local law enforcement, continuously patrols campus, and tries to engage every person here to let them know if they see something that doesn't seem quite right,” UT Vice President for Operations and Planning Linda Devine explained. This seems to be working on campus based on the statistics reported on the UT website. In 2012 there were five illegal weapons referrals, but the number dropped to three in the following year. Other types of crimes, excluding drug and alcohol offenses, have either declined or held steady on campus.

Another UT student, biology major Wesley Schweiger, shares a perspective similar to that of Jones. “I’m always a little more cautious,” Schweiger said. “But, I feel safer on campus, with campus security.”

To supplement Campus Safety’s physical presence, the university also implements an electronic alert system, including text messages, emails, voicemail and social media to warn students of potential dangers. Schweiger finds these notifications helpful as it makes him feel safer to know when and where crimes are happening.

“Here on a college campus, it’s safer. It’s not a hotspot area and there’s campus safety that are armed themselves. We do a very good job of keeping people that aren’t supposed to be on campus off of campus,” Jones said.

Despite Campus Safety’s efforts to keep our tiny community within Tampa protected, Devine maintains that this is not solely their responsibility. “It is impossible to "seal" a porous environment like a college campus,” Devine stated. “We all need to take ownership to make this as safe an environment as possible.”

By remaining alert and reporting on suspicious activities, Tampa residents become a cluster of unintentional neighborhood watch groups that can help prevent crime. Community involvement with police is increasingly difficult to come by, however, and the challenge to find individuals willing to speak to police only amplifies after a crime is on the books.

“In many cases, investigators have had trouble making arrests because witnesses refuse to talk,” Sullivan said.

It’s not just witnesses that refuse to talk. Program Manager for the Hillsborough County Victim Assistance Program Curtis Baughman says that victims aren’t often forthcoming with information either. “The single most challenging factor of advocating for gun-related victims is soliciting their cooperation in the prosecution of cases,” Baughman said in an email. “Most often this arises because victims in gun-related crimes struggle with fear, anxiety and depression.”

Tampa Police Chief, and UT alumna, Jane Castor has issued several statements this year asking for the public to come forward with information regarding crimes in the city.

Without witnesses, police must rely only on hard evidence. And there is rarely enough. Several of the fatal incidents this year, including those of 16-year-old Jamylin Turner and 44-year-old Bryant Murray, were drive-by shootings in Tampa Heights and West Tampa respectively. In a drive-by scenario without willing witnesses, it is difficult for police to recover much more than evidence that leads back to the (often stolen) weapon.

            Dr. Sorle Diih, a 22-year NYPD veteran and UT law enforcement and criminology professor, says that this is not something that the police should attempt to accomplish alone. Rather, the police department needs to collaborate to tackle root causes such as familial deterioration, social institutions and public health.

Diih remains positive despite the immense undertaking this would require. “I think something can be done. Researchers, practitioners, committee members and leaders need to come together. The academia should be involved. People need to take a more objective look at what is happening, accept the challenges that we have and then implement tested strategies that have worked around the country.”

Without intervention, gun-related violent crime will increase and make residents feel progressively less safe, according to Diih. “If nothing changes and the trend holds, we will continue to see a spike in gun-related violence,” Diih explained. If everything stays as is, gun-related violence will make our daily activities more dangerous.

“I’m used to a small town where at night I would go ride my bike and not really worry about having any issues with that,” Jones said. “But, in Tampa, I won’t go.”