How dangerous is Indianapolis

[Merrill Moores]

Your posting is from June....but there are tons of places that you can live in Indy as a single female and be safe. Me thinks that coming from a small town has not properly prepared you to understand the stats you are reading.

You can limit yourself to essentially randomness at worst by simply understanding how most crime works. First break it down to crimes against persons versus crimes against property.

Crimes against persons can be broken down to murder, rape, and robbery (to be distinguished from burglary...robbery is having something taken from you by threat of weapon...burglary is something being taken from your residence or business by unauthorized access to the building ). You aren't likely to get murdered unless you are associating with drug dealers or criminals...the old birds of a feather flock together is a live and well...that one is totally in your control. Robbery is almost always of a retail store or business of some kind....so count that out....

You are not likely to be raped either. Most rape goes unreported and is generaly between two people who have some independent relationship i.e. not stranger rape...which while it does happen is extremely rare. Thus if you use the same precautions you have used in your life to date...you should be just fine...

Then you get down to crimes against property. This is a function of where you live and common sense. I live in a neighborhood of $400,000 to $2,000,000 homes. I am not sure I would leave my son's ten speed bike out over night in the front yard here. This is prudence. Lock your doors, don't leave things on your car seat in plain view like digital cameras, cell phones, lap tops, purses...things that would attract/invite theft. Most crimes against property are crimes of opportunity.

If you have moved to Indy, Welcome!!! I am an ex deputy prosecutor, but mainly what I do is help people buy and sell thier homes. If you have need that you think I can help you with let me know. I have included a copy of my resume for you. I can be reached by any of the methods provided in my letter head

Sincerely,


Merrill Moores

[IanBeano]

To the original poster: seems that Portland has much more of a drug problem than Indy (from what I've seen via the infamous media anyway). However, from what I'm aware of via those darned stats that everyone just loves, Indy is high in fat and STD's and petty crime. Low in violent crimes (other than small pocket areas) and housing prices.

To another poster: Hoosiers being lazy? Don't think so. As a born and raised Hoosier, I can tell that I stood out head and shoulders above most I came across in work ethic while I lived in Richmond, Virginia (no offense to those who happen to live or come from Richmond that do work hard). My father and mother worked their butts off throughout their lives. As have my friends. I've had plenty of great role models in those regards in Indy. Of course we all have differing work ethics as individuals and all, but...I just don't see Indy as being lazy, there are plenty of cities far more lazy than Indy I'm confident in that (my point).

Back to the original poster: as many have already said, Indy is pretty safe (for a large'ish city, at least), as with any large (ish) city, there are pockets to avoid (38th and College has been mentioned - used to live up there, ain't too pretty) and whatnot, but it's quite safe, certainly safe enough.

[gallygrad08]

I now live in Cincinnati, but I attended the University of Indianapolis for 3 years (2001-2004) before transferring to Purdue. I miss Indy a lot. I can't think of a single time that I didn't feel safe there. I grew up in the South Bend area, and I would say that South Bend is probably overall less safe than Indianapolis. And Indianapolis is DEFINITELY safer than Cincinnati in my experience so far.

That being said, you do still have to use common sense. I never walked ANYWHERE alone at night, always kept my car doors locked and made sure I knew where I was going/how to get there before I left home (looking lost or confused is like painting a target on your chest). But I would often go out downtown with a group of friends on Friday or Saturday night and we never had problems.

There are pockets of the city that are more dangerous, but that is true of ANY metropolitan area. Go to CrimeView Community Incident Map to search for crime data in a specific area/place in the city.

[birdcatcher]

I live in the Sacred Heart neighborhood on the near southside. I know it does not have a good reputation and is very spooky to drive around. We have had no problems here, we come and go as we please, sometimes I even forget to lock my car at night, once I left the keys in the ignition all night and it was still there the next morning. We stay mostly to ourselves except going to our kids friends house so we dont know everyone but those we do know are friendly and hard working. Poverty has struck our hood and that is the main problem, both houses on each side of mine are boarded up for forclosure and the one has not been mowed all year and homeless guys kicked in the front door to the other one but nothing has happened.

We walk our kids across the Madison ave. catwalk to school #31 twice a day and wish they would clean that up alot of grafiti and litter but nothing threatening. We also walk to Arby's on South ST. and Fountain Square branch of the library and have never come across as much as a rabid dog. One time a guy stopped me at a red light to tell me my tire was flat, I was waiting for it to turn green and cross the street to go fill it at VP.

I don't drink often but do occasionally go to the Vallrath Tavern at Talbott and PalmerI walk there and leave after midnight and have not been mugged coming home.

Other than cleaning up the neighborhood I wish they would do something about the stray/loose dog population. There seems to be a lot of Pit Bulls around here. I do not know if Indy has Pit Bull Laws but it needs them.

I would say other than the Fairgrounds and the Art Museum Avoid 38th St.
Avoid The East side Sherman ave, keystone and post rd all seem to be on the news quite often.

Other than that I would consider it to be a safe city. Safer than Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Nashville, and heck even Dayton Ohio for that case by far.

So come, see, and enjoy all that there is to do and enjoy and don't be afraid!