Crime in OK (Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman: house, safe neighborhood, college) - City-Data Forum

LoveitinVa · 08-29-2009, 05:21 PM

My husband and I are planning on relocating from the east coast. I've read a lot of great things about OKC, but we do have a couple of concerns. The most important one has to do with crime. In the past few month we've read a lot in the news about horrific crime in the southern states near the borders of Mexico, having to do with drug cartels, brutal murders, kidnappings, etc. Has that been an issue in OK and OKC?

_redbird_ · 08-29-2009, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveitinVa

My husband and I are planning on relocating from the east coast. I've read a lot of great things about OKC, but we do have a couple of concerns. The most important one has to do with crime. In the past few month we've read a lot in the news about horrific crime in the southern states near the borders of Mexico, having to do with drug cartels, brutal murders, kidnappings, etc. Has that been an issue in OK and OKC?

There are several sites that detail the crimes in various neighborhoods and it specifies what type of crime it is. Maybe someone has a link. I know it has been posted in the past.

Overall, I would say OKC is a lot safer than other large metros. Most of the locals can tell you which areas to stay away from and which parts are best for you and your family.

Good luck on your move.

isotope · 08-30-2009, 01:03 AM

I just moved from the OKC area to the East Coast (the opposite of what you are about to do), so I feel qualified to give you advice on this subject.

...

Lady, crime is so absurdly non-existent in much of Oklahoma that you will probably have a hard time adjusting to how tame it is there. People are MUCH more friendly and open in Oklahoma. By and large, East Coast rules of dealing with strangers do not apply in Oklahoma... which really does lend a feeling of calm/ease.

For instance, I felt comfortable leaving the front door of my house unlocked and my garage open all day.

I felt at ease leaving valuables (!) in my car with the windows cracked (it does get hot during the summer).

That being said, if you manage to unknowingly move yourself into one of the "crime-heavy" areas of OKC (keep in mind that this term is relative), then you deserve a prize for being a monumental screw up. If you are bringing an East Coast income/budget to OKC... where the cost of living is ridiculously low in comparison... then your chances of slipping into a bad crime area are practically zero.

You also need to chalk this up to the fact that no one walks anywhere in Oklahoma. Ever. So the potential for street crime is much less. There are so many safe suburban neighborhoods within a reasonable commute (at least time wise) of anything in OKC, that it doesn't make much sense to live in an "urban" area. For that matter, don't expect to find an urban experience equivalent to what you encounter on the East Coast.

With all that said, I had a great time living in Oklahoma (where I lived in Tulsa, OKC, Edmond and Norman over the course of 20 years).

isotope · 08-30-2009, 01:15 AM

Another thing. If you have spent most of your life on the East Coast, it will take some time for you to adjust to how vast and open the Midwest/West is.

All of the Mexican drug cartel crime that you speak of truly happens on the US/Mexico border. Let's say that you want to travel to one of the cartel hotspots that is "close" to OKC. If you are so determined, El Paso is one of the closest destinations... and it is roughly 11 hours away. Nuevo Laredo (2-3 hours to the SW of San Antonio) is 10-11 hours from OKC.

For reference, that's roughly equivalent to driving from DC (where I live now) to Jacksonville, Florida.

Jammie · 08-30-2009, 09:20 PM

Oklahoma City Crime Map - Showing Crime in Oklahoma City, OK - Crime Statistics - Crime Alerts - Crime Stops Here

Here's one of the crime maps that I use although most police dept. sites have one, too. This one is so easy to read and you can narrow down the higher crime areas. There's an address search right above the map, left-hand side. If you know an addy that you would be living at or near, you can see if it's relatively safe.

Good luck to you.

colleeng47 · 08-31-2009, 08:22 AM

Haha, I had to laugh at what Isotope said about the "difference" between OKC and eastern cities. We moved here from NJ about a year and a half ago. My 19 year old son has not adjusted and wants to go back to NJ, but that's okay because all his friends are there. One of his complaints recently was "I was driving to work, and see the sign 'Oklahoma City limits', and as I glance around, I see cows, horses and ranches. This is THE CITY??"

