Crime in Atlanta - Holy cow what have I gotten myself into? (Columbus: to live, dangerous)

[R1070]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Some of you are either backwoods country or you are just trying to scare people from moving to Atlanta. Every city has crime, its actually safer in Atlanta than in LA, DC, Bmore, Philly, New Orleans, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, St Louis, etc. Crime is everywhere is Atlanta just a safe large city

LA, Dallas & Houston for sure have lower crime rates than Atl. The other cities are probably pretty close to the crime stats you'll find in Atl.

[tonygeorgia]

LA is very dangerous compared to Atlanta...

L.A. City Homicides Up 2.5 Percent So Far In 2010 - Los Angeles News - LA Daily

Four cities report more murders in 2010 ... LA Community Policing


New York is very dangerous

Four cities report more murders in 2010 ... LA Community Policing

Murders Are Up in New York, Other Cities

East New York Sees Rise In Crime Despite Citywide Drop

[sonofstarwars74]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Some of you are either backwoods country or you are just trying to scare people from moving to Atlanta. Every city has crime, its actually safer in Atlanta than in LA, DC, Bmore, Philly, New Orleans, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, St Louis, etc. Crime is everywhere is Atlanta just a safe large city

Guys help me understand where you are pulling these comparisons from?

FBI data from 2003 for some of the cities mentioned in this thread:

LA
2.1x the national average for violent crime per capita
.8x the national average for property crime per capita

Phoenix
1.16x the national average for violent crime per capita
1.50x the national average for property crime per capita

ATL
3.30x the national average for violent crime per capita
2.01x the national average for property crime per capita

Believe me, I want to believe that I'm out in left field on this, but I'm becoming less and less convinced that I am.

[R1070]

Tony with all due respect I think you just dont understand the crime per capita basis. NY, LA, Houston, Dallas all have much larger city populations than Atlanta. There is a lot of crime in Atlanta for it to have such a small population for a major city and those numbers dont include the South Fulton, SE Dekalb, Clayton County areas that have horrible crime issues.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by sonofstarwars74

My post didn't say anything about whether or not those places had those kinds of issues; clearly they do and I would never deny that. What I'm telling you is that DESPITE my familiarity with those issues in other major cities, what I see here appears to me to be very different: crime permeates a lot of the city's geography and it's a particularly nasty, brazen sort of crime that goes beyond the occassional car break-in and robbery.

Again, I stand by my premise that the same could be said for LA and Brooklyn (and NYC as a whole) as well.

Just doing a quick check of LA and Brooklyn online crime maps show pretty evenly distributed crime in both areas of all sorts:

Brooklyn


LA


Perhaps it might come down to geography however. The city of Atlanta is physically 1/4 the size of Los Angeles and 1/3 the size of New York City. This will create a city layout my akin to that of D.C. where literally go through a bad neighborhood, then be in a good neighborhood, and then a few blocks later be right back in a neighborhood.

Originally Posted by sonofstarwars74

In LA and NYC, it's a fairly straightforward matter to avoid areas and situations where you might find yourself at risk - that does not seem to be entirely the case here in ATL.

I really fail to see how that is the case and not just conjecture. It'll probably take time though for you to figure which neighborhoods are good and which are dicey.

Originally Posted by sonofstarwars74

And these anecdotes about the police are very telling; NYC and LA have VERY active and visible police ... not perfect by any stretch. I'm just saying that ATL having police issues that are getting worse makes me very concerned.

I won't disagree that the APD is stretched thin. I honestly believe that the force should be doubled. However, it is not as if they are invisible, and there are certainly neighborhoods where coverage is good.

Bottom line, don't rely on stats and a few paranoid rants on a message board to tell you how bad crime is in a city. Just like any place be aware of your surroundings and don't make your self a target for crime. Easy as that.

[tonygeorgia]

Table 4 - Oklahoma-Wisconsin

Thank God Atlanta isnt as violent as the rest of America


Murders 2009

Dallas- 166
Houston- 287
Memphis- 132
Philly- 302
Phoenix-122
LA-313
DC-143
Atlanta-80
Jacksonville-99
Chicago-458
New Orleans-174
Bmore-238
Detroit-361
Kansas City-100
St Louis-143

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by R1070

Tony with all due respect I think you just dont understand the crime per capita basis. NY, LA, Houston, Dallas all have much larger city populations than Atlanta. There is a lot of crime in Atlanta for it to have such a small population for a major city and those numbers dont include the South Fulton, SE Dekalb, Clayton County areas that have horrible crime issues.

I understand but a murder is a murder. Atlanta is safe compared to the rest of America. THere is more crime in those cities listed if you add the areas outside of the city limits in those cities

[koko339]

Ah, the familiar "defend Atlanta against all odds" posts. The sooner we get out of denial the sooner we can start demanding results.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by koko339

Ah, the familiar "defend Atlanta against all odds" posts. The sooner we get out of denial the sooner we can start demanding results.

How do you figure that? Having a contrary opinion and using facts instead of hysteria isn't "defending Atlanta against all odds".

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by koko339

Ah, the familiar "defend Atlanta against all odds" posts. The sooner we get out of denial the sooner we can start demanding results.

I love how the detractors broadcast their right to an opinion but attack other posters for expressing theirs. Much of what I see expressed here is hyperbole.