Crime in Salem-Please read (Springfield: real estate, rent, houses)

[Steve Pickering]

Actually Salem has one of the lower Urban meth problems in the state.

[Oaklandfoo]

It sounds like you ended up in the wrong neighborhood somewhere in northeast salem. I live in NE but my street is full of long time homeowners who cause no trouble. Go over 2 blocks in all 4 directions and it's not the same story.

Crime rate for a zip code won't really tell you anything relevant. You would have gotten better info from a cab driver. Meth and Heroin are bad in Salem, don't let anyone tell you any different. I mean it's bad in Portland, but you can easily separate yourself from it in that giant ass city. In salem you will run into a tweeker every single friggin day.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Oaklandfoo

... ... Meth and Heroin are bad in Salem, don't let anyone tell you any different. I mean it's bad in Portland, but you can easily separate yourself from it in that giant ass city. In salem you will run into a tweeker every single friggin day.

It's bad all over Oregon, and the rest of the United States, but Salem is in the lower numbers when you look at per capita. Coos County is the worst with Multnoma near the top. Marian and Polk are in the middle.

[Nurse Bishop]

New Faces Of Meth Ads Are Utterly Harrowing - Business Insider

What to do about it?
Jefferson Public Radio - Meth

[Notlikeitininoregon]

IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN PLEASE READ: I have lived in many large and small cites all over the United States (I travel for work). I am very disappointed in Salem and outlining areas. I researched, called police, interviewed, drove around and yes I live in a very safe area. However, the drug use here in Salem and outlining smaller towns is unbelievable. Working in healthcare for the past 12 years I have heard many horrible stories and have always been aware of drugs, what my patients use, etc. However, the amount of pills, meth, heroin, marijuana that occurs is larger than I have ever seen and very young children have very high access to these substances. I do not know if it is because the areas here are more spread out, less structured activities, lower SES, less parental supervision or overall stupidity. This has been an eye opener for me and I advise anyone who has young children to not move here. Overall this is a prison town and it seems that the police and law enforcement are understaffed to tackle the overflow of drug sales/usage that occurs. For young parents (living here or forced due to work or family to move here) who are not using drugs and not around drugs please educate your children, protect them, stay involved, know where they are at all times, who they are with and do not allow them to "run around" (example: the mall) without an adult. For those who are thinking about moving here the school systems are sub-par and unless you have the money to pay for private school your child may learn enough skills to work a minimum wage job that is if they do not get "sucked into the drugs" and the crime lifestyle. I am fortunate that I am very involved with my kids, I know where they are, who they are with and what they are doing all the time. BOTTOM LINE: there are way better places to live (education, better cost of living, lower drugs, family friendly) that are more family focused and provide a safer environment to raise children. To all Oregonians: I am sorry if this post offends you...the state has the most beautiful landscape and wonderful outdoor activities and maybe for you it is wonderful however for my family it is not the ideal.

[LindaBoBinda]

Question - if there are so few pockets - can you name the streets and cross streets?

And, if I may ask...what is the non-emergency number to the Salem PD?

We're moving up, sight unseen to Dallas/Salem area. All I know is to avoid Northeast Salem like the plague and if it's an apartment complex to make sure it's gated.

I'm really crossing my fingers for a house with a fenced yard that's NOT next to a railroad track or local meth user.

I also know to avoid any apartments that look like motels from the 50's... but that's true anywhere. I think.

I live in California and I am sort of shocked at some of the replies as to what is regarded as "safe" vs "unsafe" and what I wouldn't consider safe, others will. And vice versa.

My inlaws live in the nicest senior manufactured mobile home park I have ever seen, not too far from a thrift store that is one of the cleanest I've ever seen. I've never seen a "do it yourself recycling" bin area.
Yet, I think it wasn't too far from them that I saw a trailer park and a small parcel of neighborhood that instinctively told me to stay the hell away...like a gut wrenching signal.

I have no problem knocking on doors and asking potential neighbors questions or going to the local police station and giving them addresses. I called Vancouver PD last year when we were looking at that area and they were quite frank with me about where to avoid and what was a better area.

Good info here but you also have to back it up with common sense and a dash of street smarts

[Silverfall]

You can see crime stats on crimereports.com. SPD puts them on there. Just type in Salem Oregon and you can see where the sex offenders live and what type of crimes were committed where. The main line is (503) 588-6123. The crimereports map is just last month's stats so you would still want to call about an address.

I disagree to avoid NE Salem like the plague. That covers a lot of territory and the Jan Ree neighborhood is generally quite nice, especially north of Hayesville. I'm not sure how many gated apartments we have here, to be honest. I assume the person you heard that from was talking about Northgate, which is a higher crime area in Salem. Jan Ree is north of Ward, south of Kale and sandwiched between Lancaster and Cordon Rd.

Generally speaking the high crime areas are
1) the flats of West Salem (right off Edgewater with streets numbering 1st -7th)
2) Northgate (which is a designated revitalization district) a triangle between Silverton Rd, Portland Rd and I-5
3) the area sandwiched between I-5 and Lancaster in east Salem
4) an area south of Mission by the railroad tracks that has street names like Waller, Hines, etc
5) The southern part of the Richmond neighborhood, Lee St, Shelton street area.
6) A pocket in south Salem between Kuebler, Sunnyside, Commercial and Genie (tend to have a lot of thefts in this neighborhood)

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Notlikeitininoregon

IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN PLEASE READ: I have lived in many large and small cites all over the United States (I travel for work). I am very disappointed in Salem and outlining areas. I researched, called police, interviewed, drove around and yes I live in a very safe area. However, the drug use here in Salem and outlining smaller towns is unbelievable. Working in healthcare for the past 12 years I have heard many horrible stories and have always been aware of drugs, what my patients use, etc. However, the amount of pills, meth, heroin, marijuana that occurs is larger than I have ever seen and very young children have very high access to these substances. I do not know if it is because the areas here are more spread out, less structured activities, lower SES, less parental supervision or overall stupidity. This has been an eye opener for me and I advise anyone who has young children to not move here. Overall this is a prison town and it seems that the police and law enforcement are understaffed to tackle the overflow of drug sales/usage that occurs. For young parents (living here or forced due to work or family to move here) who are not using drugs and not around drugs please educate your children, protect them, stay involved, know where they are at all times, who they are with and do not allow them to "run around" (example: the mall) without an adult. For those who are thinking about moving here the school systems are sub-par and unless you have the money to pay for private school your child may learn enough skills to work a minimum wage job that is if they do not get "sucked into the drugs" and the crime lifestyle. I am fortunate that I am very involved with my kids, I know where they are, who they are with and what they are doing all the time. BOTTOM LINE: there are way better places to live (education, better cost of living, lower drugs, family friendly) that are more family focused and provide a safer environment to raise children. To all Oregonians: I am sorry if this post offends you...the state has the most beautiful landscape and wonderful outdoor activities and maybe for you it is wonderful however for my family it is not the ideal.

It isn't offensive. You are entitled to your opinion. Just curious where you live. Are you in Salem proper or one of the smaller surrounding towns?

[Steve Pickering]

Salem has one of the lowest drug problems in the state. Try Coos County. Notlikeitininoregon must be in one of the Salem Slums.

[drumcondra]

What part of town do you people live in? I have lived here for almost four years in south salem and I've never felt unsafe. There are bad areas of town but overall it is very safe and family friendly. Salem is really a wonderful community and I look forward to raising a family here soon. It's too bad OP and 'notlikingitinoregon' have had bad experiences, but I find it surprising they seem to think Salem is some kind of drug den.