He's basically a city boy at this time of his life and needs to be back in NJ. He'll come back one day, I'm sure.

And remember we have the BIG state of Texas between OK and the Mexican border. Good luck on your move. If you want any specifics, just dm me.

LoveitinVa · 08-31-2009, 06:46 PM

Thanks so much for all of your replies.

They have been very helpful in easing our minds and the link to crime spots will prove helpful, I'm sure. I can totally relate to what you said coleeng47 about your son. We're from NYC and have two teenagers. When I mentioned OKC to them, they were horrified! We're not moving right away, though. They'll both be off in college by then. Hopefully after living in a small college town for four years, OKC will seem like a nice place to live to them. I really want the family to stay together. They're city kids too, but I just can't take NYC anymore. It's great when you're in your 20's I guess, but years of commuting to Manhattan has really done me in. From what I've read in my research, OKC has everything I'm looking for in a place to live, with the exception of tornadoes.

That, in itself, might be the deal breaker, but we're still keeping it high on our list.

StillwaterTownie · 08-31-2009, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by isotope

Lady, crime is so absurdly non-existent in much of Oklahoma that you will probably have a hard time adjusting to how tame it is there. People are MUCH more friendly and open in Oklahoma. By and large, East Coast rules of dealing with strangers do not apply in Oklahoma... which really does lend a feeling of calm/ease.

For instance, I felt comfortable leaving the front door of my house unlocked and my garage open all day.

I felt at ease leaving valuables (!) in my car with the windows cracked (it does get hot during the summer).

Don't you dare take the above poster seriously. In Stillwater I usually don't leave my car unlocked, much less leave valuables, such as a laptop, in open sight. I don't dare go to bed at night with the doors of house unlocked. But I was shocked recently that I had absent mindedly left my garage door open over night. Fortunately, nothing bad happened. Over the years, there's just been too many horror stories in the news over what happens to people you fail to do the above precautions. Why think nothing bad like thievery can happen to you? It's far from common, but women have been known to be raped in the middle of the night in Stillwater after going to bed with the door unlocked.

Yeah, decades ago, my family were once very rural people who actually left our farm home and vehicles unlocked. But living in innocence like that had to end a few years after we moved to Stillwater. What happened was that in a decent nearby neighborhood a mother and her little daughter were murdered in cold blood, slit ear to ear. From then on my mother insisted that the house doors be kept locked before going to bed at night.

LoveitinVa · 08-31-2009, 11:17 PM

Thanks StillwaterTownie for the info and advice. After living in NYC and in another big east-coast city, I would never leave the doors or windows of anything open, even with me in it. I take the keys out of my car and lock it just to throw a letter in the mailbox I'm parked next to. But it is nice to know there are still places in the US where people still feel comfortable doing that. Even if we moved to such a safe neighborhood, I'm so accustomed to locking everything up, I don't think I would ever feel comfortable enough to do that. My in-laws live in the mountains of Pennsylvania. When I visit them, I lock up things to keep the bears out.

So how about tornadoes? We rarely have any natural disasters in the north east. The thought of them is scary. I've always wondered why people live in areas prone to such disasters and now I'm thinking about moving to one.

Are they really that frequent and a cause of great concern for residents?

colleeng47 · 09-01-2009, 08:19 AM

Don't let the tornadoes scare you. I work with many people who have lived here their whole lives and they've never seen a tornado up close and personal.

Because the area is prone to tornadoes, though, we have all sorts of systems in place to protect ourselves. Most people have storm shelters on their property (we had one outside that was continually flooded, so this year we put one in the garage.) Most people also have a weather radio. They sell for like $30 in any hardware store. You can program it so it goes off when there is severe weather in your area. When weather is bad the local TV stations post continuous news about any tornado outbreaks. And -- your township will have a warning siren that goes off when a tornado is spotted. So, unless you sleep like a rock, or are totally clueless, it's iimpossible to not know what to do to protect yourself.

Most people I know here (myself included) run outside when the sirens go off to see if they can spot the tornado. Also, tornadoes tend to be mostly in the spring, although one can pop up in the summer or fall too. But if you stay aware you won't have anything to worry about. And the lightening and thunderstorms are phenomenal!