When Jessica Slack of Lonoke got an e-mail in August advising her to stay away from Little Rock's River Market because of recent carjackings there, she did just that.
"I did not go downtown much anyway, I just wanted to let everyone else know what was going on," said Slack, who got the e-mail from a friend and passed it on to others.
She was one of potentially thousands of people who received the message, which claimed four people had been assaulted, robbed and some even shot in the River Market in a four week span this summer. Little Rock police later refuted that claim in an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article and said there were two attacks, not four. The day after the e-mail went out, two North Little Rock teens were arrested in connection with the incidents and they have since pleaded innocent.
But reactions like Slack's reiterated the impression that downtown Little Rock is a dangerous place, an impression held by some who assume the suburbs more serene than the city or a lasting memory of those who recall a time when much-publicized gang violence was a problem for the city more than a decade ago.
Yet ironically, the numbers say the downtown area was safer in the summer of 2007 than it was the year before. The Downtown Patrol Division of the Little Rock Police Department, which actually extends west nearly to University Avenue and no farther south then 34th Street (west of Interstate 30), reported 288 violent crimes in July, August and September this year - down from 436 in the same period last year. Violent crime includes homicide, rape, robbery and the category of sharpest decline, aggravated assault, down by nearly 50 percent from 318 incidents in 2006 to 170 this year. According to more detailed information provided by the police department, only 10 of those aggravated assaults occurred in the immediate downtown area, or the area around the River Market.
"We have been working hard to get that number down, because aggravated assaults are directly related to homicides," said Lt. Terry Hastings with the Little Rock Police Department.
"Last year our homicides were up, and we've been working hard to get those numbers down."
Still, to provide some perspective, even though incidents are down in downtown, the division's numbers are still higher for violent crime than elsewhere in the city. The 288 incidents are more than were reported in the Northwest Patrol Division (209) or the Southwest Patrol Division (244) this summer.
The same does not hold true for property crimes like burglary, larceny, and auto theft, however. While the number of such crimes in downtown is again down overall from last year - 1,553 compared to 1,626 - the Northwest Division ranks higher this year with 1,760 incidents. The Southwest division recorded the fewest property crime reports this summer at 1,312.
Putting those totals together, it disproves the notion that downtown has the highest crime rate in the city. The nearly 1,850 combined violent and property crimes recorded by the division this summer ranks second behind the Northwest Division, which had a count of 1,969, but ahead of the Southwest Division, which recorded some 1,556 similar incidents.
Still, for many people, perception is reality.
Tracy Rivers, who has called downtown home for seven years, emphasized that the benefits of urban living outweigh the drawbacks, but did acknowledge that she's mindful of crime, perhaps even more so than those who live elsewhere in the city.
"You have to keep your guard up," she said. "You have to protect yourself a little bit more."
But it's also a matter of perspective, she noted. Having lived in other large metropolitan areas, including Memphis, she said she's not as likely to be shocked by a car break in as someone who has always lived in a smaller, suburban community. Still, she said, it's an "odd feeling" watching the news and seeing a report about a shooting within a few blocks - and as much has happened in her time in the city.
For others, the odd feelings linger even as they venture back to the heart of the city, as Slack did on a recent weekend to attend a wedding reception. Staying at the Peabody Hotel and riding with friends, she said they didn't worry about being carjacked, but said the incidents were still cause for alarm, even if the e-mail everyone got was inaccurate.
"It did bother me," she said. "I don't care if it happened one time or ten times it is still scary to think about."