Let me tell you a true story about a woman we'll call Linda.
Many years ago, Linda worked in a suburb of Charlotte. Instead of using public transportation, which she felt unsafe on, Linda commuted to and from work every day while she worked downtown, parking so she could walk to her destination with groups of other people heading in the same direction so she didn't have to walk alone.
One day, Linda's friends, who also worked downtown but at a different company a few blocks away, invited her to have lunch with them. Although Linda didn't mind walking, it would take a long time to get from point A to point B. So her friends suggested she take the trolley, which had a short run before the light rail system began to figure prominently in Charlotte's transportation system.
So Linda grabbed her bag, where she of course kept her cell phone, wallet, keys and other essentials, and hopped into the cart for the first time, looking forward to the new experience and thinking it would be a piece of cake.
This is wrong. Soon after Linda boarded the trolleybus, a group of four guys jumped on. And they went to Linda. Three of them were sitting in nearby seats, one of them was sitting next to Linda, looking at her and her bag. She said he hit her in the side several times and talked about how “rich” she must be with such a nice bag and clothes.
This went on for several minutes and Linda was terrified. She looked around to see if anyone else was paying attention, but they were engrossed in their cell phones or books. She didn't know if the man near her had a weapon, such as a knife, and because of this, she was afraid to speak up and ask for help, fearing she might provoke the man to use a weapon she feared he might have.
When the trolleybus pulled up to Linda's stop, she clutched her bag tightly and got out of the car. The guys followed her. But fortunately, there were several police officers standing on the corner near where the trolley bus stopped, and Linda immediately approached one of them and said that she felt unsafe.
When the officer asked her what made her feel unsafe, Linda simply replied that it was some guys on the trolley who walked away when she got closer to the officer. She wanted the incident behind her and didn't want to see them again.
There are many more “almost victims” like Linda whose stories never make it into crime statistics, either because the crime technically wasn't committed or for one reason or another they were too scared to report it. We heard many of them after the August knife murder Irina Zarutskaya, with opening gateways for people who came forward to share his scary experiences working in Charlotte's transit system.
This is one of the main reasons why when I hear stories about crime supposedly “getting worse” in blue cities like Charlotte, I don't immediately believe it. I'm concerned about disguised or falsified numbers, and I also consider the undeniable presence of fear in communities, a sense of unsafeness due to things you've heard about on places like NextDoor or what you've seen with your own eyes through Ring cameras.
CONNECTED: Report Quoting DC Residents on Crime Incidentally Highlights Why People Feel So Unsafe
The left doesn't want to hear the voices of near-victims because perhaps, like actual hard crime statistics, they will help completely destroy the narrative that The Usual Suspects is trying to push that blue cities are safer than they appear. The voices of victims' loved ones like Linda matter and should always be included in debates about crime, safety and the restoration of law and order.
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