Crime Wave? (Phoenix, Chandler, Tempe: condo, crime rates, new home)

[Boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by Robin Holland

Hmmm, maybe you didn't read my reply to your request on the 21st of February. You can here...

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...tml#post389286

No, I didn't see your earlier reply. Apologies for that. I should have gone back and looked.


I just Googled "most dangerous cities" and found what looks to be a more recent ranking from the same company, news article dated Oct 2006 on the CNN site. Phoenix isn't anywhere in the Top 25:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/30/real...ney_topstories

Likewise, Gilbert, AZ (a Phoenix suburb) is #12 on the SAFEST cities to live:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/30/real...ney_topstories

Gilbert was also ranked on the list of best cities to live last year. I think it was Money magazine's list, but I can't remember.

The ONLY place I did find Phoenix was on the Rankings of Metropolitan Areas, and even then, it was only #15. In a city this big, I think that's pretty darn good.

http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm

As evidenced above by Gilbert's ranking, some of the suburbs of Phoenix are, for the most part, quite safe compared to other big city 'burbs.

Additionally, this ranking company leaves Illinois out of the ranking, and I imagine Chicago would dwarf Phoenix in crime. Also, I don't agree that auto theft consitutes violent crime (under most circumstances). Since the ranking company includes auto theft among their 6 criteria, I think that pushes Phoenix up the list b/c we're so close to the border and auto theft may be a problem.

Finally, here's a link to a summary of all city sizes (only top 5):

http://www.securityworld.com/infocenter/most-dangerous-places-to-live-in-the-us/ (broken link)

I've been to many of these cities, and lived in a few. Aside from Camden, NJ, which I found to be nothing but scary, every other city that I've been to on that list has good parts and bad parts and I didn't see one bad part. Yes, I didn't see all of the city and intentionally stayed away from the bad parts. But my point is that EVERY city has crime and EVERY city has good parts and bad parts. You just can't escape crime, and to make your living decision based primarily on ONE poll doesn't make a lot of sense to me (and odds are, most polls and rankings and studies and lists you find will be different). Yes, crime should be considered when moving. But it should be considered ALONG with many other important criteria.

I continue to disagree with your perception that Phoenix is a crime ridden city, but we're each entitled to our opinion and we can agree to disagree. I'm sorry that so many people think crime is so bad here. But if people decide not to move here based soley on the fact that they think the crime is terrible, then they're probably making the right decision b/c there weren't enough Phoenix positives for them in the first place, if that makes any sense....they would have been unhappy here eventually for any number of reasons, likely not even related to crime.

[heaton]

Iv lived in Phoenix for over 20 years and your kidding yourself if you don't think Phoenix is filled with crime. It get's worse every year.....

[Boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by heaton

Iv lived in Phoenix for over 20 years and your kidding yourself if you don't think Phoenix is filled with crime. It get's worse every year.....

Apparently I'm not doing a good job of explaining my point, which is that EVERY large city has crime and YOU are kidding YOURSELF if you think that's not the case. If you want to live in, or near, a large city, you must understand that there will be crime. It's as simple as that. Since you have ONLY lived in Phoenix for the past 20 yrs and have NOT lived in any other large cities, you obviously have no real life way to make this comparison, but there are much worse places to live then Phoenix. Yes, crime now is worse then it was 20 yrs ago in Phoenix. However, crime NOW in Phoenix is not nearly as bad as it is NOW in other cities.

I think that, even though I'm not a big fan of these polls posted by the PP and me, they do show that, yes, Phoenix has crime, but it's not nearly as bad as other cities, and it's most definitely not as bad as many people on this board make it out to be.

Of course the crime gets worse every year. Seriously!! There are hundreds of thousands more people in this city then there were 20 yrs ago. And when you moved here 20 yrs ago, people who already lived here were complaining about the crime and saying "20 yrs ago, crime was never this bad." Do you really think that the crime increase is exclusive to Phoenix? Crime in EVERY city has gotten worse every year b/c there are simply more people in this country. Which leads me back to my initial point which is that to decide NOT to move here based soly on a poll that says Phoenix is #15 on a list of least safe places to live does not make a lot of sense to me. Likewise, to claim that Phoenix is "crime filled" makes just about as much sense...

[MotleyCrew]

Well said Boatdrinks. We would much rather live here, close to Phoenix than in Orlando or Los Angeles, or Sacramento.

[Robin Holland]

Originally Posted by Boatdrinks

I just Googled "most dangerous cities" and found what looks to be a more recent ranking from the same company, news article dated Oct 2006 on the CNN site. Phoenix isn't anywhere in the Top 25

Somehow I get the feeling that you just want to dismiss the links that I found in previous posts, so if it makes you feel better to think you're living in a safe city, then good for you! The list that I provided showed the most dangerous metropolitan areas, and not just cities that make up the Greater metropolitan area. When I live in a city, the entire area is important to me, not just parts of it, and that is why the Greater metropolitan area means more to me.

