Crime in Longview/Kelso (Seattle, Long Beach: house, taxes, living in)

[Luv2Jailem]

The crime rate in Longview/Kelso is extremely high and I believe right now the hightest in Washington. I can assure you there are no areas the police dont go. In fact those places are where most of the officers time is spent. The problem I believe is two-fold: A felony only jail and not nearly enough police.

If your average Joe citizen living here the biggest thing you will have to worry about is your property walking off while you sleep. And it is a direct correlation to the drug culture and not holding people responsible for the myriad little things they do before they graduate to the big crimes.

[Quantum]

I can understand your perspective Luv2, but you are at street level.

Not enough officers and not holding people responsible earlier, happens in most counties.

Usually there are bigger economic forces at work, to result in higher crime for a region.

[Luv2Jailem]

That was fast Quantum and you are right. There's a laundry list of other reasons and contributing factors to the high crime in the area.

[frankintank]

Responding to Quantum's query:

the site where I saw the crime data is linked to this one, but the way I get to it is always by city name, since I look up many different ones. In Google advanced search, under exact phrase, I'll type city, state. (Longview, Washington). Then under "contains at least one of the following" - I'll type crime, weather. Unless it's a miniscule place, it'll pull up a page that paints a thumbnail sketch of wherever it is you're looking at. THAT page will often link to a page like this one. I'm so sorry that my hunch about Longview was if anything - too optimistic.

[allie]

Hi, I Moved There A Year Ago And Just Recently Left. Meth Is A Very Big Problem Whether You Want It To Be Or Not. It Is Nice Country If You Have The Money To Live In The Outskirts. My Ex Grew Up There And Moved Away. If You Have Kids I Think I Would Re-think About Moving There.

[al152]

I live on the outskirts and we feel safe but the meth is a problem here as it is in otherparts of the country.Our property our going up but not out of site yet and still less than Portland.There is no place that the police/sherriffs dep. won't go.As far as the weather its nice in the summer and damp/wet in the winter

[Cowlitz County]

For those who are countering my "police don't go certain places" statement...I was just passing on information I was told by a Cowlitz County Sheriff. I guess he may not be the most reliable source, but I figured he knew what he was talking about! Sorry for the confusion.

[tommy pieyed]

I lived in walla walla for several years, 2000-2004. Everyone knows kelso has lots of dirt bag mexicans. It is like a designated area for them. It is a dirty looking place. Walla Walla, on the other hand isn`t bad. The race relations there are pretty good!

[Cowlitz County]

Another murder last night in Kelso-Longview.

[WazzuCoop21]

I can't say anything specifically about the Longview area, but the reality in the Tri-Cities is that violent crime was almost non-existent 20 years ago and has begun to rise steadily in certain areas (east Kennewick & Pasco) in an almost direct correlation to the waves of illegal immigrants coming into those area. That's not counting the drug & gang issues that are also steadily increasing--unfortunately. I guess that's what happens when towns grow as fast as the TC are growing. But, I'd still move back there over almost anywhere else in the country, cause I think it's still the best place to live in the NW.