Indianapolis has more crime than Los Angeles???

[urbanologist]

It makes me wonder how our peer city Columbus,OH has a lower crime rate than we do. What are they doing different?

[ColdAilment]

My impression is that Indy's high crime rate is mostly due to several pockets throughout the city. There are always troubled neighborhoods or problematic areas, I believe this is the case in Indy, and most people will not be involved in or even witness any of these crimes. The murders are usually drug related, the burglaries happen in the bad neighborhoods, etc.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by wh15395

OMG, Indianapolis has twice as much crime than LA! I guess it must be close to the most dangerous big city in the country! Oh, wait....Looks like Seattle, Chicago, DC, Nashville, Philly, Miami, and a bunch of other cities also have twice the crime of Los Angeles. Not saying it's a good thing that there's so much crime, but Indianapolis isn't exactly an anomaly here.

It isn't an anomaly.

The faulty belief here, which for some reason is held by a lot of people (including the OP), is that LA is some sort of dangerous toxic cesspool. It's very big and has a lot of everything in absolute numbers, including crime, but its crime per capita is actually very low (and it's been getting lower in recent years.)

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

My impression is that Indy's high crime rate is mostly due to several pockets throughout the city. There are always troubled neighborhoods or problematic areas, I believe this is the case in Indy, and most people will not be involved in or even witness any of these crimes. The murders are usually drug related, the burglaries happen in the bad neighborhoods, etc.

This is correct, but it's the same in virtually every city.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Radical347

This is correct, but it's the same in virtually every city.

There are a few exceptions to this.

Most pronounced would be Detroit, where only pockets of the city are affluent or safe. Memphis and New Orleans don't fare much better, yet their reputation isn't as badly tarnished. One that flies beneath the radar, partially due to its size is Jackson Mississippi.

That being said, it is like this in most cities. NO city is without crime, and very few cities are overrun by crime as the tabloids or this crime data websites may have us believe.

[billman5000]

Wants2MoveNOW - By your reasoning, Compton is safe because LA's average crime rate is lower than Indy's.

Crime in much of central Indy is atrocious, yes. Most people in high-paying IT jobs live well away from those areas.