Most dangerous cities.

[U2democrat]

Whoopee...my hometown moved from #9 to #5 on the most dangerous cities list....

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servle...TD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768274926

Richmond called 5th most dangerous city
From Staff and Wire Reports
Monday, November 21, 2005


RELATED: Police Beat

Richmond is the fifth most dangerous American city according to a company's annual ranking based on crime statistics.

The list was released today by Morgan Quitno Press, a Kansas-based company that publishes "City Crime Rankings," an annual reference book.

The ranking lists Camden, N.J., as the most dangerous city, followed by Detroit; St. Louis; Flint, Mich.; and Richmond. Ranked 6-10 are Baltimore; Atlanta; New Orleans; Gary, Ind.; and Birmingham, Ala.

Richmond figures are skewed by the city's boundaries, which, unlike the boundaries of many cities, include little of the surrounding suburbs.

Taken as a region -- Richmond and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico -- the area saw a 4 percent drop in major reported crime in 2004, according to FBI statistics.

Nevertheless, crime is the top concern for area residents, according to a survey released Friday by the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce. According to the survey, 46 percent of those who responded listed crime as their top concern. No other topic was listed by more than 6 percent

The sad thing is I'm not surprised. There are always shootings, kidnappings, stabbings being reported in the news. Everytime I see the national media going nuts over some kidnapping I go crazy, because they seem to careless that a child is abducted what seems like every day in Richmond.

 

[trevster2k]

Canada has had some violent crimes in the past few weeks.

Just this past weekend, 2 separate incidents in Edmonton at house parties where 2 teenagers were killed , one stabbed, the other beaten to death. And just last week in TO, thugs shot an killed an 18 yr old in a church at the funeral of a 17 yr old. Crazy stuff.

 

[U2democrat]

See that kind of thing in Richmond is typical. It's sad.

 

[Liesje]

Goodie, Michigan gets Flint and Detroit

My city, Grand Rapids (same population as Richmond, VA @ just under 200,000) has a lot of gang activity. Last spring I remember one local cop saying "6 gang related murders this month....and it's not even warming up yet!" (gang activity and crime always goes up when it gets hot). When I was six and my bro was four, we were shot with a pellet gun by a local gang member. Luckily, it was only a pellet gun and my mom went ape on him, called the cops, my dad backhanded him in the face, and a year later the PD called to let us know he'd been killed in a gang shoot out. I think we have enough peaceful, family neighborhoods to cancel out the gang activity.

 

[financeguy]

Quite a few cocaine related gang murders in Dublin this year too, although the overall murder rate is still considerably lower than some of the US cities with highest rates.

 

[VertigoGal]

It doesn't surprise me that Atlanta's in the top 10. There's virtually no violent crime in the suburbs where I live, but going into College Park or South Fulton in general is downright scary.

 

[hiphop]

Bogota, Kingston, Johannesburg.

Kingston is great though, just move by taxi (except in the business district which is pretty safe). I can´t speak for JoBurg last time I was there was 20 years ago. Same for Colombia.. haven´t seen it with my own eyes, so I can´t speak about it realistically.

 

[Irvine511]

it is interesting ... one thing to keep in mind is that i believe overall crime levels in the USA are at their lowest since the mid-1960s, and this is in contrast to major European cities which, while many aren't nearly as dangerous as the worst American cities, are watching crime steadily escalate.

i was happy to see DC, which recently regained the distinction of being the murder capital of the US (ha! take that Detroit) isn't in the top 10 for overall crime. i think DC is fairly typical -- while there is the occasional random incident like 2 months ago where some guy was walking his dog at 10pm on a saturday night in a generally safe (but still gentrifying) neighborhood and he was shot in the face and killed and had his iPod stolen, most crime tends to happen in concentrated areas, and most crime it seems is drug and gang related. most people who are killed, it seems, are murdered execution-style either in an apartment, or waiting at an intersection in a rough part of town. long story short, i lock my doors, take taxis when it's late, don't carry a wallet when i'm going out at night (money clip, credit card and ID separate), and i don't buy drugs (and if i did buy drugs, i'd pay!)

 

[nbcrusader]

Fear of crime serves many interests - thus we get reports like the "dangerous cities" list even though, as Irvine correctly notes, crime has dropped. From "tough on crime" candidates to "feed me more" unions, many different groups benefit from the perception of persistant crime.

 

[stammer476]

First we lose the Murder Capital award, and now we're only the second most dangerous city? C'mon Detroit, where's the pride?!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

sacramento stole it

 

[verte76]

I'm not surprised that Birmingham is #10. There's alot of gang activity here and plenty of murders.

 

[joyfulgirl]

The sad thing is I'm not surprised. There are always shootings, kidnappings, stabbings being reported in the news. Everytime I see the national media going nuts over some kidnapping I go crazy, because they seem to careless that a child is abducted what seems like every day in Richmond.

What I remember about crime in Richmond from living in the area was that it was predominantly domestic violence within city limits. The 'burbs where my sister lives are pretty quiet. Still, it's hard to believe Richmond is #5.

 

[stammer476]

sacramento stole it

Don't tread on D.

 

[U2democrat]

Re: Re: Most dangerous cities.

What I remember about crime in Richmond from living in the area was that it was predominantly domestic violence within city limits. The 'burbs where my sister lives are pretty quiet. Still, it's hard to believe Richmond is #5.

Yeah, I live in the safest part of the metro Richmond area. But the city itself is REALLY bad, and it's not just domestic violence. It's mostly gang and drug related crimes. A lot of deaths are people caught in the crossfire between two gangs.

 

[Ft. Worth Frog]

The safest cities list was also released and my city is number 9 I think of US cities over 500k A nice change from a decade ago, that's for sure.