[smarino]

We live in South Daytona (low crime), but I can definitely tell you there is crime in Daytona Beach. It comes up in nearly every study made, and they are not skewing the facts. Do I feel unsafe there? Well, I feel uncomfortable, let's say that. Quite a lot of real low lifes that cause much of it, and a little of the crime is gangs. In the 2 1/2 years we've lived in the area I can't tell you how many bank robberies and robberies at stop & robs there has been.

There's just so much drinking and drug use in the town, mostly due to it's transient nature. Bike Week or other special events brings little crime actually. There are things like hold ups, car carjackings, and a ton of domestic abuse cases. Guns and knives figure in a lot of the crime, and it's crazy how much of it is between family members and people who know each other. Lots of sexual crimes. Just a week ago someone was gunned down in a barber shop (bad area of town) in retaliation for another shooting. It's not the wild west, but there are times when it feels that way. The police do a very poor job in my opinion, and the courts tend to give light sentences or release prisoners early, then they parole them to the same areas they committed the crimes in (and forbid them to leave for years and years) and provide absolutely no support for the people, so they end up just doing the same crimes all over again. It's a mess by any standards. Port Orange, Ormond, South Daytona, and New Smyrna Beach do not have these problems. Holly Hill is a rough area too. There ARE good areas, but on the whole I would not live in DB. I didn't see it this way when we first moved to South Daytona, but over the course of time I've changed my opinion. Too many areas of the town are a ghetto, and the city politicians seem to care less. They all just want their cut of the development money and the town can just fend for itself.

More than the crime is the feeling of hopelessness about the place. I lived in DB several times over the last 20 years before moving to South Daytona, and these sort of problems have existed for a very long time. Absolutely nothing gets any better, and the city's idea of making things better is to open a cop kiosk downtown, close down one of the libraries, and recruit a Crabshack and Hard Rock cafe to the beachside area. Boy, that's some forward thinking! Hey, how about doing something about the conditions that foster all the crime? The newspaper may as well be owned by the developers. It was not in favor of Daytona's minority race mayor, and if you read it you would think the town doesn't even have a mayor because they refuse to print any articles about what he's doing. Amazing, in your face prejudice out here. I called the publisher out on this when they kept running an unflattering photo of the current mayor while running a nice studio shot of the candidate that the newspaper endorsed before the elections (pro development all the way). They never got back to me or published it.

[1insider]

I'll try this one more time. It's a meaningless statistic because of the way it's calculated. If we look just at murders, both Daytona and Sarasota had 4 murders in 2012. According to City-Data, Sarasota is the more dangerous city with a murder rate of 7.5 per 100,000 residents. Daytona is far "safer" with only a 6.5 per 100K rate. The difference is population; Sarasota has 52,000 and Daytona, 62,000. The smaller the population, the more distorted the result.

Tampa is also safer than Sarasota with a rate of 6.6. Never mind that 23 murders were committed in Tampa in 2012. The dilution of a 347K population makes the bullet less likely to hit you, hence "safer".

[LordHomunculus]

Originally Posted by 1insider

I'll try this one more time. It's a meaningless statistic because of the way it's calculated. If we look just at murders, both Daytona and Sarasota had 4 murders in 2012. According to City-Data, Sarasota is the more dangerous city with a murder rate of 7.5 per 100,000 residents. Daytona is far "safer" with only a 6.5 per 100K rate. The difference is population; Sarasota has 52,000 and Daytona, 62,000. The smaller the population, the more distorted the result.

Tampa is also safer than Sarasota with a rate of 6.6. Never mind that 23 murders were committed in Tampa in 2012. The dilution of a 347K population makes the bullet less likely to hit you, hence "safer".

I wouldn't say the stat is completely meaningless and the per capita stat is also much better than raw numbers. That's why people don't get duped into believing that NYC has a bigger crime problem than Detroit even though NYC has a higher amount of violent crime.

But I might see what you're saying about population. That's why I sometimes look at metro area stats instead. There is also the chance that Daytona Beach's surrounding cities like Ormond Beach, Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach are much safer. Even South Daytona, which is actually its own town, has a lower violent crime rate than Daytona Beach. Imagine if West Orlando, North Miami, or North Tampa became separate cities. They'd probably have the same stats as DB, if not, way higher.

[City Guy997S]

Daytona has a lot of variables.....including a serial killer that has been killing hookers for years. They made headlines a few years back by DNA testing anyone that got arrested for violent crime or anything sex related.

The Outlaws have a clubhouse there, countless transient visitors (from bike weeks, to spring break crowds, to black college reunion, Nascar events, etc.). It brings in a huge group of diverse people, with them comes their hometown problems which sometimes become DB statistics!

I like surrounding areas like Ormond Beach, Ponce Inlet but Daytona is too white trash, honky tonk.

[Sugah Ray]

What is up with Pensacola? I didn't know the place was unsafe.

Miami Gardens ans Florida City should be there too.

[The b8nk]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Worth noting however that unlike many other states our crime tends to be quite segregated from the general population.

Do you have any kind of proof, links or articles to support this or are you just talking through your blowhole again?

[kerafaith]

I love Daytona Beach but my favorite that Jackson, TN is ranked 3rd on that list. I live about 20 miles east of there and go there often. In fact I worked for 2 1/2 years at night at the loves truck stop just off the interstate. And I've never felt like I was in danger in Jackson. People keep telling me that I don't want to move to Daytona Beach because of the crime & how dangerous it is, & etc. Now I can point out that Jackson is actually more dangerous and I'd be "safer" in Daytona than Jackson.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Worth noting however that unlike many other states our crime tends to be quite segregated from the general population. You kind of have to go looking for it in certain sections of town versus widespread issues which is why these stats are always the most accurate in painting an overall picture of these cities.

Originally Posted by The b8nk

Do you have any kind of proof, links or articles to support this or are you just talking through your blowhole again?

There aren't any links/articles because anyone with any iota of common sense knows it....which would explain how you were left out I suppose. Furthermore it's considered a racially inflammatory issue most journalists in their right mind wouldn't want to undertake and take flak on...not to mention the lack of hard fact since it's not exactly census-driven information. Having actually lived/traveled to many other places I know that Florida isn't keen on gentrification unlike many areas of the country. In fact we tend the opposite and as a result one is hard pressed to find many nice areas bordering very low income areas in this state, and in such obvious segregation of crime hot spots since it is pretty well-documented via crime-mapping that they're concentrated in low income areas.

[The b8nk]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

There aren't any links/articles because anyone with any iota of common sense knows it....which would explain how you were left out I suppose. Furthermore it's considered a racially inflammatory issue most journalists in their right mind wouldn't want to undertake and take flak on...not to mention the lack of hard fact since it's not exactly census-driven information. Having actually lived/traveled to many other places I know that Florida isn't keen on gentrification unlike many areas of the country. In fact we tend the opposite and as a result one is hard pressed to find many nice areas bordering very low income areas in this state, and in such obvious segregation of crime hot spots since it is pretty well-documented via crime-mapping that they're concentrated in low income areas.

So basically all the "inner city" and "youf" areas are bad and in the majority white suburbs there is no crime. Gotcha!

[OpinionInOcala]

The frequency, variety, and extent of crime has always tended to increase in relative proportion to income levels decreasing. Ethnicity has little or nothing to do with it. There are no exceptions to the rule that I'm aware of, though there is certainly a large curve.