[DenWa]

I've been reading the forum for a few months now and have recently moved to Las Vegas from Detroit. I've been on boards like this before, so I know what to expect and usually just chuckle or shake my head when I read some of the ridiculous stuff people write. But a common theme from many of you is that if you step out of your doorstep in Clark County you will inevitably be involved in a drive-by, mugging, turf war, gangland hit, etc. Enough with the fear rhetoric. I grew up in Detroit, my nieces and nephews are growing up in Detroit, and we all played outside...until the wee hours of the night, in fact. Detroit is a nightmare at times...you guys really have no idea what crime is. Yet it is quite possible to leave the panic room, step out into the sunshine, and not get mowed down in the crossfire - in Detroit, Las Vegas, or anywhere else.

DW

[verynicebecky]

where i moved from in kansas, my kids would play tennis at midnight at the main intersection of town while the local barney fife watched over them. i miss little things like that but it's not enough to make me want to go back. they could prolly do that here where we live in reno without incident, other than ppl complaining about disturbing the peace.

[jfkIII]

Originally Posted by DenWa

I've been reading the forum for a few months now and have recently moved to Las Vegas from Detroit. I've been on boards like this before, so I know what to expect and usually just chuckle or shake my head when I read some of the ridiculous stuff people write. But a common theme from many of you is that if you step out of your doorstep in Clark County you will inevitably be involved in a drive-by, mugging, turf war, gangland hit, etc. Enough with the fear rhetoric. I grew up in Detroit, my nieces and nephews are growing up in Detroit, and we all played outside...until the wee hours of the night, in fact. Detroit is a nightmare at times...you guys really have no idea what crime is. Yet it is quite possible to leave the panic room, step out into the sunshine, and not get mowed down in the crossfire - in Detroit, Las Vegas, or anywhere else.

DW

Thank you...this is extremely valuable info, if one is planning to move from Detroit to LV. For all of you coming from Detroit...it really is good news that crime is less in LV and you will feel safer there.

For all others coming from somewhere where is crime is low to moderate, LV will seem like Detroit to you.

It's all relative...and one shoe does not fit all feet.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Thank you...this is extremely valuable info, if one is planning to move from Detroit to LV. For all of you coming from Detroit...it really is good news that crime is less in LV and you will feel safer there.

For all others coming from somewhere where is crime is low to moderate, LV will seem like Detroit to you.

It's all relative...and one shoe does not fit all feet.

What is it with you? Don't you have the faintest idea what crime is like in upstate NY?

Albany 1351
Buffalo 1390
Newburg 1511
Poughkeepsie 1221
Rockester 928
Schenectady 995
Syracuse 1096

That is the violent crime rate in incidents per 100,000 population.

How do you sleep there at night so close to such scummy places? Would you really work in one of those? Albany has six times the violent crime of Henderson...Six times.

For the locals LV Metro is 744, Henderson 8s 186, North Las Vegas is 826 and Boulder City is 120.

Source is Table 8 of the 2005 Federal Crime Statistics.

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by olecapt

What is it with you? Don't you have the faintest idea what crime is like in upstate NY?

Albany 1351
Buffalo 1390
Newburg 1511
Poughkeepsie 1221
Rockester 928
Schenectady 995
Syracuse 1096

That is the violent crime rate in incidents per 100,000 population.

How do you sleep there at night so close to such scummy places? Would you really work in one of those? Albany has six times the violent crime of Henderson...Six times.

For the locals LV Metro is 744, Henderson 8s 186, North Las Vegas is 826 and Boulder City is 120.

Source is Table 8 of the 2005 Federal Crime Statistics.

Would you please give a link to your stats? I searched Table 8 for 2005 in the Federal Crime Statistics website.....here:
Table 8 - Crime in the United States 2005 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_08.html - broken link)

Couldn't find the violent crime rate in incidents per 100,000 population. Just the number of violent crimes.

I did find the Syracuse Metro violent crime rate per 100,000 population in Table 6. It is only 343.7

The link:
Table 6 - Crime in the United States 2005 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_06.html#s - broken link)

The Las Vegas Metro violent crime rate per 100,000 population is 674.9

So let's compare metros.....

Las Vegas Metro ~ 674.9
Albany Metro ~ 365.7
Buffalo Metro ~ 515.7
Poughkeepsie Metro ~ 274.3
Rochester Metro ~ 288.2
Syracuse ~ 343.7

Most upstate suburbs are very safe. For example, Syracuse's largest suburb...the Town of Clay...is ranked 34th "safest city" in the country.
http://www.city-data.com/top26.html

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

Would you please give a link to your stats? I searched Table 8 for 2005 in the Federal Crime Statistics website.....here:
Table 8 - Crime in the United States 2005 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_08.html - broken link)

Couldn't find the violent crime rate in incidents per 100,000 population. Just the number of violent crimes.

