why do miami homes have prison bars o nthem? (West Palm Beach: apartment, high crime)

[theten]

i know back in ny i amfrom ny and am moving here son. i just saw some houjses in a hisapnic place and im wondering why they have prison bars on windows. in ny we had them ut we thought it was safe here.

[illini84]

Pretty self explanatory: bars on windows = high crime area

And just as a side note, I've never heard anyone refer to Miami as "safe"

[doggiebus]

I think there are two reason. One you do see the bars more so in the neighborhoods that have crime for many years or if they have been hit. And second, many hispanics (I know I am generalizing) even if in "safe areas" will put them on their homes. In my area the only homes with bars on them (few) are owned by a hispanic person.

[compelled to reply]

It's kind of a Miami-Hispanic thing as Doggiebus said. You all know I don't like to generalize, but it's really true. Like ornamental/decorative. A lot of the bars were put up in the 80s (when the crime was VERY bad) to keep burglars out and in the neighborhoods that never recovered (and some that DID recover, see first sentence though) they just decided to keep them

[PBCboy]

In terms of safety, criminals can still get into your home even with those bars on them. My friend here in West Palm Beach has them on his home but that didn't stop the robber from breaking his door in. Not to mention, they are a fire hazard.

However, they are commonly used in Hispanic countries so it is both a cultural and safety issue (which is why they are also used in seedy pawn shop type-places).

[vdecapio]

Puerto Rico has bars on homes too.

[himain]

Are you really asking that question?? You honestly can't figure it out for yourself? Come on now!

[Chelito23]

My neighbor had bars on her windows. Back in the early 90's some thieves tried to break in. They took hammers to the concrete block walls where they were bolted on and they actually partially removed one. Now, that must have taken time and made a lot of noise (I was out of town and learned second hand), but this did not stop the thieves.

She ultimately had them put back on and welded INTO the rebard inside the cement block walls. Those babies aren't coming off unless you have the jaws of life now. Most of the abrs you see here are just nailed in, and are more of a deterrent, kind of like, next house will be a quicker, easier target.

Also, a lot of homes in West Miami, Flagami and Westchester have been removing the bars from their windows over the past years, as crime has gone down and the second and third generation immigran children lean toward more typical American styles in their homes.

[grove_nurse]

Well, I think that is a combination of what is considered to be a security issue as well as a cultural thing. In my mother's area near Silver Bluff, most if not all houses had bars during the 80's. I have never considered the place to be unsafe, but I guess that was the trend back then. Nowdays more and more people are getting rid of them, usually when they decide to do renovations, and install newer windows with alarm systems, so depending on the street you may see between 20 to 40% of houses that still have them. If you ever get to walk around one of those "transformational" neighborhoods you will also notice that those who live in the houses with bars tend to be older folks who actually like the way they look. BTW, I cannot speak for other areas where high crime makes it a necessity to use additional security measures, but the houses in that are look rather nice as a whole...

[garota123]

mostly for crime reasons. When I lived in DC depending on the neihborhood you'd see bars on the first couple of floors of an apartment or on ppl's house.
A friend who I stayed with in miami had bars all over her house and still managed to get some stuff stolen