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While California has a three strikes, and you're out" law, it really means "two strikes, and you move to Albuquerque". Criminals start w/ a fresh slate doing that, and they prefer Albuquerque to other cities in N.M for the obvious reasons....someone w/ a lot of jail house tattoos doesn't really stand out like they would in a small town, there's a ready supply of drugs (and guns, apparently), the liberal leanings of the city mean they won't be ostracized (an unfortunate consequence of a liberal town, and I'm a liberal by any definition), etc. I'm not sure what it is going to take to change things there. For sure people need to let their voices be heard that things as they are are NOT acceptable. I don't see that though.
National crime rates have tracked lower for all over the US for the last 10 to 20 years; most theories center on an aging population committing fewer crimes. As the cited article points out, politicians and elected officials who "take credit" for a national downtrend in crime stats are playing games with the electorate.
Relative to the rest of NM, and relative to comparable cities in the region and throughout the country, crime in ABQ is still very high. Relative crime stats are the only relevant measure for comparing cities.
National crime rates have tracked lower for all over the US for the last 10 to 20 years; most theories center on an aging population committing fewer crimes. As the cited article points out, politicians and elected officials who "take credit" for a national downtrend in crime stats are playing games with the electorate.
Nevertheless crime in ABQ has decreased considerably over the last 10-20 years.
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Relative to the rest of NM, and relative to comparable cities in the region and throughout the country, crime in ABQ is still very high.
Crime in Farmington is higher than ABQ (City Data). The overall crime rate is similar to Tucson. The violent crime rate is similar to Las Vegas, NV. The property crime rate is similar to Austin, TX. (Wikipedia)
Per wikipedia, ABQ is middle of the pack (#29 of 72) for violent crime compared to other cities with populations over 250,000.
National crime rates have tracked lower for all over the US for the last 10 to 20 years; most theories center on an aging population committing fewer crimes. As the cited article points out, politicians and elected officials who "take credit" for a national downtrend in crime stats are playing games with the electorate.
Relative to the rest of NM, and relative to comparable cities in the region and throughout the country, crime in ABQ is still very high. Relative crime stats are the only relevant measure for comparing cities.
I'm close to agreeing with all of this. You are absolutely correct to note that crime rates are down nationwide and you need to evaluate cities (and politicians!) in that context. The only points I'd quibble about are the causes of the nationwide crime decrease and your description of Albuquerque's crime rate as very high. There's a lot of debate as to why crime rates are down. My favorite explanation is that it traces childhood lead exposure and that crime has declined since we eliminated leaded gasoline: America's Real Criminal Element: Lead | Mother Jones Here's another article walking through many different explanations for declining crime: Why Crime Keeps Falling - WSJ Finally, I wouldn't describe crime here as very high. It is above average, even high especially with respect to property crime. But our crime rates are not far out of the ordinary for a medium-size city.
I'm close to agreeing with all of this. You are absolutely correct to note that crime rates are down nationwide and you need to evaluate cities (and politicians!) in that context. The only points I'd quibble about are the causes of the nationwide crime decrease and your description of Albuquerque's crime rate as very high. There's a lot of debate as to why crime rates are down. My favorite explanation is that it traces childhood lead exposure and that crime has declined since we eliminated leaded gasoline: America's Real Criminal Element: Lead | Mother Jones Here's another article walking through many different explanations for declining crime: Why Crime Keeps Falling - WSJ Finally, I wouldn't describe crime here as very high. It is above average, even high especially with respect to property crime. But our crime rates are not far out of the ordinary for a medium-size city.
As I have pointed out before, my greatest concern is with property crime (home break-ins, car theft, etc), and while I did not repeat that in the post you have quoted from, it is what I was referring to when I wrote "very high."
I like it here, but I do not understand long term locals who want to quibble over the property crime problem by trying to minimize it or to say it isn't "far out of the ordinary" compared to similar sized cities. When it comes to crime, being worse than average, but arguably no worse than some other city you can pull out of the stats, is not really something that should be spun positively.
Suffice to say the property crime rate here is high, period. And it is the one thing that bothers me the most about ABQ, but I am doing everything I can to safeguard my property, not because I value my property that much, but because of the inconvenience if it got stolen (especially my car).
Finally, I wouldn't describe crime here as very high. It is above average, even high especially with respect to property crime. But our crime rates are not far out of the ordinary for a medium-size city.
I'll compare ABQ to cities with a population between 500k-999k in 2012.
- Albuquerque has lower violent crime rate (~750 vs ~870). Albuquerque was lower than average for murder, robbery and assault but higher than average for rape.
- Albuquerque is above average for property crime (~5367 vs ~4538). Burglary and theft were about 20% higher than average but auto theft was lower than average.
I also noticed that some the smaller towns in NM have higher crime rates than Albuquerque. Gallup was the worst example I found.
I like it here, but I do not understand long term locals who want to quibble over the property crime problem by trying to minimize it or to say it isn't "far out of the ordinary" compared to similar sized cities. When it comes to crime, being worse than average, but arguably no worse than some other city you can pull out of the stats, is not really something that should be spun positively.
Likewise I don't understand newcomers who claim to like it here, but are Debbie Downers who continually complain about the "property crime problem". Nobody has to move here if they think the property crime rate is unacceptable. I don't think I am trying to spin anything positively when I say it isn't something I think about that much. Just as other places I've lived with worse crime than ABQ, I get insurance, and then get on with my life. Before I moved here 25 years ago I never bothered to find out anything about "crime rates", it never entered my mind. I met some great people who lived here and loved it here, that was enough for me.
If people are concerned about crime, rather than complaining on a forum, they can join a neighborhood watch group, or create one for their neighborhood, join CrimeStoppers, or do any of a number of constructive and empowering things.
Albuquerque is above average for property crime (~5367 vs ~4538). Burglary and theft were about 20% higher than average but auto theft was lower than average.
I came across some data recently that indicates ABQ is one of the worst cities / metro areas in the country for auto theft, so there is some conflicting data floating around out there.
This was not the link I recently saw (can't seem to put my hands on that one) but this site similarly placed ABQ in the top 10 (worst) a few years ago, corresponding with what I read on the other site:
Auto theft is a problem for the auto owner any time it occurs, but it does not seem to be a horrendous problem in ABQ and the problem continues to decrease.
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