krizzy

We have a lot of crime........people are always running the stop sign up the road...........

Angry White Pyjamas

Another case of the widening divide between the haves and the have nots? Gated communities, private security and divided areas all mean the haves wont in the main experience crimes against their property or person.

Its not that the crime doesnt exist just everyone on here is fortunate to be in the position to be mostly sheltered from it.

kevntrace

Yep, after 12 years over here I still find it strange that crime tends to occur only in certain districts. Keep out of those districts and you can leave your front door open, leave the keys in your car, etc and no trouble.

I can't understand why these criminals haven't had the "brainwave" of heading out into the 'burbs where there are plenty of rich pickings. The UK criminals have been doing this for years!

I still haven't got out of the habit of locking my car, putting valuables in the boot, locking my front door etc etc. After 28 years in the UK it was just drummed into me.

tony126

And a very good practice to uphold not that I have had to shoot anybody.

NC Penguin

It's not that there aren't crimes (killings, drug related, burglary, etc.) in such areas. Maybe there's fewer because the people in the 'burbs have better security, "guard" dogs and possibly even firearms to protect themselves.

There's crimes in pretty much every city of any size in the USA but it's not surprising that these cluster round specific neighborhoods or areas within a city. I look at my city's Police website from time to time to see the mapping of crimes and this clustering is apparent.


NC Penguin

redlobster

We moved,from Coalville in Leicestershire,To Tampa.
I have felt safer here than I did back home.
I used to feel threatend by groups of 9 and 10 year olds,who all seemet to wear hooded tops,jeans to there knees,and Fxxk was there favorite word.
Its quite refreshing to see the same age groups over here,and they they seem like nice kids.
Like anywhere in UK,we dont wander into known areas.
Redlobster

BritGuyTN

Apparently I need to get out of the city

Heres an excerpt from my local crime report


A Mother of two was killed while sitting on her porch at Litton Apts. She got caught in the crossfire of two thugs shooting at each other,

A male was killed by gunshot in his apt, 933 Boscobel, He was found by his wife.

A male was reported firing a shot with a rifle at his Father on Creighton yesterday. Police spotted his green crown vic, ex taxi cab minutes later. This started a slow police chase that I watched go inbound on Main, it ended just short of the criminal justice center, on the bridge. The perfect spot, this guy did not run or jump.

Shots fired reports on Norville this afternoon. About the same time a fast food mgr was assaulted near there on Gallatin.

Shots fired mid day Tues, South of Shelby were said to be fired by two males in the back of a pick up truck.

gruffbrown

You need to move here

Windsor Park Between 3:30pm and 6:30pm on Tuesday September 20, 2005 a home in the 500 block of Valley Run Drive was unlawfully entered. The suspect(s) entered through an open garage door. Proceeds are two bicycles.

Chorlton

A point for the other side, here is today's BBC front page news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...re/4361724.stm
Terrible for the victim, but the fact that it is on the front page shows that it is big news (and therefore rare). Kids in US schools get stabbed and shot, and it doesnt make the news anymore.

Hiro11

To echo some of the other comment here, it seems to me the the vast majority of America is very, very safe but that there are pockets with murder and violent crime rates similar to Colombia. It's definitely a case of two extremes.

Here in Chicago, the entirety of the suburbs are extremely safe and have very low crime rates. In the city, it's very rare on the North Side for any violent cirme to occur.

The South Side and West Chicago are different stories: they have unbelievable crime and murder rates. In fact, the rates in high crime areas are so high that Chicago was the "murder capital" of the US for years (no longer), even though the vast, vast majority of the city is perfectly safe. It's one of those situations where the sexy aggregate statistics that the media love dilute the truth on the ground.

Two things that haven't been discussed here yet:

1. The role of race and class: black people are twice as likely to be a victim of violent crime and six times as likely to be a murder victim as whites. Class is even more strongly linked.

2. Violent crime and murder have absolutely plumeted in the US across all categories and demographics over the past decade. Take a look at some of the stats: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html. Violent crime has fallen by half in ten years, murder rates are at record lows (still much higher than Europe in aggregate, though). Here's the aggregate violent crime rate:

The media has largely ignored this amazing trend.

Another underreported story is the dramatic decrease in property crimes:

Americans aren't even stealing as much these days...

Good news never makes for ratings, I guess.

ladylisa

Very interesting Hiro11 is there any explanation for this?

Pigtails

I think we all watched too much Starsky & Hutch as children.

Circus-of-Power

Crime is virtually unheard of in this part of Illinois, just a few farmers and college kids with DUI's. There was a spate of break in's the other month, and the guy finally admitted to a total of 17 offences when he was caught...... he was sentenced last week to 15 years porridge..... in the UK he would have had 2 months community service bestowed upon him ....


http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...452416,00.html

gruffbrown

Didn't Chicagos crime rate plummet recently?

Angry White Pyjamas

Did they blow it up or something then?