janesvillean, I appreciate your comments. I was born and raised here, worked in Beloit for many years and have connections with both LE departments as well as RCSD. My comment was regarding the numbers that are published for violent crimes, such as rape and weapons charges. I know for a fact that the numbers published are not representative of what has happened in Janesville. They only report the number of convictions, not arrests. That number is totally skewed when you realize that the DA office doesn't prosecute many cases that are presented. That doesn't mean that the crime didn't occur. To be fair, I do not know if that is the BPD policy, and those numbers would also be skewed, as the Rock County DA office oversees both cities...

Another obvious point is that with "the new Chief in town" more focus has been spent on certain types of crimes than others, in the realm of investigation. I appreciate Chief Mahan and am trying to show respect for his position. I think this is more of a political rather than a legal issue; however.

Its a sad statement of fact, But one guy uses the word "they" and everybody else jumps on his back accusing him of racism. You little sheep have swallowed the politically correct B.S. hook line and sinker so bad that you look for racism where none exists. It would be really funny to see what the ethnic make-up of the victims and perps are, as localboys' comment could only be racist if they were not white. If they are minorities, what does it say about your own racism? The racist accusation does nothing but show your own prejudices, as you had to assume the perps and victims were minorities in order to make the racism allegations. Everybody feel better about themselves now? You still haven't changed a thing. To further demonstrate the lack of any clear thought on most of you people's part, yeah I called yo "you people", I would like to point out the large degree of outrage here oyer an assumed racist comment, and the glaring lack of outrage over people getting shot on our streets.

Janesville is tame compared to Beloit, I grew up around the corner from the keeler store. The single largest issue is that a majority of the homes are owned by a handful of landlords and continuously rent them out to anyone able to make rent.

I honestly don't think Janesville people even know what a drug house is, in short you don't see traffic. Why you think that 8 lb. bust was the largest janesville ever had? Its a lot easier to move every few months with a large Uhaul/Ryder.

JPD is "hiding" crime?
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I don't know where you live, ms_sassy, but within one block of my house (where I grew up), we had one shots fired incident a year from 2004-2006. The first two were directly related to brazen drug dealing from a neighboring apartment building. The third was two groups randomly meeting at our intersection at 1am. In 2007 we had drug dealing and fighting and pit bulls right across the street from us. This year it's been incredibly quiet, and I give full credit to the police for acting on the problems.
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The neighborhood keeps track of the drug houses we see and more or less how quickly they get shut down. It used to be that we would have to complain for months to get any action, and now we see them rolling up the drug houses sometimes before we even know about them.
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I hope this has a deterrent effect and the criminal gangs in Milwaukee and Chicago and Rockford are hearing that they shouldn't send people down here to even try setting up shop.
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But I don't see where this "hiding" is. I urge you to go meet with Chief Mahan yourself and discuss these problems with him. That's a great thing we have in Janesville -- a chief that will open his door to citizens. If you have specific complaints that are within his power to rectify, he will respond.

I will have to concur with coffeeman and sarahb. Beloit Police Dept. is doing a fine job of responding to the crime, whereas Janesville Police Dept. has been kind of "hiding", if you will, the reality of crime here. By hiding, I mean, they are putting on the appearance of trying to solve crimes that have been plaguing this city (yes, the serial rapist, for one, was successful, it appears), but they are spending more time doing routine traffic stops on a "mission" to find something, rather than following up on violent crimes. These are, of course, only my opinions on what I have observed over the last couple of years.

NVgrf....what is it that caused the bitterness that so often shows through in your posts?
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Was all those years of teaching in the Janesville school system?

nvgrf...why bring race into it? are you just baiting people?

I always wonder why I moved back to Janesville. I think I should move back to Beloit where I lived for over 15 years. I never grew up in either community, but after spending 12 years in Janesville and 15 in Beloit, I easily choose Beloit. VERY friendly people. Has Janesville ever heard of 4th Ward? Every community has its bad spots including Janesville. Like one police office from Beloit said, both cities have crime, Janesville just tries to cover its up and Beloit is trying to do something about it. Same goes for the situation with GM. Beloit lost MANY more employees to Beloit Corporation, Fairbanks, and Pate Foods. We did not dry up and become a ghost town. The city did something about it and it is a very pretty city, especially the downtown. Our taxes did NOT go up as some speculate will happen in Janesville. Beloit is the "gateway" to Wisconsin and they are doing a great job of making it so. Enough said.

Instead of continually bashing Beloit, I think we in Janesville need to take off our rose-colored glasses and take a real look at what's happened to several areas of our city. I drive through this particular Beloit neighborhood twice weekly to pick up a work peer. I have encountered no problems and praise Beloit and its residents for cleaning up the area. Many of the older, ill-kept homes were razed while others have been brought back to life. I wish we in Janesville could show the same effort has been made here. I am serious, Janesville residents. Take a ride around and look at the homes --- many of those up for sale even look like trash. Let's clean up our own yards!

This area of Beloit should be treated as a CWD Zone.

NVgrf - That really has nothing to do with that. I'm not saying get rid of all the people in that area, I'm saying get rid of the one's that are causing the problems. I guess you have no problem with drug dealers and gang bangers? That's great for you but the thing is I do and pretty much the rest of the city does.

