Thanks for all this information, it's interesting in addition to being relevant to the case
The situation you describe isn't dissimilar to the city in which we live currently, with the difference being, in this country there's very little public/council housing - hence the very expensive property prices
In the UK, despite it surely not being the intention of planners of public/social/council housing estates, there seems to be a concentration of lower-paid families interspersed with those reliant upon welfare within estates like Addington, for example. Here on the other hand, million dollar homes can be surrounded by similar ghetto-type environments, very often dominated by one or another ethnic groups who seem to take inspiration from US gang cultures. Formerly respectable working to middle-class suburbs are reduced to no-go areas within a decade as a result. It's a constant battle to urbanise and redevelop sectors and attract buyers whilst simultaneously driving out less desirable elements (who move on to destroy another suburb). In short, whereas the UK appears to localise these elements, in this country they're dispersed within the wider community. But there's crime here, such as you've described, although the media here tends to downplay it, whereas in the UK, the media delivers it warts and all, seemingly
Not sure if you can watch this where you are but its actually filmed on the estate
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire/episode-guide/series-15/episode-5