DEVIL'S NIGHT RAMPAGE CONTINUES
By Thomas Drury
Staff Reporter
It's been a long, hot summer in Gotham City--and the fall is looking even worse.
Throughout the last quarter, crime rates continued their escalation to unprecedented heights, GCPD analysts say, citing parallel trends in homicide, assault, and robbery cases. "We haven't seen this many unsolved crimes in Gotham since we started keeping records," observed harried Police Commissioner James Gordon, who cut short yesterday's interview to handle a late-breaking crisis.
Gordon's problems are not limited to the streets; his own department has been rocked by one internal scandal after another, along with a wave of resignations at every level. "The cops are as bad as the crooks," complained Hadley Martin, a convenience store worker who was shot by a patrolman in one highly publicized August incident.
Tensions between citizens and law enforcement exploded shortly after sundown on Monday night. Halloween activities were suspended and an immediate curfew was declared when riots broke out in several parts of the city simultaneously. Outbreaks of gang violence and apparently unrelated shootings and stabbings added to the volatility of the situation, inspiring some observers to describe the situation as "hell on earth."
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