Nation holds breath as exactly two people fear Birmingham crime 'wave'

You may have recently noticed that Birmingham, the upscale (some might even say "tony") Oakland County suburb, has experienced occasional, isolated crimes within its borders.

This disturbing trend has led at least two Birminhamians, according to the Detroit News, to fear for their safety in the once-pastoral community.

And with a woman firing two bullets in downtown Birmingham earlier this month and an 18-year-old man from Troy caught walking downtown with a loaded M-1 rifle, fear has started to set in for the mother of three.

"It's frustrating not to be able to leave the door open for my son when he comes home from school," said [Trista] Shulman, who lives near Woodward Avenue and Maple Road, less than a mile from downtown. "He has to ring the doorbell to get into his own house. "I don't know what this world is coming to."

I don't know either, Trista. It's pretty horrible to think that people like yourself might have to live within a mile of a place where a crime was once committed. Another woman--from Germany!--also doesn't know what to make of Birmingham becoming the new Beruit. I mean, won't someone think of the children here?

The situation is so terrible that people are literally calling Bham's police chief to tell him how afraid for their lives they are. Oh wait, no they aren't.

"Nobody calls me up and says they're afraid," Police Chief Don Studt said. "Certainly the incidents with the guns, nobody likes. We don't like it, but they are isolated incidents."

The city of about 20,000 averaged 1.3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents in 2010, according to the FBI, putting it in the top half of safest cities in Oakland County. Property crimes in 2010 decreased 30 percent from 2006.

So, what are we talking about again?