Crime Index in Bend vs. Redmond - Very Confusing (Medford: low income, crime)

[middleoftheroad]

city-data shows that in 2007, the FBI Crime Index in Bend was 255, well below that National Average of 320, while the Index in Redmond was (substantially higher) at 451.

Can Anyone contradict the numbers? Am I missing something? I thought the consensus was Redmond was even a bit more "laid back" than Bend? Has crime DEcreased in Redmond in the last three years?

Its not as high as a lot of other places that surprise me, such as Eureka CA, a pretty isolated coastal town in No Cal is at 510!!! As bad as Huntington Park, or other South-Central Los Angeles at 519, but not as bad as Commerce, CA, at a staggering 735.

Anyway, just looking at areas for their safety, as well as beauty.

Comments and local knowledge greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Fred

[Silverfall]

The problem with small town crime statistics is that they are greatly swayed by an incident. So let's a teen went on a robbery streak that year and broke into 15 houses. For small towns things like that aren't normal and so because they have low population the crime stats jump up. I have no knowledge of Redmond's crime rate, I'm just highly dubious of crime rates for low population areas.

Anyway...if you are concerned call the local police and ask them. It has been my experience that they are totally honest about crime in the area.

[Fiddlehead]

I would agree that in smaller towns a few incidents could have an inordinate effect. However, it also seems like towns have become quite stratified socioeconomically, due in large part to the housing bubble, which created "haves" and "have nots" towns in close proximity. Where I live in Ashland in Southern Oregon, BMWs, Mercedes, are still common, many poorer people simply cannot afford to live here, so our crime profile is very different from Medford, just twelve miles away, which is much more affordable. I think the Bend / Redmond divide might be similar, as Bend is an upscale enclave and destination town, but Redmond is not. Not to cap on Redmond at all, but just posting a hypothesis.

[middleoftheroad]

Makes sense. Four cars get stolen in a small town rates jumps by 30%....

Thanks

[Bendite]

It is true that Redmond has more crime than Bend, possibly because of the difference in income. It has been that way for a long time. I found a site called crime-data.findthebest.com where you can do a comparison of crimes reported to the FBI by Redmond and Bend for year 2008. Overall, the property crime rate for Redmond was 4.87% to Bend's 3.23%. Other crimes, the rate was 5.1% for Redmond to Bend's 3.4%. Bend has a population of about 78,000 to Redmond's 25,000. Some of the crimes reported by number are (Bend on the left, Redmond on the right):

Violent: 139 58
Robbery: 35 10
Property: 2513 1221
Burglary: 471 196
Theft: 1914 961

A recent article in US News & World Report put Bend's crime risk at 94 where 100 is the national average. They did not mention Redmond for comparison.

[karlsch]

In low population areas you just have to make sure that you look at crime statistics for several years and average them out. This will mitigate the "crime spree" distortion. Redmond's crime rate has consistently been above average:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Redmond-Oregon.html

Low income alone can't explain it. Many towns in Eastern Oregon have lower than average incomes and have very low crime rates:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Baker-City-Oregon.html

As Fiddlehead said, maybe it has something to do with the proximity to a larger, wealthier city. Maybe people who are low income because they are ne'er-do-wells gravitate from the wealthier city to the more affordable one.

[middleoftheroad]

Originally Posted by karlsch

In low population areas you just have to make sure that you look at crime statistics for several years and average them out. This will mitigate the "crime spree" distortion. Redmond's crime rate has consistently been above average:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Redmond-Oregon.html

Low income alone can't explain it. Many towns in Eastern Oregon have lower than average incomes and have very low crime rates:
http://www.city-data.com/city/Baker-City-Oregon.html

As Fiddlehead said, maybe it has something to do with the proximity to a larger, wealthier city. Maybe people who are low income because they are ne'er-do-wells gravitate from the wealthier city to the more affordable one.

In some years, it tops 500, which is getting to a level that might make it close to being unacceptable. My experience is that if the majority of the crime in an area is related to pot, or similar drug use, and the thieving and other stuff that follows, it could still be a situation of 'what part of town' but, sometimes, if you live in the 'better' part of town, thats where the punks that want to steal for their money come to ply their trade - remember, 'a good dog doesn't poop where it eats!'

I hope this is a city where the 2009 & 10 rates have dropped somewhat....it'd be nice to find that it was close to avg, or even in the LOW 400's for the trend.

Thanks

[middleoftheroad]

Originally Posted by rmxzz

middleoftheroad, you need to take these statistics with a grain of salt. Redmond is an extremely safe town. Random violent crime is almost unheard of. Also, the vast majority of crime is between two knowing parties. Even the burglaries and robberies are pretty tame. I remember a robbery where two kids pointed a paintball gun at another kid and told him to give them his skateboard, police are called and they mark it up as a robbery. It's not like people are constantly shoving handguns in your face and demanding your money. All I'm saying is that if you don't feel safe in Redmond, then you won't feel safe anywhere.

evening the load seems to be reasonable. I'm glad to hear, that in the situation, at least the police might do something. In a lot of places, the downturn has resulted in cops being laid off, which they respond to by saying "well, we won't be able to answer any non-emergency call,and we will probably have a slower response time. In Ft Bragg, I had mentioned earlier, they barely roll out at all!

[delta07]

I doubt you are going to find many towns safer in the United States unless you move somewhere isolated and far from anything. That's just the reality. Sure, there is some crime, but like others have said, it's relatively petty and often involves parties who know each other. I feel completely safe in Bend. I would have no problem walking down the street at night alone. I leave my house unlocked. I leave my cars unlocked. Am I potentially creating an easy target for myself, sure. But I choose to not let paranoia take over my life. One of the reasons I live in a small town is so I don't have to worry about these things. I'm sure there are some areas where you wouldn't want to do this, but really even if I become the victim of theft it's okay. Things are things. They can be replaced. In terms of violent crime, we are pretty darn safe here!