Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It may well be 8 years old, but needs perhaps an update on relevance. I'd say of ALL of the State of Idaho there's little doubt the greatest concentration of gang activities tend towards the Nampa/Caldwell/Boise area. Otherwise they are few and far between and not much of a factor. Northern Idaho has a rather different feel to it for sure. More forestry and large lakes.
Southwest is of course dryer and more barren until you hit mountains outside of Boise and preferably traveling North alone the Payette River and into the mountains.
The South Central has some nice interesting spots along the Snake River in particular
The South Eastern portion of Idaho is of course heading up towards the Tetons and beyond so is also full of larger lakes, rivers and hillier with more mountains as well. For me personally, since I'm moving to Idaho next year, I chose the area just west of Twin Falls. It has a top notch hospital (approaching the magic old age of 65 one has to consider such things) as well as nearly all the major shopping desired (Costco, Winco, Macy's) and even plenty of good restaurants. Cost of living is more reasonable as a retiree which I of course considered and ruled out places like a Boise and such. I did look at Coeur D' Alene and had to rule that area and north due once again to costs, not to mention they have MORE winter which I don't feel I need. I chose a nice quiet community that is centered and surrounded by a lot of farming and such. Works for me. Quiet is the name of the game. If I need a good restaurant, hospital or shop it's a measly 30 minute ride, no biggie, yet not in my face. To each their own of course. If I had to have a office I had to drive to that would suck and require a larger metro area. Fortunately my job is on my computer in my home office. Works for me I'll have 200mbps internet with several hundred channels on cable TV. Spring water to drink and fresh air. A far cry from the crud I currently put up with in Utah........I'm counting the days.
It's alive! This thread came back from the dead!
Because of population size, naturally the Treasure Valley will have a concentration of gang activity but it isn't alarming. It's pretty rare in Boise to hear about gang crimes and the gang news out of Caldwell and Nampa has dropped drastically the past 10 years. Actually, the Magic Valley (Twin Falls) and Bonneville County (Idaho Falls) are rumored to have the greatest concentration of gang activity in Idaho. The past 5 or so years, Twin Falls County has had a reputation of growing gang activity. They are certainly not unsafe cities, but Twin Falls has always had a reputation in the state for higher crime rates, by Idaho standards. I think it was last year I read an article stating that Shoshone up in North Idaho has the states highest crime rate per capita. I'm sure North Idaho deals with the same issues as South Idaho regarding crime because they are so close to Spokane which has a reputation.
Regarding "barren", the South Central area of the state (Twin Falls) is the most barren in the state if you are talking lack of trees and that doesn't mean there is lack of scenery either. The Magic Valley has some truly beautiful desert scenery once you leave the Interstate. Both the Magic Valley and the Treasure Valley have large agricultural areas with verdant farms from Spring to the end of Autumn. The Boise River corridor through the city and valley is one of the most scenic urban cottonwood/deciduous lined rivers in the interior west. There are areas in Boise city limits that have impressive natural cottonwood forests and if you explore them they give the impression you aren't in a city.
The forests are easy access from Boise, just a couple of thousand feet up in the Foothills the Ponderosa Pine forests begin near Bogus Basin and there are some beautiful deep forests in the mountains above Boise with the valley in view. Of course, Highway 21 and 55 leaving the valley are other ways to access the forests and mountains which go on forever. Boise has the quickest access to forests of all of the major cities near the Snake River including Twin, I.F. with Pocatello coming in second.
The national forests north of Boise have lakes and of course there is McCall and Payette Lake. The Sawtooth's probably win the crown for Idaho's alpine lakes. SE Idaho has lakes in the Island Park area as well as scattered around in the mountains stretching from the Utah border to the Montana border.
Welcome to Idaho. It is a large and complex state and requires a lot of exploring to truly understand the flora and fauna A great way to begin is to watch Outdoor Idaho.
Last edited by TohobitPeak; 12-14-2017 at 07:02 PM..
I just checked the statistics and sorry to tell you but you're WAY off. The crime has elevated in Boise and Caldwell in particular. Ironically due to drugs Wendell and Jerome are plagued while Twin Falls itself has escaped quite a bit. Where I'm landing is such a small town there next to nothing going on which is how I like it. Coeur D' Alene is apparently plagued as well. Go figure. Oh well.
