In August 2005, two drug-related murders, occurring within five days of each other, shocked Bremerton’s downtown core.
A few of us at the Kitsap Sun got to thinking about Bremerton’s crime problems and what violent incidents, such as the two shooting deaths, mean to a city devoted to revitalizing its downtown, cleaning up its image, rebuilding its schools and bolstering its economic health.
We uncovered some startling statistics: for its size, Bremerton leads the state in violent crimes. The city went from 3.8 incidents per thousand population a year in 1994 to over 11 incidents in the past few years.
We also came to another realization: that by and large, Bremerton’s residents feel safe here, even knowing that fact.
So what gives?
In a two-part series starting Sunday (March 12) and continuing the following Sunday (March 19), we’ll examine Bremerton’s violent crime, first by breaking it down into its contributing factors, and then by examining how it affects the average resident here — and what they’re doing about it.
In the next week, most of my entries will be related to this topic, and denoted with a “VC” before each one.
Feel free to give your thoughts on Bremerton’s violent crime, or to just comment on the stories.
