The New Yorkers

      This story is submitted as an ironic play on perception of crime. It takes place in 1984. People believe crime is so prevalent in the northeast big cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. In the mid nineteen eighties Fort Worth, Texas had the highest crime rate in the country. The odds on something happening to you in Fort Worth were higher than any other major city. I was working for the Fort Worth Police department and beginning the evening shift. I called the dispatcher to say I was ready to take calls.

      She called back immediately, “Frank two fifteen (designated F-215) copy call. An armed robbery at sixteen hundred Commerce Street in progress at the Hilton Hotel.”

      This normally would be a two officer call but there weren’t enough officers, so as with many calls we made, I went by myself. This was due to the high crime rate and officer shortage. I was leaving the police sector north of downtown and proceeded at a high rate of speed. It was coming up on three o’clock in the afternoon. Not many robberies happened that time of day.

      I pulled up in front of the Hilton Hotel. There was no one there. I went around the back of the Hilton. There was a man hugging a woman as she was crying. They were a handsome couple, maybe in their late twenties. They were well dressed and appeared to be upper class people. I approached, “Did you call the police?”

      The man said, “Yes, we’ve been mugged.”

       I knew they were from out of town because no one says mugged in Texas. The man continued to hug her as she wept. I asked what happened.

       The guy said, “We’re from New York city. We got to the hotel and wanted to get something to eat. They said there’s a steak house a block up the street. We came out and a guy pulled a knife on us. He demanded all our money. I gave him my wallet. It had four hundred dollars in it. He then demanded our rings.”

       The woman said, “He took my wedding ring with the diamond in it.”

       I was trying to comfort them, “I’m sorry. Which way did he run?”

       The man pointed east through the railroad yards and towards the Butler housing projects.

       I just lowered my head, “Yes sir. I’m sorry about this. “

       The guy told me, “You know, we’ve both lived in New York city our whole lives and have never been mugged. We’re here in Fort Worth for less than an hour and we get mugged.” I then had a new respect for the term mugged.

       I wanted to say welcome to Fort Worth, but I didn’t. I continued to apologize and tried to comfort them. I filed the proper reports, and it went to the detectives. Nothing ever came of it. When I started at the Fort Worth Police Department the city motto was, “Where the West Begins.” By the mid nineteen eighties the motto was, “The Wild Wild West.”