How Safe do You Feel In Chicago? (Oakland, Detroit: 2014, crime rate)

[bahiabrazil]

Do any residents feel safe in the city? My friend from Detroit always asks me this and I say I feel very safe here. I wouldn't live anywhere that made me uncomfortable. People need to understand that this is a BIG city and every Chicagoan opinion varies. Some people give Chicago sooo much crap for its crime, which I don't see is as bad as they see it to be. Remember in the early 90's when New York was one of the most dangerous cities in the world with well over 2,200 killings in a year? I doubt Chicago would get to that point. Also hoping that this crime thing is a temporary faze.

[marothisu]

I think most people who've lived in Chicago long enough, and who've seen a number of areas for themselves, know there's good areas and then there's bad areas of town just like most big American cities (and others from around the world). To answer your question, I feel pretty safe. There could be times where I feel more on alert in certain parts of town at certain times of day, but other than that.... pretty safe feeling in a lot of the city.


By the way, be careful about using raw numbers. While NYC had more homicides back in the day, they also had a higher population. Crime rate is more important - the two cities back in the early 90s had fairly similar homicide rates. Both cities have come a long ways from that - NYC moreso.

[jwuk45]

Originally Posted by marothisu

By the way, be careful about using raw numbers. While NYC had more homicides back in the day, they also had a higher population. Crime rate is more important - the two cities back in the early 90s had fairly similar homicide rates. Both cities have come a long ways from that - NYC moreso.

The murder rate itself was a bit higher in NYC back then though (vs Chicago now). 30 per 100,000, so about the same as Oakland is now. But, it was more widely spread across the whole city than it is in Chicago.

I don't worry too much about murder rates. Even if you lived in the most dangerous city in the world, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, which has a murder rate of 187 (vs 21 for Chicago), for your entire life (lets say 80 years), you would still only have a 1.5% chance of being murdered. And that doesn't even take into account the fact that people involved with criminal activities or of certain ages have a much higher chance of being killed.

To put that into perspective, American soldiers on D-Day were four times as likely to be killed in ONE DAY than people in that city are likely to be killed in their lifetime.

Feeling safe and being safe aren't the same thing. I've noticed a lot of Americans are more fearful that people in other parts of the world, partly due to the way crime is reported in the media.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by jwuk45

which has a murder rate of 187 (vs 21 for Chicago),

This is not the homicide rate of Chicago. The highest year in homicides in the last decade or so was 2012 and that was 18.5 per 100K. The rate for the last few years has been about 14.5 to 15.5 per 100K. Parts of the south and west side though when combined are above 30 per 100k.

[TheSunshineKid]

Pretty safe unless I wonder into certain South/West Side neighborhoods.

[jwuk45]

Originally Posted by marothisu

This is not the homicide rate of Chicago. The highest year in homicides in the last decade or so was 2012 and that was 18.5 per 100K. The rate for the last few years has been about 14.5 to 15.5 per 100K

I'm just going by the numbers wikipedia gives for 2014! Not that wikipedia is always right.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by jwuk45

I'm just going by the numbers wikipedia gives for 2014! Not that wikipedia is always right.

2014 was the lowest number of homicides Chicago has had since the 1960s and 2012 had way more. The Cook County Medical examiner reported 410 homicides last year. At just over 2.7 million people, that would put the rate around 15 per 100k.

Wikipedia is way off.

[Nodpete]

About as safe as in any other war zone !

[NealIRC]

Originally Posted by bahiabrazil

Do any residents feel safe in the city?

1. Depends where in the city.

2. I'm an aggravator. I'm always looking for ways to get people locked up. I believe most people are criminals, but they just don't seem that way. You have to give them the opportunity to be 1. You have to put them in a position to, without disrespecting them 1st.

So stuff like telling people to shut up if they panhandled for money 1st, or, leaving a bike outside the front porch waiting for someone to steal, and, walking around shirtless in a gang-infested neighborhood to aggravate them.

-

I met a White girl today in a laundrymat in Pilsen, whom looked Hispanic She was tanned with blackish hair, which is not her natural hair color. She was also a little pregnant with no ring. I said to her you could get approached by gang members with the dyed hair making you look Hispanic She said she not afraid, and that she lived in tougher neighborhoods. She said she lived in Englewood, but upon closer evaluation she actually lived just west of it, and went to high school in a Hispanic neighborhood, with the SDs and 2 6.

[quigboto]

Originally Posted by NealIRC

1. Depends where in the city.

2. I'm an aggravator. I'm always looking for ways to get people locked up. I believe most people are criminals, but they just don't seem that way. You have to give them the opportunity to be 1. You have to put them in a position to, without disrespecting them 1st.

So stuff like telling people to shut up if they panhandled for money 1st, or, leaving a bike outside the front porch waiting for someone to steal, and, walking around shirtless in a gang-infested neighborhood to aggravate them.

-

I met a White girl today in a laundrymat in Pilsen, whom looked Hispanic She was tanned with blackish hair, which is not her natural hair color. She was also a little pregnant with no ring. I said to her you could get approached by gang members with the dyed hair making you look Hispanic She said she not afraid, and that she lived in tougher neighborhoods. She said she lived in Englewood, but upon closer evaluation she actually lived just west of it, and went to high school in a Hispanic neighborhood, with the SDs and 2 6.

Ok, come clean. You're just messing with us now, right?