I did find the Syracuse Metro violent crime rate per 100,000 population in Table 6. It is only 343.7

The link:
Table 6 - Crime in the United States 2005 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/data/table_06.html#s - broken link)

The Las Vegas Metro violent crime rate per 100,000 population is 674.9

So let's compare metros.....

Las Vegas Metro ~ 674.9
Albany Metro ~ 365.7
Buffalo Metro ~ 515.7
Poughkeepsie Metro ~ 274.3
Rochester Metro ~ 288.2
Syracuse ~ 343.7

Most upstate suburbs are very safe. For example, Syracuse's largest suburb...the Town of Clay...is ranked 34th "safest city" in the country.
http://www.city-data.com/top26.html

Hey good work at least someone is paying attention. Table 8 is by police department...generally of a municipality. You arrive at the rate by dividing the crimes by the popualtion. That is you divide column two by column one and multiply by 100000. That is all there is to it.

The metro areas will certainly make upstate look better but will make the cities no safer. As a geographic construct the east has built core cities and then surrounded them by somewhat remote suburban towns. Keeps the white folk mostly away from people of color. The geography of Las Vegas is quite different. We all live in a single continuum. There are no outlying suburbs or towns...other than Boulder City which is quite safe but would vanish into the Vegas numbers.

So what you do is take the actual City of Syracuse and combine it with 500,000 people who don't live there. I could in a similar fashion combine Las Vegas with say North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa and similarly claim a very low crime rate. Would not however do much for the probability of getting knocked in the head in downtown Las Vegas. Similarly the probability of getting knocked in the head in downtown Syracuse is little effected by the fact it would be far less likely in the Town of Clay.

And the fact remains that the probablility of getting knocked in the head is far higher in downtown Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Schenectady or
Poughkeepsie than it is in Las Vegas.

Hey what happened to Newberg and Poughkeepsie? No Metro to hide the local crime rate behind?

[bellafinzi]

olecapt, thanks for reply.

Newburgh and Poughkeepsie are in the same Metro called "Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA" That's why I only listed the violent crime rate for the Poughkeepsie Metro.

BTW, most violent crime in the Syracuse area is limited to certain inner city neighborhoods/ghettos. Most areas are safe. In downtown Syracuse, most of the time you'll be fine with just a few street smarts....like don't stare, walk fast, act confident/tough, don't walk alone at night, stay near crowds of other people etc.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

olecapt, thanks for reply.

Newburgh and Poughkeepsie are in the same Metro called "Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown MSA" That's why I only listed the violent crime rate for the Poughkeepsie Metro.

BTW, most violent crime in the Syracuse area is limited to certain inner city neighborhoods/ghettos. Most areas are safe. In downtown Syracuse, most of the time you'll be fine with just a few street smarts....like don't stare, walk fast, act confident/tough, don't walk alone at night, stay near crowds of other people etc.

Same rules as Vegas. Violent crime has a 100:1 range over the various zip codes. If you worked down to neighborhoods it is probably a 1000:1.

I do not find Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo dangerous. I lived in Rochester for many years and am very familar with the area. Nor however do I consider Las Vegas dangerous. In my regular life in each I could not tell them apart. Both had crime...but it is a side nuisance that you don't spend a whole lot of attention on.

[Tom Lennox 70]

Originally Posted by jfkIII

Thank you...this is extremely valuable info, if one is planning to move from Detroit to LV. For all of you coming from Detroit...it really is good news that crime is less in LV and you will feel safer there.

For all others coming from somewhere where is crime is low to moderate, LV will seem like Detroit to you.

It's all relative...and one shoe does not fit all feet.

Actually Las Vegas is quite safe compared to Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, or Miami probably. One county here in Maryland, next to mine, probably has around half or 2/3 the population of Clark County and there are usually between 200 and 300 murders a year. My mom's former supervisor's mom retired to Vegas and they say its actually a lot less ghetto overall than the DC area which is also overpriced.

Vegas is one of the places I'm considering moving to in the future and I'd choose very hot over very cold. You can't have perfect whether unless you're in maybe San Francisco or LA but then maybe those places have the worst weather in the world if you factor in the earthquake factor. Well I mean if there's a quake in Southern California, Nevada isn't really impacted heavily is it...

[Tom Lennox 70]

I think the thing about kids playing on the streets being thugs and hoods is a common sentiment anywhere in the country. Here in my part of Maryland everyone says that unless they live in a gated community or in upscale subdivions. I would assume that as for gangs and all, they tend to concentrate in downtown areas in any major city...the outskirts and suburbs are usually very nice, unless we're talking suburban Maryland where Washington, D.C.'s mayor and city bosses are manipulating property values to push the ghetto out of the city. In downtown Washington $500,000 will get you a small apartment next to a major railyard and trucking facilities.