A story that we reported on October 9, a couple of days after a young mother was shot to death in Fuquay Varina, drew critical responses from many who say they are advocates for victims of domestic violence.

The story was written after a question was raised about whether the victim, Jammie Shantel Street, had sought law enforcement help to fight abuse from the man who is now charged with killing her. 
And if she had sought help, was the police response adequate? We found that she had let a protective order lapse, had stayed silent on an occasion when he could have faced jail for assault and had signed a statement saying that she was not afraid of him.

After raising the question, we were obligated to report what we found. The story also reported that Ms. Street had separated from Daniel Jerome Montgomery, the man now charged with killing her,  and that the separation was followed by threats against Ms. Street in the weeks before she died. 

For reporting these facts, the N&O has been accused of blaming Ms. Street for her death. Our story made no judgments. There can be honest disagreements over how much more we should have included in that one story--the second of three related to Ms. Street's death--but the assertion of a writer of a letter  to the editor on Friday that the paper has "continued a long trend of blaming women for domestic violence, shifting focus away from perpetrators" is utterly without any factual basis.

The N&O has reported aggressively on domestic violence for a decade and our efforts contributed to significant legal protections for victims and potential victims.

A 2003 investigation by N&O reporters Andrea Weigl and Angela Heywood Bible showed that this state lagged in prosecuting domestic assaults that tended to lead to homicides. The investigation noted that even when charged, few perpetrators were jailed.

Several other stories followed that series. Additionally, N&O columnist Ruth Sheehan has written repeatedly about the complexities of fighting domestic violence, including the many challenges of women in abusive relationships. She has been diligent bringing attention to resources for victims in this community.

Linda Williams

Senior Editor/News

Quick. Which city has a higher rate of property crime? Durham or Salt Lake City, Utah?

If you picked the Bull City, pick again. A new survey comparing similar cities in the Southeast and across the United States found Durham in the middle of the pack. Durham was just below average on property crime across the SE and just above on violent crime. Durham was well below average on both violent and property crime when compared nationally.

Still the misperception lingers. Reyn Bowman of the Convention & Visitors Bureau says we bring it on ourselves and it's time to stop. "Durham bashing gives the entire region a black eye," he says.

A while back I searched on "Durham" in our newspaper archives. The preponderance of hits were about crime. Many of the incidents were not unique to Durham. But the way we structured our reporting beats and an increased emphasis on getting breaking news online was producing a lot of short hits about violence, much of it in East Durham and a few miles from downtown. Over time, I wonder if this even hurt circulation, as readers turned away from coverage that didn't reflect their daily reality.

We have violent crime here and we need to report it. But responding to every standoff and traffic snarl-up no longer makes sense. In a smaller newsroom, with one edition of the N&O instead of four (each serving a different area), those reports are no longer getting in. Today, we have to do more explanatory reporting, to expand our focus  from arrest to root causes of crime. We have to look at systems -- and the N&O probation series set a standard -- and see where they are breaking down.

Public safety reporter Stan Chambers and I have begun talking about restructuring his beat to take in issues of poverty, substance abuse, and other root causes of crime. This week he's also filled in on the courts beat, where his reporting has typically left off, while a senior reporter is on vacation.

We've been talking too with community organizers. Yesterday I met with Newman Aguiar for an overview of the various agencies, from the PACs to the Crime Cabinet, that work on these issues. In The Durham News we also are providing space once a month for the Police Department and Project Safe Neigborhoods to inform readers what they are doing to get more people involved in the fight against crime.

If you have suggestions for us -- issues to cover, people to meet and profile -- please let us know. Send your thoughts to editor@nando.com      

Investigators are looking for information on two April 12 robberies on the 600 block of Cecil Street.

The first happened at 10:40 p.m. when a man with a gun entered a house through an unlocked door and robbed two people of a laptop, two cell phones and cash.

Two minutes later, a Domino's Pizza delivery man, who had pulled into the driveway of the home, was approached by a man with a gun. The man demanded money from the delivery person before fleeing on foot.

The suspect in both cases is described as a black male with a light to medium complexion, 18 to 21 years old, 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall with a medium build. He was clean shaven and had two-inch twists or braids in his hair. He was wearing dark denim jeans, a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt and a navy or black baseball hat. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Inv. A.M. Sterling at (919) 560-4415 ext. 29303 or CrimeStoppers, which pays cash for anonymous tips leading to arrest in felony cases, at (919) 683-1200. 

Crime overall was down in Durham in the first two months of 2009, compared with the same period a year before.

Violent crime — murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — was down 36 percent, Police Chief Jose Lopez reported to the City Council work session Thursday. Property crime was down 1 percent despite a 9 percent increase in burglaries: from 443 in 2008 to 483 this year.

The drop in violent crime was led by a decrease in murder — from three to one — and robbery — from 181 to 99. A spate of robberies in early 2008 had kept the city’s crime rate up, compared with 2007, even as violent crime in other forms went down.

“We have worked hard to identify suspects in multiple robberies,” Lopez said. “We believe this has helped reduce our violent crime rate."

Lopez also pointed out that officers interrupted two armed home invasions in January, and two arrests led to a “significant” drop in car break-ins in the Brightleaf Square area.

'”That's certainly the type of trend we're looking for,” said Mayor Bill Bell. “Whatever you're doing, keep it up."

"In N.C., death penalty gets rarer."

That headline in the morning paper might be surprising given that public support of the death penalty remains high. A Gallop Poll conducted as recently as October showed 64 percent of Americans in favor of executing people convicted of murder. But that was down from 69 percent a year earlier and other polls show the percentage in favor of putting murderers to death falls far below 50 percent when the alternative of life without parole is presented.

The overall support for death penalty has been clashing in recent years with substantial discomfort with the way it has been carried out and a growing number of obstacles to actually putting people to death. Staff Writer Dan Kane, who examined decisions by prosecutors and trial results from around the state, explains why just one person has been sentenced to death in North Carolina this year.

No one has been executed here since August 2006. 

Linda Williams 

Hundreds die while state officials ignore problems with the probation system in North Carolina. See video from the investigative series, Losing ... more

A 16-year-old was arrested and charged Saturday with
burglarizing his ex-girlfriend’s home on Forsyth Drive and stealing her two pitbull puppies.

Police say Steven Lamar Brown drove up to the drive-through window where 18-year-old Sharmaine Hill was working and showed her that he had the puppies.

Brown apparently entered Hill's house some time between 7 and 11 p.m. Saturday while her mother was asleep and took the puppies from Hill's bedroom, according to Chapel Hill Police Lt. Kevin Gunter.

A drunken panhandler threatened to kill a man who had come out of a business on Franklin Street and asked him to move along Saturday night.

Fifty-year-old Miguel Barrada was arrested and charged with assault with a death weapon after the victim told police Barrada had pulled a knife on him.

“The individual was intoxicated and panhandling,” said Chapel Hill Police Lt. Kevin Gunter.

Last week, OrangeChat reported an Obama campaign sign stolen from a front yard in Carrboro. Political campaign signs are going missing all over the Triangle, the state and, indeed, all over the country. And it's not limited to signs promoting presidential candidates Obama and McCain. On Tuesday Kevin Wolff, who has twice run for mayor of Chapel Hill and is now running for a seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners, reported some of his signs stolen from the corner of Highway 54 and Barbee Chapel Road near Meadowmont.

A small white car drove up to a home on Westview Drive late Monday night. Someone got out and stole a Barack Obama campaign sign from the yard and fled west on West Main Street. The victim said the vehicle had a loud muffler. "I checked the area but did not locate the suspect vehicle," wrote Officer D. Strowd in a report.