I just checked the statistics and sorry to tell you but you're WAY off. The crime has elevated in Boise and Caldwell in particular. Ironically due to drugs Wendell and Jerome are plagued while Twin Falls itself has escaped quite a bit. Where I'm landing is such a small town there next to nothing going on which is how I like it. Coeur D' Alene is apparently plagued as well. Go figure. Oh well.
I am not way off. Even if the Idaho State Police have determined that crime has been up in TF County and the city of Twin Falls it doesn't mean the area is crime ridden or dangerous. Boise's crime rate has been falling for quite some time even despite the growth and is often ranked as one of the safest cities to live in.
During my last post I was researching the crime in the South Central area of the state and had those town names on my mind, so swap out Shoshone for Sandpoint. Most of the resort towns in the state have higher crime rates compared to the others, and for obvious reasons.
Last edited by TohobitPeak; 12-14-2017 at 10:47 PM..
Reason: typo
Most of the resort towns in the state have higher crime rates compared to the others, and for obvious reasons.
A lot of this is due to the fact that the daytime or temporary population of a resort town can be much, much higher than it's permanent population. There can be others, but that's often a large factor. If the rate of crime was measured against the number of people present in the town instead of the permanent population, oftentimes the rate would be in line with or lower than the rest of the states.
IIRC, I remember reading several years back that the city of Ponderay (adjacent to Sandpoint) appeared to have an astronomical amount of property crime, but when you factor in that it's population is so small but it's also home to several larger stores (including a Wal-Mart) that service the surrounding area and that the temporary population can be much higher than the permanent population of Sandpoint or Ponderay, the actual percentage chance of you being a victim of that crime is much lower.
recommendations for retirement relocation? looking at Nampa/Caldwell/Middleton ... have seen some housing in Payette but just read an article on a murder committed during a burglary ... ??
"Gang activity" probably has a different meaning here in Idaho than in other states.
There are very few neighborhood gangs in Idaho, mostly because there are so few neighborhoods that are isolated from the larger city around them, or have one dominant race or culture living in them.
But that doesn't mean gangs don't exist. They do, in both large and small cities here. As long as drugs exist and theft exist, gangs will form.
What one doesn't see here is obvious signs of their existence. Our population is still so small that gangsters who are obvious are easily spotted and watched, so the gang activity is mostly very quiet and under the radar. And the gangs here are smaller than in other, more populous states, so they tend to keep their activities quieter and lower-key than in some other states.
recommendations for retirement relocation? looking at Nampa/Caldwell/Middleton ... have seen some housing in Payette but just read an article on a murder committed during a burglary ... ??
Have you looked into Dalton Gardens? This is where I currently live after having escaped Southern California in July. Very nice, rural small town feel, but located close to CDA, Hayden and Post Falls. Every house sits on at least an acre of land, affording privacy from neighbors, but neighbors are still close enough to be friendly.
"Gang activity" probably has a different meaning here in Idaho than in other states.
There are very few neighborhood gangs in Idaho, mostly because there are so few neighborhoods that are isolated from the larger city around them, or have one dominant race or culture living in them.
But that doesn't mean gangs don't exist. They do, in both large and small cities here. As long as drugs exist and theft exist, gangs will form.
What one doesn't see here is obvious signs of their existence. Our population is still so small that gangsters who are obvious are easily spotted and watched, so the gang activity is mostly very quiet and under the radar. And the gangs here are smaller than in other, more populous states, so they tend to keep their activities quieter and lower-key than in some other states.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that most gang activity going on in the CDA area is from bangers crossing over from Spokane, committing their crimes, and then driving back over the border. I have also seen some familiar gypsy faces who are part of the large crime ring from Southern California and travel to the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They are responsible for a lot of mail thefts from mailboxes and also pretend to be homeless beggars.
I could be wrong, but I suspect that most gang activity going on in the CDA area is from bangers crossing over from Spokane, committing their crimes, and then driving back over the border. I have also seen some familiar gypsy faces who are part of the large crime ring from Southern California and travel to the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They are responsible for a lot of mail thefts from mailboxes and also pretend to be homeless beggars.
I can't comment how much gang activity in NID is coming from Spokane, since I don't know anything about it. But I do know there's always a tendency to blame trouble on outsiders first. It seems to be human nature.
