Perceptions about US crime
 

From time to time I look through the other forums and see many UK posters asking questions to Expats about crime in their chosen country. There's one at the moment in the New Zealand forum all about crime and statistics and experiences of crime, etc. However I find it interesting that we never get asked this in the US forum, even though many UK people have a perception that the US is the most violent country in the wealthy western world. I just wonder why this is?

From looking at the website below I can see that in fact the US fares high in certain types of crime, where as if you look at crime that doesn't involve guns Australia and New Zealand and the UK do not fare so well. I'm just curious why these questions are asked and discussed frequently by would be expats on other forums but not the USA one?


http://www.nationmaster.com

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

They might not like the responses they get?

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

I always excepted to see shootings and bodies etc in my town, but it never happened. Crime is about the same now, I think, except gun crime, and even that varies wildly. In the suburbs here, the police are starting to tell people to lock their cars. Crime is pretty low here, but I could drive 20-30 miles and be right in the middle of bandit country (just like a lot of UK cities).

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Very little crime in this town. I get all envious when I see all the gang related sh..ootings and drive bys in So Cal. I'd even settle for watching a good old fashion glassing in one of the local bars but no such luck.



(We can even type sh..ootings now? Isn't that a bit OTT?)

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Good question. I know before I moved out here I was very concerned about crime, LA just has that kind of reputation..I wouldn't of asked as I was probably scared to know the truth, or what I thought to be the truth..
The reality though is very different. I feel safer here than anywhere I've ever been, never lock my front door, don't worry if my car is left open, even with a spare set of keys in it.. :o I was looking at a property paper the other day and a house was being advertised as being in 'the official safest city in the US' rather bizarrely it didn't say which city it was but it was in LA county.. :confused:

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

The only difference being that over here the scum tend to stick to their own neighbourhoods while back in the UK you get little chav twats popping up all over the place..

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Great point - we live 5 miles from Pomona which is I believe birthplace of the Bloods and Crips and as the wife said people dont even lock their doors here ! Violence and crime are very indiscriminate in the UK but here in LA it all seems gang related and then I think it is totally hyped-up by the media outside of the city.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

I was trying to find the list that was posted a week or so ago in the moving back forum for the top 10 violent US cities and the 10 best. My city Milwaukee was rated higher on the violent list than LA :scared: however I can honestly say I have never felt so safe where I live. However I wouldn't be saying that if I lived nearer to my Downtown area. In my city most of the killing are also gang related. So that raises two interesting thoughts, one if gangs were stamped out in the US would most of the crime disappear? and two if we earned less money its possible we wouldnt be able to afford to live away from the bad areas so our reality of crime would be higher.

I often wonder though if US newspapers hyped crime like they do in the UK again would we all feel so safe.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

The only things that ever appears in our local Police Blotter is shoplifting at the local mall which is always done by people from out of the area. We did have one report of a trash can being stolen but then the owner's neighbour found it up the street, it had blown away during a storm.

We got a phone call from my 14 year old's english teacher last year telling us that she thought our son was involved in gang activity. She was extremely serious and said she was on the verge of reporting it to the principal who would then in turn call the police. I was absolutely amazed and couldn't take her seriously and when my son came home I asked him what had happened. He had had his longish hair cut short the previous evening and went into class wearing a book sock on his head to hide it and the stupid teacher thought it was a gang sign.

This is the same teacher who called me to tell me she thought my son was suicidal from some composition he had written. Me and hubby were absolutely distraught even though our son strongly denied it. We had to go to an urgent meeting with all his other teachers and the Guidance Counsellor after which all the other teachers and the GC agreed that my son was a great lad and nothing in his work indicated anything wrong with him. I later learned that she has called many other parents with the same story.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Try this one, it doesn't give a date, but I think it's quite up to date as I recall Camden was number 1 last year. We live about 5 miles from Camden and it does get a bit rough the nearer you get to the Delaware river. I've been there quite a few times, as for feeling threatened, can't say I've noticed. I probably wouldn't walk there at night, but you'd be pretty stupid to do that. (who walks anyway?)

PS on a side not, the nearer you get to Camden, the more Home Depot locks away it's 'Odd' tools, Bolt croppers being one I've noticed :)

http://www.morganquitno.com/cit05pop.htm

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Oh dear, Trenton is number 4 on the dangerous list for small cities and even though we live 8 miles away from it. In my other thread I mentioned out of town shoplifters and they all come from Trenton. There again Hamilton, NJ is actually part of Trenton and that's mentioned in the safest cities.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

We're in Camden county and where we are is considered safe, almost dull, DUI is about as crazy as it gets. I guess it's the luck of the draw.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Interesting.. - Compton was predictably there in the worst cities part at #2 (well what would the rappers have to sing about) but LA County only just scrapped into the top 20 metro areas (probably cos of Compton) and LA was NOT in most dangerous cities. Most shocking San Bernadino was ..seemed like nice place when I've been there :confused:

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

Exactly what I was thinking.

I reckon here you could probably find yourself in a real lot of trouble if you strayed off the beaten track too much, but outside of the bad areas the atmosphere seems different to the UK. In the UK, you've got to keep your wits about you on a night out in most town centres. I've yet to seem any chav style boozy fights at the kebab shop here. I have heard of a couple of people being shot in nightclubs here - but it's generally rival drugs related stuff between people who know each other, rather than the "beat anyone up for the hell of it" like in the UK.

Re: Perceptions about US crime
 

That's my perception - really bad crime in particular areas which one hopes never to have the misfortune to be in (pity the people who have no choice but to live there). There are a lot of gated estates around here although crime I believe is low- I think people like to feel ultra-secure. And I haven't been aware of the simmering boozy menace you describe at night in so many British towns but I don't get out much at night! (Yet!)

One thing I don't really want to think about is how many people have guns.