Why is crime so high in New Bern and Wilmington?? (Chapel Hill: low crime, chapel)

[macdebbie]

In looking at the stats on citydata.com the crime is very, very high in Wilmington, and pretty high as well in New Bern.

I can perhaps understand Wilmington, as it is much larger than New Bern, but I'd appreciate an insider's take on what makes this so.

We are contemplating these 2 areas (and Edenton) for retirement, and are coming from a smallish waterfront East Coast community (20K) with virtually no crime, so are a little concerned.

Looking for a vibrant, safe community with lots going on (festivals, etc.), relatively close to an airport (within an hour) with good medical care and a hospital in town.

We've checked out Chapel Hill area and really like it, but we wonder if we will miss the ocean too much being 2 hrs away from it.

[Sleestak]

I've been to New Bern on several occasions and didn't notice an excessive amount of crime...in the daytime, anyway. New Bern is located at the intersection of two "major" highways, 17 and 70, so that may boost the crime stats a little. On the bright side, New Bern is growing and has a really nice historical downtown area. You might also consider nearby communities like Trent Woods, Riverbend, and Newport. They all have fairly low crime stats and are close to New Bern. The first two are within shouting distance. Newport is about 26 miles away, but is closer to the southern outer banks. Hope this helps.

[kylamaerae]

I have lived in New Bern for 21/22 years of my life. I have never witnessed crime myself, but of course you will hear about it. The crime in New Bern is in the POOR neighborhoods, and as long as you steer clear of those neighborhoods, and avoid suspicous-looking people (like the same ones in every other town in the world) you will be a-okay. Just mind your business and don't give dirty looks, they will not bother you most of the time! lol sounds bad, but it's really not. There are too many other wonderful people here to let the few bad apples bother me.
As for Wilmington, I don't know. It's a much bigger town, there are poor neighborhoods there too, and there is a major university there. go figure!

[anonymous]

I live in the high crime neighborhood of Wilmington.

I'm not sure if I understand your question asking "Why". The obvious answer is, "Crime is high because there are a lot of criminals, and they are committing a lot of crimes".

Even though that's a really obtuse answer, and probably doesn't help you, any other answer would be speculation, and perhaps politically incorrect.

[NCSC]

In my opinion, crime rates reported for Wilmington are high because there is a lot of crime concentrated in parts of the downtown area --- drugs, prostitution, drive by shootings, etc. --- not the nice area by the river, but a little farther down, generally b/w 5th and 17th Sts. When you take that out, I think that the crime rate in the city/county would be pretty average. So, it's not that there is lots of crime in every area, just a few. It's not that hard to avoid those areas. Of course, there are always exceptions to everything, but, generally, that one statistic shouldn't discourage you.

[Beffrey2]

Thats what housing projects do for a town. And New Bern has some rough ones for sure. But most of the crime stays in the projects.

New Bern is very safe!

[macdebbie]

Perhaps I should clarify what made me ask this question.

We live in a city of 17,189, not much smaller than New Bern at 23,178. Our crime stats, according to City Data are 83.7 vs. 325.2 for the US. New Bern's crime stats are 498.3.

498.3 vs 83.7 is a HUGE difference given the small difference in populations. Where I live we do not have "bad" neighborhoods that need to be avoided or people walking around that we have to be careful not to look at. Our crime is pretty much limited to petty theft, a few assualts by kids in bars, drunk driving, etc.

There must be SOME dynamic that causes this great difference in the crime rate. Was just trying to understand what that is. No matter is the prostitutes, drive-by shootings, etc. are not in "my" neighborhood, that is not a town or city that I would be comfortable to live in.

I'm in NO WAY saying where I live is perfect or we wouldn't be looking. Housing is astronomical - we have no "poor" neighborhoods, and the weather is 6 months of cold, snow and ice. However, I won't give that up to live somewhere we don't feel safe.

Regardless, we would still like to visit New Bern - we think Wilmington really is too big for us - and see if we like the area.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

[southernlady5464]

For Wilmington, it really depends on which zip code you use. We have several. When we were house hunting to move here, we discovered we didn't want some areas whereas others were more in line with what we were use to seeing.

The index I use has New Bern at a 112 for zip code 28560 and a 92 for zip code 28562 (National Average is figured at 100).

Wilmington is:
210/28401
225/28403
106/28405
60/28409
111/28411
104/28412

So there is a BIG difference in Wilmington depending on the zip code you live in.

The site I use, I will PM you the url if requested. I discovered it thru a site my husband used for his job.

Actually Sperling's also will break it down by zip code as well and comes up with the same data. Liz

[mm_mary73]

Originally Posted by macdebbie

................We are contemplating these 2 areas (and Edenton) for retirement, and are coming from a smallish waterfront East Coast community (20K) with virtually no crime, so are a little concerned.
...

Sounds as if you've got the perfect place now - why move anywhere else??

[SeattlitefromNC]

Originally Posted by macdebbie

Perhaps I should clarify what made me ask this question.

I'm in NO WAY saying where I live is perfect or we wouldn't be looking. Housing is astronomical - we have no "poor" neighborhoods, and the weather is 6 months of cold, snow and ice. However, I won't give that up to live somewhere we don't feel safe.

Regardless, we would still like to visit New Bern - we think Wilmington really is too big for us - and see if we like the area.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

You answered your own question in the bolded section.

First of all, lower costs (all around) mean greater access to everyone (all around) ... that includes the criminal element. Lower cost means lower barriers to entry into any environment.

Communities that have a high concentration of people with a high net worth tend to invest more in the kind of infrastructure that cuts a lot of the issues that breed crime off at the pass: everything from education to a solid police force. Communities that do not invest in those types of infrastructures tend to have higher crime ... and often, that includes many Southern cities (things cost less in the South, but people also tend to be stingy with their pennies and communal infrastructure tends to be low on the list, for all kinds of reasons that are too numerous to list).

Why would you want to move? Your current place sounds lovely.