Crime is not a Flint Hill problem. If vehicle break-ins in the Old West End, shootings on Johnson Street and shoplifting at Wal-Mart aren’t enough to convince you, the slaying of Betty Carey at her home in the Parham Road area over the weekend should be.
But Flint Hill does have a crime problem. That means the Henderson Police Department has a problem in Flint Hill.
It’s a problem complicated by the involvement of various outside community activists who have Flint Hill’s best interests at heart but disagree about what to do.
Take the examples of the Vance County Coalition Against Violence and the Rev. C.J. Dale.
On Monday night, Dale told the City Council about a confrontation he had with a police officer just off Flint Street during a drive through Flint Hill between 6:45 and 7 p.m. Wednesday. His conclusion from the event: The police are coming down far too hard on Flint Hill and its largely minority population and should spend more time patrolling Dabney Drive and the posh area around the Henderson Country Club.
On Thursday night, Cliff Rogers told fellow members of the Coalition Against Violence about an incident he saw on Flint Street during a drive through Flint Hill about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday. Rogers said he had to stop on Flint by Greater Little Zion Holy Church because of a drug deal between a pedestrian and a car in front of him. The conclusion of coalition leaders such as Marolyn Rasheed: The police have to find a way to increase their patrols and their presence in Flint Hill.
Two incidents in almost the same spot no more than 30 minutes apart, and they result in completely opposite conclusions about what the police should do.
We don’t have the answer. We just know we don’t envy Police Chief Glen Allen, the coalition, Dale or anyone else who wants to make Henderson a better place but has to find a way to make the highest goals fit the roughest realities every day.