Crime stats in Tri Cities - Really that high? (Johnson City: crime rate, home)

[MarkInFL]

Hello-

My wife and I are looking for a "future destination" for life after Florida. (I have been a fan of E. Tenn my whole life.)

Florida has seriously deteriorated over the last 30 years and one of our major considerations is the crime rate. City-Data is showing all 3 of the Tri Cities above the national average. What's the deal up there? Are these high rates (although better than FL) overblown? Otherwise the area looks great. Any thoughts from locals? Thanks!

Mark in FL

[jon313]

While not knowing the "crime rate" for this area, I can state that criteria for reporting varies from one area to another. Some places are quite lax in reporting anything unless significant, while other areas are quite diligent.

I'm not a local to the tri-cities, but my observations are that petty crime is on the rise everywhere as people are affected by the economy. I'm sure you'll have local input to this question.

[donsabi]

Mark,
I can't answer your question as to the C-D statistics but I can give you my observations from the local news and personal experience. Since retiring I have lived in PA, DE, NC, SC and now TN and I have never been any place that has as few or lessor crimes than the Tri-Cities area. The area is not without crime but I can safely say it is one of more safer areas throughout the US.

[mbmouse]

I agree with the above comments. Tri-Cities, all of them, and the little towns out skirting and in between, seem to be extremely diligent in crime reporting, oddly so. I talked to a Kingsport officer a while back about this and he was telling me that car accidents where a ticket is issued, is reported in the crime stats under the category everything involved fits into, such as seat belt laws, reckless driving, driving on a suspended, etc. So one traffic accident can add 3 crime stats numbers. Very odd, but I guess I can understand it. As for crimes against people, the majority of the time if there is against a person: shooting, home invasion, theft, etc. it seems to always be someone the victim of the crime knew. Family feuds are not uncommon. There also seems to be a lot of prescription drug abuse. So basically, unless you are bringing your feuding family with you or have an issue with prescription pills the crime here will not be visible to you or effect you.
I lived in S.E. FL, crime wise North East TN is heaven!

[SarahSal]

I think in the crime department, we don't realize just how good we've go it compared to other places in the country! I know I rarely even think about this issue until someone mentions crime elsewhere. Even though there *other* issues, minimal crime is one big plus for the TRI..

[jchometeam]

It depends on what statistic you are looking at. If you are looking at the UCR (Uniform Crime Report) by the FBI, only the most serious offense in each incident is included, despite what the Kingsport officer said. If you are looking at the NIBRS data also taken by the FBI, each particular crime is counted as a separate offense.

What you need to understand is that it is only reported crime and arrests. For example, If Kingsport and Johnson City had the same amount of crime (im talking about actual crime), but Johnson City's police did a better job of arresting the offenders, Johnson City would have a higher official crime rate because their police are better.

This is particularly a big deal with drug stats. If a city does alot of drug raids, it inflates the stats and scares everyone even though the police are actually doing a better job of protecting citizens, etc. than in a county where the police dont do frequent drug raids.

So it could be that our police are doing a good job here. Or it could be that we have more actual crime than other cities. From experience living here, I believe its the police doing a good job rather than higher crime