[thewizard16]

Originally Posted by btoverdrive

Or St. Louis, but been there, done that.

St. Louis's crime stats are overblown too. You just stay out of north (and of course, east) St. Louis for the most part and you're good. I haven't looked at a crime data map for Hot Springs, but the areas I saw were very nice. I imagine crime there is pretty localized too, I certainly never felt unsafe while I was there.

[Dr. Foosball]

For the record, I have also never felt scared in Fort Smith. People outside of the city tend to view it as a dangerous city too.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by HS RESIDENT

The New York times almanac list hot springs the most dangerous city in America. This thread has touted Lake Hamilton School as one of the best and comments have been made about the crime being petty and tourist affecting the numbers.

Tourist have not made the crime numbers out of proportion around Grand Canyon, Branson or other tourist cities. The only other tourist based cities in the nation with crime numbers any where near that of Hot Springs is Las Vegas and Myrtle Beach.

The police chief recently resigned and the Hot Springs City Manager Lance Hudnell had 65 applicants for the job. He narrowed that down to 3 including one local who were all status quo candidates. There were fabulous candidates who wanted to reduce crime and had the experience to prove they could do it and they were never even spoken to, just eliminated in the first round. The City Manager and those surrounding him do not want change.

When the police chief is selected in the next few days it will seal Hot Springs fate as status quo city with an unbearable crime rate.

As for the crime being minor that is false. Just last week a 14 year old shot a 17 year old in the face with a shotgun who was breaking in his home. just blocks from the finest school mentioned above was the Pearcy Massacre VDARE.com: 02/09/10 - Never Heard Of The Pearcy Massacre? One Guess Why Not! 2 years ago. The types of crimes in Hot Springs are not petty theft. They are serious felonies including the type of violence only seen in the most dangerous communities in big cities.

The city wants to build a 1000 bed jail (for a city of under 40K). That may have some affect, but the public doesn't trust the city leaders enough to give them the money.

I love Hot Springs but until the crime situation is dealt with I can not understand why anyone would move here.

When you check out Hot Springs get the crime data and study it. Go to the PD and the courthouse and review the previous 24 hours crime reports.

Wow. Fascinating. I had my suspicions all along about the true story behind the crime stats in HS - nice to hear something other than "avoid xyz and you will be fine". I understand that works for East St Louis but we are talking town of what, 40,000 people???

[btoverdrive]

Originally Posted by thewizard16

St. Louis's crime stats are overblown too. You just stay out of north (and of course, east) St. Louis for the most part and you're good. I haven't looked at a crime data map for Hot Springs, but the areas I saw were very nice. I imagine crime there is pretty localized too, I certainly never felt unsafe while I was there.

I have to agree, I lived in St. Louis (Ballwin, actually) for 16 years, worked downtown and was in every part of the city at one time or another, East side included, and never felt unsafe or had a problem. I enjoyed my time in St. Louis more than anywhere I have lived, so far.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

For the record, I have also never felt scared in Fort Smith. People outside of the city tend to view it as a dangerous city too.

I would agree with that as well. I have never felt scared here either, but I have lived in Atlanta, and if you were not cautious there you may end up as a victim. Fort Smith is nothing like that. It is one of the few things that I like about the city. Our crime statistics are overblown because crime pays for those who enforce it. In a poor city like Fort Smith you have to bring money in from some where. They collect a lot of money from fines here. If you drive through here, you may run into a barney fife or Buford T Justice. Drive through Fort smith to go on vacation, leave on probation.

[HS RESIDENT]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

Branson, MO has a higher crime rate than Hot Springs, AR. Branson's crime rate has been higher every year available on city-data.

I am familiar with the Pearcy Massacre (if that is what it is called?). As I stated above, if you aren't part of the problem (or living with part of the problem), you aren't in danger. The massacre, from the stories that I have been told, happened as retaliation for a previous crime on the accused killers.

BTW, the NYT article that he/she cited also says that Memphis is a lot safer than Hot Springs. That is laughable.

Move.com has a comparison tool and here is their comparison of Hot Springs and Branson. The first row of numbers is Hot Springs the second row is Branson.

Moderator cut: copyright violation

Hot Springs is a much more dangerous place than Branson especially in the areas of personal safety such as rape, murder and robery.

The comment that if you aren't part of the problem (or living with part of the problem), you aren't in danger is false. In that same top rated school district there was recently an out of town tourist bringing his boat in on a public ramp (Majestic Lodge) who was savagely beaten nearly to death for no reason by a drug addict. There have been many home invasions by armed gangs of prominent residents.

This stuff is not laughable my friends and family have been victimized to many times for me to laugh.

[Dr. Foosball]

OMG. You make it sound like Pearcy and Hot Springs are lawless war zones. I won't argue with your statistics because they are what they are, but I have never felt threatened here.

[CheckMate17]

Originally Posted by karoga

Everything I am finding on the net makes Hot Springs look great. Friends who have been there (we haven't yet) tell us that they think it would suit us very well. So far I haven't seen anything negative about it. Our children are grown so schools are not an issue. Other than something part-time (maybe) jobs are not an issue. We are both very active with community theatre, hubby is a avid golfer and we love water. We don't like the FL/GA/SC heat, nor the OH long, cold, dark winters. Does anyone know of a reason we would NOT want to check out moving there? Thanks!

Hot Springs is ranked by NYTimes Almanac and Forbes as the most dangerous city in America. That alone would keep me out.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by CheckMate17

Hot Springs is ranked by NYTimes Almanac and Forbes as the most dangerous city in America. That alone would keep me out.

today maybe, but those stupid studies change weekly.

Nita

[Dr. Foosball]

The one thing I don't like about Hot Springs is having to drive past all the beautiful lakes and parks on my way to work. It's hard to beat Hot Springs in April.