[MetsNY]

Crime rate went down in the early 90s and has been falling every since because of much harsher penalties on crack dealers. Simple. The crack/heroin epidemic of the late 70s and 80s is what drove the murder rate up significantly. I think a lot of you are forgetting 32 Homicides is half what Bridgeport recorded in I believe 90 or 91. They had 60+ murders that year and led the nation in the homicide rate. That crime went elsewhere though when they demolished Father Panik Village. Much of the crime and murder in BPT could be traced right back to that housing project.

With that being said, New Haven and Hartford are getting rougher. But it's hard to stop gang violence. As others have mentioned, people in the ghetto wouldnt know or care if DeStefano were to get voted out and a tougher on crime Republican were to come into office. Those people are going to sell their drugs rain, sleet, snow, hail, Christmas Day or your regular Monday morning. They have one goal in mind, profit. And if someone interfers with their profit, the guns come out. If the cops come around like many of you want them too, they switch up their game plan and put the guns away.

A lot of these drug dealers aren't stupid. They know what they are doing, it's a fact of life. Adding 100 cops isn't going to do much. One dealer goes in, the next one in line is out standing on the corner.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Actually the murder rate in New Haven this year has reached epic proportions and continues to project a run rate that equals NYC in 1990 of approximately 32 per 100,000. Generally crime has fallen during the past twenty years, but New Haven is the outlier. While the total crime rate per 100,000 is in line with 1990, violent crimes are dramatically higher. We are looking at 35 murders this year vs. 12 to 15 on average for in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While burglaries and thefts have declined, rapes and murders are much higher. In analyzing the complete picture, I prefer the 1990 NH crime profile over today's.

So New Haven has ~65% of Bostons Murders but ~2/11ths the population

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

So New Haven has ~65% of Bostons Murders but ~2/11ths the population

Well, 52% and 1/5th the population, but we're splitting hairs.

Boston is a very different city from New Haven, so the comparison is borderline irrelevant. Boston's a lot bigger in population, influence, sheer economics and land area. However, if you were to compare the New Haven metro area with the Boston metro area, I bet the crime is similar or even less.

New Haven is more like a combo of Cambridge on one end, with historic neighborhoods, tons of restaurants, museums, entertainment and Yale - and Dorchester on the other, poor and struggling. And that's also where most murders in Boston happen historically. Likewise in Boston around Beacon Hill (which has more wealth than any area in New Haven), you rarely ever have a murder on the Yale campus and in downtown. Boston has a significantly higher crime rate than NYC (almost double the murder rate), but it doesn't feel like it when you're in the nicer, more tourist-visited spots in Boston. These days, crime no longer paralyzes a city like in the past, but tends to be pretty concentrated. Unfortunately, that concentration comprises much of New Haven's small footprint, while the town is surrounded by mostly safe, affluent or near-affluent suburbs.

Because New Haven is such a small land area and has a large proportion of struggling neighborhoods, the stats are real bad. But for those of us that live in the state and visit New Haven for all the good things it offers - we have no reason to visit those neighborhoods and I, for one, feel perfectly safe in the nice parts of town.

That said, spillover crime is a reality, and high crime rates keep real estate values from appreciating and hinders growth. The city definitely needs help.

[Stylo]

Wynne & Benedetto Start Walking The Beat | New Haven Independent

[Wilton2ParkAve]

New haven't crime rate is within a stone's through of Camden and Flint, MI. I rarely visit, but that fact alone would makes less comfortable walking about.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

New haven't crime rate is within a stone's through of Camden and Flint, MI. I rarely visit, but that fact alone would makes less comfortable walking about.

A stone's throw is a complete exaggeration. If you look at last year, Flint has 3x the murder rate. If you've been to either Camden or Flint, especially Flint - they are nothing like New Haven. New Haven has some very bad neighborhoods that YOU would never have to visit. Flint looks like a nuclear bomb went off in it. Even the really bad neighborhoods in New Haven don't look that bad, and the vast majority of crime is poor-on-poor.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Check your facts again Stylo. As of 2010 stats, new haven is now more dangerous than Compton and st Louis, and closing in quickly on flint, Camden and the notorious ilk. There are no cities left that have even twice the murder and violence rate of new haven. 2011 Morgan quitno (again based on 2010 stats- new haven had less than 30 murders last year). I would expect a well deserved increase for 2011. Well have to wait with baited breath until next November.

http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2011...Lo-Hi_2011.pdf

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

Check your facts again Stylo. As of 2010 stats, new haven is now more dangerous than Compton and st Louis, and closing in quickly on flint, Camden and the notorious ilk. There are no cities left that have even twice the murder and violence rate of new haven. 2011 Morgan quitno (again based on 2010 stats- new haven had less than 30 murders last year). I would expect a well deserved increase for 2011. Well have to wait with baited breath until next November.

http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2011...Lo-Hi_2011.pdf

I think you need to check your facts.

If we're talking about 2010, New Haven had 23 murders for a rate of 18.4 per 100,000. Camden had a rate of 46.8 (2.5x more) and Flint had a rate of 48.5 (2.6x more).

Compton is nothing like it was in the past, but it still has a homicide rate of 26.6 for 2010. It has gentrified a bit in certain areas. It ain't quite the same gang-banging place it was when it was popularized in gangsta culture in the late 80's and early 90's.

St. Louis was at 40.5 (2.1x more) and Detroit was at 34.5. Those are much bigger cities than New Haven, taking up a much larger area - and the impacts are felt in a much different way.

If this year's homicide number holds true for the next 2 weeks, it'll put New Haven at 32. With a population of 129,000, that's a rate of 24.8. It's bad, yes, it has to change for the better and is a crisis for the city. But there's no reason to anticipate it being as bad at St. Louis and NOWHERE near Flint and Camden. Flint has a smaller population than New Haven and had hit 44 by mid year! Flint has a 20%+ unemployment rate (and that's probably generous), $14,000 per capita income and an average home price of about $55,000. It is not comparable to New Haven in any way. Distorted realities from the affluent suburbs in CT only serve to discredit the good things about New Haven and send it down a bad path when its economy is not supported. It can only hurt the crime rate even more.

The good things in New Haven make it a gem that should be supported economically by our citizens for the betterment of the state. It has so much more good going for it than places like Camden (which, despite efforts to improve - still doesn't have a whole lot going for it) and Flint (a lost cause).

[Wilton2ParkAve]

For all the money we throw at New Haven it ought to be much better. Also, watch the ad hominem attacks, as it detracts from an otherwise respectable post. You also disproved yourself that Camden has 3x the murder rate of new haven. Violent crime rates are also a better indicator than simply murder in isolation. In that case, New haven is among the very worse. Thank god for Yale or it would already be Camden.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Wilton2ParkAve

For all the money we throw at New Haven it ought to be much better. Also, watch the ad hominem attacks, as it detracts from an otherwise respectable post. You also disproved yourself that Camden has 3x the murder rate of new haven. Violent crime rates are also a better indicator than simply murder in isolation. In that case, New haven is among the very worse. Thank god for Yale or it would already be Camden.

What money and who is throwing it at New Haven??? Jay