30648: Durban (comment): Re 30613 Forrest and 30588 Kathleen on Security (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

I can only agree that security anywhere is a personal matter and that
if someone feels insecure it is difficult to change his/her perception.
 However, most people in Haiti would concur that security has greatly
decreased as an area of concern in the past 12 months.

Speaking of security, I am on vacation in Washington D.C. where my
brother (who keeps track of such things) noted that there have been 86
or 87 murders in D.C. so far this year and that police have apprehended
only 25 of the perpetrators.  Unless there is a serial killer in our
nation's capital, that would mean there are about 60 unapprehended,
recent murderers in our nation's capital right now!  My brother, who
lives in a reasonably nice neighborhood, does not even take a walk
around the block after dark.  Moreover, he notes that a fair number of
the D.C. victims were not even directly targeted... they just happened
to be standing in the wrong place.  My guess is that Port-au-Prince has
seen far fewer murders in the same 6 month period, although perhaps
some MINUSTAH member of this list could dig up the comparable figure
for us.

Lance Durban