Zilgin........There is a section of Mein Kampf in reference to the Jews that is amazingly similar to what you just wrote.....seriously! You might want to pick up a copy on Amazon to help reinforce your values.
SIEG HEIL

Hmmm what about what's going on in Janesville? I'm really not that concerned with it. I don't live there, never have and never plan to. I can stick my nose wherever I choose to thanks! And for the record, in case you misread, I wasn't bashing Beloit. I was simply stating the obvious. That particlar part of town isn't exactly a picnic and is in desperate need of attention in many ways. That's great they are making improvements in that area but what about the upkeep? All those homes in that area were once new, in good shape and what happened to them? Yes, they might be old but it's not that hard to take care of something. And it's not even about the home improvements, it is the people that reside witin that area. Get rid of all the little thugs, drug dealers, and the rest of the ridiculous people and maybe that whole area would be nice. It could once again become an attractive area people would want to be in.

bjordan........Reread my postings. I grew up on Porter Avenue and attended Merrill School. I agree with you 100%. What did you think I said?

Zilgin, NVgrf

You say you never heard any good news come from that area. Which I think is because you like so many others focus on the negative news. I got some good things about that area for you...The Merrill Community Center or do you even know what that is? New houses are being built in the area everyday, so it must not be that bad.

And what do you mean about, "Look at the area and the crime that goes on around it," seriously, listen to yourself. I lived in Janesville for about 5 years only moving here to be closer to my job otherwise I would love to be back in Beloit. But anyways Janesville then had armed robbery's, a rapist that's still in the community and the convicted child molester that was found with rope, handcuffs and somemore other stuff and was on the run because he didn't have his residence registered with police dept. oh and by the way, we still don't know if the police found him yet. Thats what janesville people should be making comments about, instead of sticking ya noses in Beloit's problems. Actually in my opinion Beloit is up in rising.

Bellagiowannabe...Not interested in answering the question, huh?
MajorBobo......Owning one's own business and accumulating wealth is a very small measure of success in life. Wouldn't you agree? And by responding you are evidently one of the bigots I was referring to. Guilty conscience?

Just to interject some actual data, Janesville and Beloit have comparable property crime rates, around 5000 per 100,000 people, both significantly higher than the average for Wisconsin. Janesville has around 250 violent crimes per 100,000 people, about the same as the Wisconsin average. Beloit, however, has around 450 violent crimes per 100,000 people, nearly twice the state average. This has increased significantly in recent years as well. (The data cover 2001 to 2006.)
http://www.idcide.com/citydata/wi/janesv...
http://www.idcide.com/citydata/wi/beloit...
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In short, both cities have a crime problem, but Beloit has more violent crime than Janesville.

MajorMojo: Why do you always attack Beloit? This is a definite pattern for you and makes me wonder about resentment. Also, wealth is a pretty poor way to measure success in life. As for others with negative comments about Beloit, you've probably never even driven through the area where these shootings took place. It is not as bleak as you picture and improvements continue. Beloit is on the upswing after very rough times. Unfortunately, many communities in the surrounding area are just starting to see what happens when manufacturers shut down or lay off thousands of workers.

MajorMojo I have owned my own business and achieved a great deal of wealth and retired at a very young age, *********You forget i (no) u you don't have wealth and have not retired so just drop it .

localboy........Would the "they" you refer to be in regards to any specific racial or ethnic group?
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Someone ALWAYS tries to accuse others of racism. Maybe it referred to Beliot. Keep your racist comments to yourself!

Again, MajorMojo sticks out his head from his hole built on great wealth everytime a crime occurs in Beloit. But don't question him, he claims he has statistics to back his self-righteous attitude. I love Beloit. And Janesville is just fine too. Why do you feel the need to denegrate entire communities when 5 percent of the community are troublemakers...maximum?

You say it's where you grew up, and when was that? It's now 2008 and I can tell you lots of areas where people grew up in have changed dramatically. And that's fantastic for you that you've done well in life because many don't. I'm just saying look at the facts. I don't care what color someone is or anything else I'm just saying look at the area and look at the activity that goes on.

Hey NVgirl, I would absolutely LOVE to compare resume's. I have owned my own business and achieved a great deal of wealth and retired at a very young age, all without going to your "prized" hood of beloit.

NVgrl, nope, I was born and raised in Evansville. WHy do you ask?

"I don't think I've ever once heard any good news come out of that area"
I grew up in the 1500 block of Porter Avenue and have done pretty well in life. If you self-righteous bigots want to compare resumes, let me know.

That whole area is where the majority of the problems are. I don't think I've ever once heard any good news come out of that area. That is where most of the drugs, shootings and gang activity occur. I'm not saying it doesn't happen anywhere else but it seems to me as well as many others that's where it usually happens.

Hey Bellagio...don't tell me...you were born and raised in Janesville!?

zilgin, why is that? I am not from Beliot (thank God)and I am not familiar with those areas.

I know exactly what they mean by "they". I have been a long time resident of Beloit and anyone who knows the area could easily know what is being said. There is a whole area.. Nelson.. Keeler, Randall, Porter. It's the problem area as you might call it. You don't see any reports of shootings on Bootmaker Drive or Cleveland do you? Enough said.

I would assume "they" could also be referred to as the "idiots" that are mentioned, right?

This summer is going to be a fun one..... Not yet june and already idiots shooting at each other. I think the police department is going to be quite busy the next few months.

Of course people are surprised by this! Beliot isnt the best city in the world to live in but its not Chicago or Atlanta or LA. Its Beliot WI and what do you mean "they" are shooting themselves? What kind of racist comment is that?

localboy........Would the "they" you refer to be in regards to any specific racial or ethnic group?

All is well, as they are just shooting themselves.

is anyone really surprised by this??