Given the evolving mix of news stories in the Ocean State recently — with violent crime involving gangs and/or people with prior arrests, particularly for possession of illegal guns, stretching now from Providence to Newport — one could reasonably expect the trends to continue, with crime becoming an increasingly prominent subject of conversation.

With that in mind, note a finding from the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) on which Matthew Vadum reports for Epoch Times:

Violent crime went up in Mecklenburg and Wake counties after they abandoned the 287(g) program [which provides for training and cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency].

According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Mecklenburg County saw an increase in every category of violent crime —including murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault—from 2018 to 2019 after the new sheriff took office. The violent crime rate in the county rose to 688.1 per 100,000 persons in 2019 from 612.3 per 100,000 persons in 2018, the NCSBI reported.

While Wake County didn’t experience a jump in every violent crime category, it did see an increase in overall violent crime between 2018 and 2019. NCSBI figures show the violent crime rate in the county rose to 250.0 per 100,000 persons in 2019 from 244.2 per 100,000 persons in 2018.

“If the goal is to make communities safer, canceling 287(g) agreements is one of the worst things elected leaders can do,” said Dale Wilcox, IRLI’s executive director and general counsel.

Rhode Island (it should surprise nobody to learn) doesn’t have a single law enforcement agency on ICE’s list of participants in the 287(g) program.

For whatever reason — perhaps its small, close-knit nature — the Ocean State has been fortunate to count low crime and high safety among its many assets.  Given how poorly our state and local governments do with most basic services (pick your favorite, but roads and bridges are an obvious example), that probably isn’t a function of effective policy, but of something else.

If that something else continues to evaporate, we’ll need stronger policy, but given the politics of the state, these days, such a thing does not seem likely.

Featured image by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash.