The most dangerous cities in America, 2013. Memphis #5 (low income, high crime)

[hunterseat]

No. My feelings are based on having lived there for 20 years. Many close friends and neighbors were victims of violent crimes including a retired coworker/ guard member who was beaten to death when his truck was stolen. Another older man I worked with was beaten and run over with his own truck as they stole it. There's more but I left it behind. Creeps me out thinking about that place. I had a German Shepherd with me nearly every where I went so no. No one messed with this little white girl.

And NEWS FLASH it's not like that everywhere.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

No. My feelings are based on having lived there for 20 years. Many close friends and neighbors were victims of violent crimes including a retired coworker/ guard member who was beaten to death when his truck was stolen. Another older man I worked with was beaten and run over with his own truck as they stole it. There's more but I left it behind. Creeps me out thinking about that place. I had a German Shepherd with me nearly every where I went so no. No one messed with this little white girl.

And NEWS FLASH it's not like that everywhere.

Fair enough

Hope you are happier in your new residence. Memphis definitely has a crime problem, but many people blow it out of proportion and use the news as justification for their opinion. It may not be like this everywhere, but almost all major cities have major city problems and that includes crime. Memphis has more than it’s fair share because this city generally has more poverty than many other cities. It is what it is.

[hunterseat]

Thanks. Hawaii's a nice place to dwell.

Agreed on the poverty, tied to corruption. Big time.

[Krishellfell]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

No. My feelings are based on having lived there for 20 years. Many close friends and neighbors were victims of violent crimes including a retired coworker/ guard member who was beaten to death when his truck was stolen. Another older man I worked with was beaten and run over with his own truck as they stole it. There's more but I left it behind. Creeps me out thinking about that place. I had a German Shepherd with me nearly every where I went so no. No one messed with this little white girl.

And NEWS FLASH it's not like that everywhere.

I too am constantly told this story by lots of natives I guess that every major city is like Memphis in this regard. The minute I say it's not like that in every major city, people become visibly enraged as if I'm hurling some kind of personal insult. After living in several different kinds of cities, I can agree with you ! IT's not like this everywhere in the US ! For some reason there seems to be an attempt to claim that " look Memphis is not that different than any other major city" Sorry, I just cringe and shake my head with a bit of disbelief in how anyone can be that underinformed or downright inexperienced to really and actually believe that. No, Memphis is different in many respects ! in some cases in a good way and in many other cases in a very bad way as well. And of course some will chime in and say it's the same way in every city (again), and I can only say they need to move around the US and see for themselves that everywhere does not mirror Memphis. Not by a longshot.



Kristine

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Tigertate

Memphis always ranks high on these unofficial lists because of the FBI method we use to report crimes (I.e. reporting every incident instead of just the most severe or most relavant) mixed with our somewhat low population. That is a perfect storm for very bad looking per capita numbers. Most other cities do not report crime this way. That is why you never see cities like Chicago, Houston, or LA pop up high on these list. They have the opposite scenerio. They report only the most severe or most relevant incident at a crime scene while having very large populations. This makes cities like Memphis look much worse than they really are and cities like Chicago seem much safer than they really are.

I'm not sure I understand. Cities like Chicago and Los Angeles will just forgo reporting a murder? That seems a little...illegal, doesn't it?

Perhaps if whatever you're attempting to describe exists, it also exists in Chicago, since it has a higher murder rate and more actual murders than both Los Angeles and New York City, both cities have 1 million more residents in the city limits and millions more in the metro.

Saying Memphis has a low population isn't much of an excuse either. Cities like New Orleans, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Stockton, Rochester, Buffalo, Birmingham, Jackson, and even Atlanta ALL have lower city populations but almost all of them have far larger metro populations, so I'm not really seeing how Memphis has a "low" population and how that skews the numbers. The city population of Memphis vs its metro is surprisingly high. The city makes up about half of the metro. 650,000 in the city and 1.2 million in the metro vs other cities like:

Atlanta, 430,000 city over 5 million metro
Cleveland, 350,000 city over 2 million metro
Birmingham 212,000 city over 1 million metro
New Orleans, 390,000 city over 1 million metro

So what's the correlation here?

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

I'm not sure I understand. Cities like Chicago and Los Angeles will just forgo reporting a murder? That seems a little...illegal, doesn't it?

Perhaps if whatever you're attempting to describe exists, it also exists in Chicago, since it has a higher murder rate and more actual murders than both Los Angeles and New York City, both cities have 1 million more residents in the city limits and millions more in the metro.

Saying Memphis has a low population isn't much of an excuse either. Cities like New Orleans, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Stockton, Rochester, Buffalo, Birmingham, Jackson, and even Atlanta ALL have lower city populations but almost all of them have far larger metro populations, so I'm not really seeing how Memphis has a "low" population and how that skews the numbers. The city population of Memphis vs its metro is surprisingly high. The city makes up about half of the metro. 650,000 in the city and 1.2 million in the metro vs other cities like:

Atlanta, 430,000 city over 5 million metro
Cleveland, 350,000 city over 2 million metro
Birmingham 212,000 city over 1 million metro
New Orleans, 390,000 city over 1 million metro

So what's the correlation here?

