Oakland and Richmond both in top 10 most dangerous cities in America. (San Francisco: crime rate, house)

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by John McClane

It must be since they beat out hundreds of other cities in the U.S in order to earn the title of one of the most dangerous cities in the country.

On flip side, San Diego is always making it on the list of top 10 safest big cities in the U.S.

So law enforcement in San Diego is obviously doing something right while the same can't be said for Oakland and Richmond.

San Jose is safer than San Diego.

Go NorCal!

[majoun]

Originally Posted by skywalker400

Keep city limits in mind, so somewhere like Los Angeles, which has plenty of high crime neighborhoods, also has some middle class suburban places in the valley, which evens out the numbers somewhat.

L.A. does have neighborhoods with very low crime which balance out its high crime neighborhoods, but most of the valley does consist of high crime neighborhoods. 20 years ago before GM and Lockheed shut down you would have been correct (although L.A.'s crime rate was higher back then)

Richmond and Oakland both hold large poor populations and lack enough better off neighborhoods to skew stats in its favor. If Richmond, El Sobrante, El Cerrito, Albany and Berkeley were one town, the place wouldnt look quite so bad.

This is true.

As that list you are referring to is based on cities with 100k+ populations i believe, the Bay Area could have numerous safe cities as well too, if only places combined (Danville/San Ramon, Lamorinda/Walnut Creek, Livermore/Pleasanton). I agree crime is stubborningly high in Oakland and Richmond and major changes are needed for them to improve, but there are some large flaws in that survey annually released.

City limits do mean a lot. If Piedmont and even Emeryville were part of Oakland it would have a lower overall crime rate although it still would be quite high. Instead of Detroit levels it would be at Philadelphia levels. Pretty bad, but better than right now.

[rah]

Originally Posted by majoun

City limits do mean a lot. If Piedmont and even Emeryville were part of Oakland it would have a lower overall crime rate although it still would be quite high. Instead of Detroit levels it would be at Philadelphia levels. Pretty bad, but better than right now.

And if the eastern half of SF was made into it's own city it would have a murder rate of around 30/100k residents a year (300,000 residents give or take, and 89 murders in 2007)...that's higher than Philly, higher than Cleveland, higher than Memphis, higher than Oakland has been every year since 1995 (except for 2006)...political boundaries play a huge part in our perception of what city is "safe" or "unsafe," but in reality that can be pretty misleading as safety comes down to individual neighborhoods rather than entire cities...It can be especially misleading when it comes to such a chopped up metro such as the Bay Area, which has so many compact cities flowing right into each other.

And of course it goes both ways. The eastern half of SF would be considered one of the most dangerous cities in the country if it were on it's own...however, the western half of SF would be considered on of the safest cities in the country, with a murder rate of around 2/100k residents (500,000 residents, give or take, and 11 murders in 2007).

[bayarea-girl]

Wasn't there more than one thread done about this already?

[whydoucare?]

I saw on the news that a 15-yr old was killed at the Richmond Hilltop mall the other day. That is just sad, you cant even go to he mall there.

[rah]

^definitely sad...that's not the first murder or shooting to have happened at hilltop mall though. It's stuck right next to Richmond and San Pablo, two cities with some pretty significant violent crime rates. It's not surprising really, which is also pretty sad.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by rah

^definitely sad...that's not the first murder or shooting to have happened at hilltop mall though. It's stuck right next to Richmond and San Pablo, two cities with some pretty significant violent crime rates. It's not surprising really, which is also pretty sad.

Even in Richmond, a shooting at the mall is not something that happens all the time.

[City Boy]

Hill top mall is in a pretty nice area of Richmond. Not the norm.

[jman650]

Originally Posted by whydoucare?

I saw on the news that a 15-yr old was killed at the Richmond Hilltop mall the other day. That is just sad, you cant even go to he mall there.

Its totally sad and definitely a concern, but its not like you can't actually go to the mall there. I've been there several times and felt safer there than at Solano Mall in Fairfield. The area of Richmond its located in is practically Pinole. Shootings there don't even happen every year, and if you think about how many people shop and work there daily and consider the fact that its a mall in RICHMOND, its actually a relatively safe spot. But incidents like this do nothing to help the image of Richmond. And there's a good amount of Richmond that's not bad at all.

[rah]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Even in Richmond, a shooting at the mall is not something that happens all the time.

True, I wasn't trying to say people get shot there all the time...it's not a warzone or anything. But the area surrounding hilltop mall, while not the worst neighborhood around, has never been the most savory place (i might very well have been wrong in saying this wasn't the first murder or shooting IN the mall though...that was just an assumption...but honestly it's not far-fetched in the least). A quick search for "hilltop mall" on SFgate gave me these articles from the past 14 years:

Richmond police arrest suspect in slaying near Hilltop Mall
Perata's Dodge found near Hilltop Mall 9 hours after carjacking
RICHMOND / After 3 slayings, chief tells how he'll fight crime / Amid surge in violence, he talks tough -- but says long-term solution will take time
RICHMOND / Motive unknown in fatal shooting of Hercules teenager
Man dies in Richmond daytime drive-by shooting
RICHMOND / Coroner identifies men slain in car
RICHMOND / Teenage girl among 2 fatally shot in car
Richmond police investigate 2 fatal shootings
Richmond / Watch store holdup at mall -- 3 in custody
Richmond to declare state of emergency to curb spate of violence
RICHMOND / Beloved community activist slain / Retired nurse, 67, is killed while gardening
Police probe possible links in 5 separate Richmond shootings that kill 3
RICHMOND / Shootings of man, teen make 8 dead in 2 weeks

To be fair, all of those articles talk about killings NEAR hilltop mall (a couple on hilltop mall road, which circles the mall), but not actually in it...there is an article about a hold-up in the mall though. I would bet a fair amount of stuff that there have been non-fatal shootings at hilltop mall too...it's not like there's an invisible line that separates the mall from the rest of the neighborhood.