Most dangerous (Las Vegas, Winnemucca: neighborhoods, law school, university)

[What!]

Maybe I'm being too skeptical but these "reports" usually don't go into detail about how the report was taken; how many people were surveyed; when it was surveyed; why it was surveyed; who benefits from the survey; and what to do to make things better. Is it just the new trend in the media to make random surveys? What's next? A survey about which state has the most colorblind, the most bald men, the most women with dd breasts, the most men with excessive body hair, the most bowlers? When will all these surveys end?

[mjay11]

anyone run by this in the general u.s. forum?
http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...es-2008-a.html

according to AOL, we are considered the #1 most dangerous state.
it even has a nice shot of las vegas to go with it

any thoughts?

[AK 47u]

I really don't see whats so dangerous about it.

[DoberPup]

Originally Posted by mjay11

anyone run by this in the general u.s. forum?
http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...es-2008-a.html

according to AOL, we are considered the #1 most dangerous state.
it even has a nice shot of las vegas to go with it

any thoughts?

This was reported on AOL, the original survey is by CQ Press who has done these surveys for some time now.

[mattzito]

There was a guy that was robbed and the guy shot his attacker in the back and as I recall was not prosecuted. This is in Las Vegas 5-10 years ago.

[mattzito]

My facts were a little wrong.

On Oct. 25, 1998, Las Vegas homeowner Tom Gaule, 42, fatally shot Jason Lamb, 26, and Ricky Tripp, 35, when Gaule found the pair robbing his residence. Gaule was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to probation. Police and prosecutors said Gaule chased Tripp down the road and shot him.
--In November of 1998, Niorge Marquez-Cobas, 25, was fatally shot by a homeowner after Marquez-Cobas and another man attempted to rob the victim at a residence in the 4700 block of Owens Avenue near Lamb Boulevard. The shooting was justified.

ReviewJournal.com - News - Two jailed in death of suspect in failed jewelry store robbery

Las Vegas Homeowner shoots intruder to death

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by DoberPup

This was reported on AOL, the original survey is by CQ Press who has done these surveys for some time now.

That survey is a bit of a joke. What CQ does is simply add car theft to the violent crimes. While Nevada is moderate on violent crimes it is high on car theft. That pushes us way up the list.

Note that what is really happening is a statistical quirk drives this list. NV is the third most "urban" state in the US behind NY and CA. That is most of the people in NV live in urban communities. Urban communities have higher crime than suburban and rural ones.

So NV is high but Las Vegas is actually middle third on crime.

Crime in Vegas is typical for a SW city and much lower than the rust belt cities.

[dynimagelv]

I guess they don't count DC....with it's 22 murders last month.

[cjski21]

Originally Posted by redwhiteblue

I was surprised to hear this on the morning news today


Silver State Wins Title For Fifth Straight Year

(Washington, DC) -- Nevada has captured the dubious honor of being named the nation's most dangerous state for the fifth straight year. That's according to CQ Press, the reference division of Congressional Quarterly. As the nation's fastest-growing state, the authors say Nevada has seen increases in all six crime categories surveyed -- murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and car theft -- from 2005 through 2006. Louisiana is the second most-dangerous state, followed by New Mexico, South Carolina and Arizona. New Hampshire has won the title of the safest state this year, followed by Maine. North Dakota, which held the ranking for ten straight years, fell to third this year. Vermont and South Dakota round out the top five.

It is because of the inflated and manipulated statistics. How can car theft be considered a violent crime??? And we are #1 for car theft (with twice as many as the next in line). So throw that in and yeah, it is no surprise we're number one. But when you lose the overblown and misleading stats, we are no more dangerous than the next. If people are naive enough to follow a report that groups car theft into a violent category, then good, we don't need that type of person here anyways. As a cop here, and as a cop in other cities before here, I will be the first to tell you we are not even top 50.

[constantgardner]

Hey guys, what is with this blind adoption of some unknown collector and reporter of statistics??? You have to consider the source of any information and what motivation they have. I went from NC to South Florida. While I was in law school, traveling on Interstate 95 I was a passerby from a cop chasing a car and they were open firing at each other. Before I moved here, I went on a cruise and in the parking lot of the airport, a cop was chasing a man and they were firing at each other in the parking lot. In Miami, we got lost one time, and a gun pointed in our direction because we trespassed into a gang infested area by a wrong turn. A man got mad at me in traffic when I was lost and he chased my car and pointed a gun at me cursing. We were in traffic in Ft. Lauderdale in the middle of the day when at least 12 cop cars and helicopters surrounded us on a major road to take down some car in traffic ahead of us and we were told to "Get down". This is what I consider crime out of control. Does NV have that? In the small towns or just in the big city or college areas? In NC, we slept without locks. In the town next to ours, Chapel Hill, I attended a very good school. In my class of 28,000, several girls were raped and a few were abducted and killed - all in separate incidents. Never in my hometown. So, does that make NC a dangerous place?

Those of you living in Winnemucca, or some of the non-urban, non-university towns, do you see violence upon innocents? Or, is it drunken or drug crazed brawls in bars or homes, or domestic violence? Is it safe to move about at night? Are there neighborhoods that are off limits?