In that list, Phoenix is in the top-25, and of the major city metropolitan areas of over, or around 3 million population, only Detroit, Las Vegas, and Miami finished ahead of it, so that means that Greater Phoenix is more dangerous than the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and NYC metropolitan areas. Not only that, but Arizona is also named as the 4th most dangerous state. Where do you think the crime in Arizona is occurring? Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott, or Phoenix and Tucson?

I can understand if you're trying to defend your city if you like it, but the fact remains that it is a dangerous place. I have discovered this for myself since I began looking through the posts here that describe it, as well as doing some research myself, and I also think that most people that live elsewhere in America are aware that Phoenix is a dangerous city and that Arizona is a dangerous state as well.

[Robin Holland]

Originally Posted by Boatdrinks

Of course the crime gets worse every year. Seriously!! There are hundreds of thousands more people in this city then there were 20 yrs ago. And when you moved here 20 yrs ago, people who already lived here were complaining about the crime and saying "20 yrs ago, crime was never this bad." Do you really think that the crime increase is exclusive to Phoenix? Crime in EVERY city has gotten worse every year b/c there are simply more people in this country.

Actually, the population growth shouldn't really matter too much because crime figures are based per 100,000 people. Crime in Phoenix 20 years ago was calculated per 100,000 people. Crime in Phoenix in 2007 is calculated per 100,000 people. This is done in all places around the country, and in some cases, crime has in fact dropped with population increase, while in other places, such as Phoenix, it appears to have risen with population increase.

Originally Posted by Boatdrinks

Which leads me back to my initial point which is that to decide NOT to move here based soly on a poll that says Phoenix is #15 on a list of least safe places to live does not make a lot of sense to me. Likewise, to claim that Phoenix is "crime filled" makes just about as much sense...

Number 15 on a least safe place list seems pretty scary to me I must admit. LOL

[irwin]

There was an article in today's Republic that stated that despite the Phoenix area having less than a third of LA's population, we have four times the amount of people awaiting trial for death penalty cases. In fact, the problem is so serious there are not enough qualified defense attorneys to handle these cases. The problem is so serious, the County Attorney was called in front of a special hearing of the court (a hearing the County Attorney doesn't want public, of course).

Anyway, some of the reason for the huge difference is because the law enforcement and DA's office are completely out of control. But another reason is because Phoenix is a dangerous place.

[AZ Rider]

Originally Posted by irwin

There was an article in today's Republic that stated that despite the Phoenix area having less than a third of LA's population, we have four times the amount of people awaiting trial for death penalty cases. In fact, the problem is so serious there are not enough qualified defense attorneys to handle these cases. The problem is so serious, the County Attorney was called in front of a special hearing of the court (a hearing the County Attorney doesn't want public, of course).

Anyway, some of the reason for the huge difference is because the law enforcement and DA's office are completely out of control. But another reason is because Phoenix is a dangerous place.

That tells me that the Maricopa county attorney is doing what we elected him to do and that LA authorities are letting down their citizens. Maybe that is part of the reason so many are moving here from LA.

[irwin]

Originally Posted by AZ Rider

That tells me that the Maricopa county attorney is doing what we elected him to do and that LA authorities are letting down their citizens. Maybe that is part of the reason so many are moving here from LA.

Yea and it's really helping with the crime rate. Some deterrent.

[Boatdrinks]

Originally Posted by Robin Holland

Somehow I get the feeling that you just want to dismiss the links that I found in previous posts, so if it makes you feel better to think you're living in a safe city, then good for you! The list that I provided showed the most dangerous metropolitan areas, and not just cities that make up the Greater metropolitan area. When I live in a city, the entire area is important to me, not just parts of it, and that is why the Greater metropolitan area means more to me.

In that list, Phoenix is in the top-25, and of the major city metropolitan areas of over, or around 3 million population, only Detroit, Las Vegas, and Miami finished ahead of it, so that means that Greater Phoenix is more dangerous than the Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Atlanta, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and NYC metropolitan areas. Not only that, but Arizona is also named as the 4th most dangerous state. Where do you think the crime in Arizona is occurring? Sedona, Flagstaff and Prescott, or Phoenix and Tucson?

I can understand if you're trying to defend your city if you like it, but the fact remains that it is a dangerous place. I have discovered this for myself since I began looking through the posts here that describe it, as well as doing some research myself, and I also think that most people that live elsewhere in America are aware that Phoenix is a dangerous city and that Arizona is a dangerous state as well.

Likewise, if it makes you feel better to think Phoenix is a crime-ridden city, then good for you

The links I provided showed that Phoenix wasn't anywhere in the Top 25 in one list, and #15 on another which supports my points. It's not a matter of discounting your polls; rather, I was supplementing them so anyone reading this board will know there is a bigger picture and more to the story then just a few polls supporting what you wanted them to support. Gilbert was #12 on the list of safest cities - that deserves publicity, as much as you feel that publicizing the danger of Phoenix does.

You already feel that Phoenix is a dangerous city, and I don't feel that it's as bad as you're making it out to be, and we're obviously NOT going to change each other's mind so I guess we should agree to disagree

That said, I admit that I'm curious which city you live in now and which city you're planning to move to instead of Phoenix....I'm assuming it's not one of the Top 25 list, is it?