Umm, a murder would always be the most severe offense at a crime scene would it not? No one said cities like Chicago are not reporting murders. Murder is the one true metric that you can use to judge cities. If you research it you would notice that Memphis is probably not even in the top 10 nationally for per capita murder even though we constantly rank in the top 5 in these worst crime lists. What I am saying is that at a murder scene where there was also a robbery and several other offenses, Memphis would report EVERY INCIDENT. Many other cities just report the Murder. My point about the population is that with Memphis's reporting method and relatively low population (i.e. relative to other very large cities) it makes the city look much worse crime wise than it actually is. Cities like Chicago, Philly, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Cleveland, Cincy, etc. are every bit as crime ridden as Memphis, but Memphis typically ranks higher on these unofficial list.

[ColdAilment]

Originally Posted by Tigertate

Umm, a murder would always be the most severe offense at a crime scene would it not? No one said cities like Chicago are not reporting murders. Murder is the one true metric that you can use to judge cities. If you research it you would notice that Memphis is probably not even in the top 10 nationally for per capita murder even though we constantly rank in the top 5 in these worst crime lists. What I am saying is that at a murder scene where there was also a robbery and several other offenses, Memphis would report EVERY INCIDENT. Many other cities just report the Murder. My point about the population is that with Memphis's reporting method and relatively low population (i.e. relative to other very large cities) it makes the city look much worse crime wise than it actually is. Cities like Chicago, Philly, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Cleveland, Cincy, etc. are every bit as crime ridden as Memphis, but Memphis typically ranks higher on these unofficial list.

The population part still makes absolutely NO sense. Memphis has a larger city population than Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Cleveland, AND Cincinnati. I think you're fighting a losing battle here. I wouldn't call Memphis a Detroit, but it seems like you're trying to play that card saying that it's just as bad as other cities. Memphis is decidedly more dangerous with higher crime rates than most other cities be it larger or smaller.

Just so happens most of the cities you listed also have crime problems, but consider the fact that Louisville, Indianapolis, Columbus, Kansas City, Austin, Seattle, and Boston are all similar in size with city population and NONE of those are as prolific in their violent crime as Memphis is.

Memphis has its nice areas, of course, but it has quite a few bad areas.

I hate to get off subject and attack something as subjective as its scenery, but Memphis just looks old, dated, and poor. The downtown especially looks rundown compared with other cities around its size. There is a reason people call Memphis the largest city in Mississippi you know.

[Tigertate]

Originally Posted by ColdAilment

The population part still makes absolutely NO sense. Memphis has a larger city population than Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, Cleveland, AND Cincinnati. I think you're fighting a losing battle here. I wouldn't call Memphis a Detroit, but it seems like you're trying to play that card saying that it's just as bad as other cities. Memphis is decidedly more dangerous with higher crime rates than most other cities be it larger or smaller.

Just so happens most of the cities you listed also have crime problems, but consider the fact that Louisville, Indianapolis, Columbus, Kansas City, Austin, Seattle, and Boston are all similar in size with city population and NONE of those are as prolific in their violent crime as Memphis is.

Memphis has its nice areas, of course, but it has quite a few bad areas.

I hate to get off subject and attack something as subjective as its scenery, but Memphis just looks old, dated, and poor. The downtown especially looks rundown compared with other cities around its size. There is a reason people call Memphis the largest city in Mississippi you know.

I love how youkeep missing the point about the population mixed with the REPORTING METHOD. I am not saying that Memphis has a high crime rate because of its population. I am saying that when you mix the reporting method with the population you get a mixture that makes the city look worse than it is when looking at per capita crime numbers. These unofficial list do not even consider the fact that different cities report crime in different ways and that they are not really using an apples to apples comparison. The cities I listed do have comparable or smaller city populations, but they do not report crime the way Memphis does.How do you think their crime numbers would look if they did? Would they not look worse than they do right now? That is the point I am making. If you still do not get what I am saying I am sorry. I am not trying to say that Memphis does not have a crime problem. What I am saying is that Memphis is not one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in the country.

[the_commuter]

Of course Memphis has a crime problem. We all know that. But we really do appreciate folks from Hawaii, Chicago, etc., who never contribute anything to this board whatsoever contributing to the discussion. Welcome, folks! (It's always bizarre to me that people are so happy to 'escape' Memphis; yet, they can't seem to actually leave. Weird.) Do any of you have any actual insight into crime in Memphis -- or are you just here to state the obvious?

And welcome back to our resident troll who has found yet another new screen name!

[hunterseat]

I've become a recent CD addict, am on a business trip to a neighboring island and am bored.

I transferred to Memphis before some of you were even born and left about 18 months ago. I have friends and family still there. I've contributed in the past and will likely do so in the future.

Did you actually READ this thread?

Mahalo and Aloha Memphis.