There are, though, a lot of gypsy criminals who are on the move constantly on our Interstates. Idaho Falls is on I-15, the only north-south Interstate that connects several east-west Interstates, and I-15 stretches from Los Angeles to the Canadian border.
Here in I.F., I'm seeing a lot of gypsy theft, where a group will pull off I-15 to rob one of our department stores or other businesses, and pull right back on the highway, or will pass counterfeit currency, and other property crimes, but whether these crooks are part of a gang or not is yet to be determined.
These crimes seem to be seasonal, and occur more in the mild months of the year from spring to fall. The area around Idaho Falls' largest mall gets hit quite a lot by them, but a lot get busted before they can get out of town.
Some could be in gangs, as I've noticed some who have been busted all have the same ethnicity, often Asian, but most seem to be gangs in the old term, a small group who join each other to commit crimes.
Drugs are flowing up and down I-15, and they are coming from one distribution point and going to another. Some drugs are bound to end up in cities here that have an Interstate or are close to an Interstate junction.
But Idaho hasn't been very fruitful territory for the big street gangs or motorcycle gangs. I think that's due to some of the things I mentioned earlier- there aren't a lot of large ghetto areas in our cities were these gangs can grow and recruit.
And city gangsters stick out like sore thumbs in rural Idaho, even in our cities. The culture difference between the two is huge.
This makes me tend to think that Idaho may have some gangs, but I think they are more home-grown than outsiders, as the members fit in to our communities more naturally than those who are coming from big cities.
I can't comment how much gang activity in NID is coming from Spokane, since I don't know anything about it. But I do know there's always a tendency to blame trouble on outsiders first. It seems to be human nature.
Not so much a tendency to blame outsiders simply because they ARE outsiders, but more because Spokane has a larger population of gangs who originated from California. Larger city, more low-income housing areas and a drug addiction problem. Gangs flourish under these types of conditions. Plus, with the larger population they don't stand out as much as they would in say Coeur d'Alene or Hayden.
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike
There are, though, a lot of gypsy criminals who are on the move constantly on our Interstates. Idaho Falls is on I-15, the only north-south Interstate that connects several east-west Interstates, and I-15 stretches from Los Angeles to the Canadian border.
Here in I.F., I'm seeing a lot of gypsy theft, where a group will pull off I-15 to rob one of our department stores or other businesses, and pull right back on the highway, or will pass counterfeit currency, and other property crimes, but whether these crooks are part of a gang or not is yet to be determined.
Yes, most of them tend to be Indian or Pakistani. Back in California I was working with a group who were investigating their scams and where they travel to when they leave California. Two of our members followed their progress from Simi Valley all the way up to Post Falls, taking video and posting it. One of their major scams is pulled on hotels and motels, where they pull up with their wives and car full of kids, claiming they are new to an area, just got a new job, and need a temporary place to stay. Once they get in to the hotel/motel they refuse to leave and run up huge bills, and when the police finally show up to evict them they tend to do a lot of malicious damage to the room before they leave. My son and daughter-in-law both were managers at hotels and saw first hand how this scam worked. Others will distract you in the parking lot while another sneaks up behind you and steals your purse, wallet or groceries. Yet another scam is to target a victim, follow them, and start yelling loudly that this person stole their cell phone. When the target pulls out their phone to show that it is THEIR phone one of the gypsies grabs it and runs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike
Drugs are flowing up and down I-15, and they are coming from one distribution point and going to another. Some drugs are bound to end up in cities here that have an Interstate or are close to an Interstate junction.
But Idaho hasn't been very fruitful territory for the big street gangs or motorcycle gangs. I think that's due to some of the things I mentioned earlier- there aren't a lot of large ghetto areas in our cities were these gangs can grow and recruit.
And city gangsters stick out like sore thumbs in rural Idaho, even in our cities. The culture difference between the two is huge.
This makes me tend to think that Idaho may have some gangs, but I think they are more home-grown than outsiders, as the members fit in to our communities more naturally than those who are coming from big cities.
Yes, from what I am reading Idaho tends to have homegrown gangs that are more likely members in biker gangs, who do fit in more with their "good old boy" look.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'll have 200mbps internet with several hundred channels on cable TV. Spring water to drink and fresh air. A far cry from the crud I currently put up with in Utah........I'm counting the days.
A great way to begin is to watch Outdoor Idaho.
Most of the resort towns in the state have higher crime rates compared to the others, and for obvious reasons.
