Originally Posted by St.Georges Girl

Well I've never been one of the people who says that Perth (WA) is crime free, far from it in fact as we've been the victim of crime 9 times since living here. But, I have never walked around the city at night and not felt safe. I am 5' 3" and quite small framed so I suppose an attacker, mugger etc. might believe they had a soft target, but only once have I been approached and that was by an aboriginal family who were drunk as skunks and demanded cigarettes. When I told them I didn't smoke, they demanded money and my mobile phone. I just told them where to get off and ran towards the station where I told the transport police what had just happened. I have to admit that I wouldn't travel alone on the train after rush hour and I wouldn't want my son to either, but Perth is no worse than anywhere else imo.

Originally Posted by carolwilk34

We were at a funeral in Fremantle and our car got smashed, bag nicked, 10 cars done at the same funeral. There is crime EVERYWHERE. I think it is maybe just not as in your face or as well reported as it is in the UK. Also, my 10 year old got verbally abused by a group of aboriginals in the toilets in MacDonalds. He was terrified! These things could happen anywhere in the world!

Originally Posted by JRB

I remember taking my kids to a really small suburban playground in Carine opposite the schools and the lollipop lady actually came over to warn me that they shouldn't play in the sand as it was full of syringes. Nice.

Originally Posted by JRB

I have never seen a syringe in a park in Woodbridge, Suffolk and I didn't see one in Carine either. I don't know why the lollipop lady would say it if it wasn't true. I don't believe she would make a point of coming up to me and lying about this. I'm not accusing anyone in particular on this forum but it really annoys me that some people think Perth is a crime free utopia. Get real, it's the same as everywhere else with some areas more dodgy than others just like the UK. As the original thread was about trains in Perth, I personally believe yes the trains are well dodgy and in particular the train station at Perth after 5pm is a no go zone as far as I'm concerned just like some UK cities have dodgy places. As I said before there is a reason they have guards on the train and there is a reason why there is a police station at Perth. I would not recommend travelling on them at night. I think people moving to Perth need to be realistic and take off the rose tinted spectacles and realise it has the same problems as most westernised cities around the world. Actually,per head of population I I read once it may even have more crime than other Aus cities and it definately has a high home invasion rate.

Originally Posted by JRB

Ok in my opinion and hoping not to offend anyone I would say
Perth train station after 6pm
Some of the parks in the city and East Perth after 6pm

Mirrabooka
Warwick
Balga
Girrawheen
Kondoola (? I think)
Midland - alot of suburbs East of Perth didn't seem that great
Melville
Some parts of Victoria Park
Scarborough - hoon central
Armadale
Beechborough

Again, personal choice and I wouldn't say that I am an expert in these areas and I am sure there are nice pockets and I met some nice people who came from these suburbs. They are just areas I wouldn't want to live but as a returnee to the UK I wasn't keen on most suburbs over there! ~If we ever went back down under I would prefer New Zealand!

Originally Posted by Mikeyc

Agree with all of them places, especially Perth Train station – even during the day you are guaranteed to be at least verbally abused by the natives.

I’d also add to the list:

Northbridge

Mikey

Originally Posted by JRB

Ok in my opinion and hoping not to offend anyone I would say
Perth train station after 6pm
Some of the parks in the city and East Perth after 6pm

Mirrabooka
Warwick
Balga
Girrawheen
Kondoola (? I think)
Midland - alot of suburbs East of Perth didn't seem that great
Melville
Some parts of Victoria Park
Scarborough - hoon central
Armadale
Beechborough

Again, personal choice and I wouldn't say that I am an expert in these areas and I am sure there are nice pockets and I met some nice people who came from these suburbs. They are just areas I wouldn't want to live but as a returnee to the UK I wasn't keen on most suburbs over there! ~If we ever went back down under I would prefer New Zealand!

Originally Posted by Mikeyc

It’s not just perception; it’s also down to the fact that it is simply safer walking around Sydney at night than it is in Perth. The reason is, Perth CBD is shut down at night, dead and dark, and it’s dangerous. Sydney at night has places open all day and night, 24 hour shops, clubs, resturants etc scattered all over the CBD, there are enough people walking around at night. If I’m walking home from a night out or back from a friends place, I walk down dark streets and shortcuts through the park in the CBD and I always feel safe. I have never once felt safe walking in Perth, even walking from the shops to my mum’s house out in the suburbs.

People talk about the “last train home” being really bad, I guess you don’t notice that here as in a sense there is no real “last train home” as soon as the train stops (about 1 – 2am) they have night rider buses which take people home, the buses run until the trains start again (about 5am). In Perth whenever I went out, if you didn’t make it for the last train home (about midnight – 1:30am) you got stuck in the city and it was impossible to get a taxi, so what are you suppose to do?

And about Perth having a burlgary problem, yes it does – it actually has the highest home burglary rate in the country.

Mikey

Originally Posted by cockney pommy

oz actually has the worst burglary rate in the western world - by miles

Originally Posted by ponyrama

Utter poppycock. The WA burglary rate for 2007 was 13.69 per thousand head of population, the NSW rate for 2007 was 6.9 per thousand head of population. The average UK burglary rate for 2007 was 13.1 per thousand population with most major towns and cities having a rate in the low twenties if not higher. So ner!