"I started getting calls from all over the country, all over the world really, after ABC broadcast their story," Thompson said.
That was in February. The TV folks had learned that the Phoenix Police Department had a special unit to deal with what has become a near constant stream of ransom kidnappings linked to drug-smuggling and human-smuggling gangs out of Mexico. The department let a news crew monitor their operation. In the subsequent ABC report, Phoenix is described as "the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City."
The label stuck. And not just with outsiders. Politicians looking to push an anti-illegal-immigrant agenda have jumped on the phrase. State Sen. Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, for instance, wrote a guest column for The Arizona Republic in which he said: "Phoenix runs second in the world in kidnappings and third in the United States for violence . . . "
I've left word with Pearce asking where he got his statistics but he hasn't gotten back to me.
Perhaps because violent crimes (murder, rape, assaults) are down in Phoenix.
As for the kidnapping claim, once something like that becomes part of the national lexicon there is no going back, particularly when the label reflects both reality and myth.
Sgt. Thompson puts it this way, "Does anyone know how many kidnappings there are in Bogotá? In Mogadishu? In Baghdad?"
For that matter, does anyone know how many there are in Los Angeles? In San Diego? In Houston? Or other big cities in border states?
"We (in Phoenix) recognized that we have a problem and we are doing something about it," Thompson said. "We're also not afraid to talk about it. A lot of people are."
Phoenix is upfront about the roughly 370 kidnappings each year linked to criminal smuggling gangs. Other cities may not keep track of the problem in the same way or may simply avoid speaking about it publicly.
Read more:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarep.../07/11/20090711Montini0712.html#ixzz0o7YND7xU
