Crime in New Bedford, Mass?

[SouthSider12]

Born and raised out here, and the trolly stop had some great breakfast!!

[Hollytree]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Crime is not great (though not really awful... many "nice" cities, inc. Boston, Providence, etc. have far worse crime issues), and jobs are tough to find.

I love your posts LRfox and I like NB, we visit there, but I just couldn't let this pass. You keep mentioning that City Data crime rates are higher in Providence. I just checked City Data's 2011 (latest) crime stats for violent crime (you mentioned violent crime) and NB is 632.8 and Providence is 383.8.

When we go to the whaling museum area, we feel fairly safe. Our car has been safe as well. What I see a whole lot of in NB is raw poverty- drunks and bums on the streets, etc. That is going to be very hard to get rid of. I do think the trees lining the freeway road into the city downtown (can't think of the highway number) are a huge improvement aesthetically.

[StuartGotts]

I've been in NB a few times a week lately.
I believe the problems of the city are the same for any similar old, mill town type of area... there are streets and streets full of three family homes with no yards. I am guessing a great number of them are rented to low income and section 8. It's the density of the area and concentration of related problems that hurts it.
I've seen what happened to Dorchester, JP, Southie etc. Places I wouldn't have walked through 20 years ago I can't afford to live in today!
I think this COULD happen to NB. Its got waterfront, historic areas and location. The surest way to make NB desirable would be tear down every other 3 family as it came vacant. This would create homes with yards and more importantly, Parking. Off street parking means a lot of value in city areas.

[wilsie2woolgather]

Dear OP...just wrote this in a Dartmouth (MA) thread and thought it might be appropriate to repeat here:
New Bedford has been the biggest local surprise of all. There are at least three downtown restaurants there that have become my fave lunch spots of all time -- No Problemo, Destination Soups, DNB Burgers -- and the Zeiterion theater is a treasure, hosting some of the best music shows I've seen in years. Artists and musicians have moved into many of New Bedford's still-cheap-as-dirt old mill buildings and created a community that reminds me of Manhattan's pregentrified Soho in the early 70s -- a burgeoning artists' hotspot. I'm not sure of the recent statistics, but from what I see and hear, New Bedford's high-crime reputation is outdated or exaggerated or both. It is true that most of the neighborhoods outside of Downtown and the West End are low-income.
P.S. following that post, I took a look at the NB crime stats, and yes, they are higher than those the rest of the state -- by a good 70 percent. I believe, as others here have stated, that it's mainly neighborhood crime. I've never had an incident or even felt unsafe at night there -- but then I was either Downtown or in one of the reputedly safe neighborhoods. Btw, NB_Nick's post sounds quite a bit off. I know the "drug port" business is obsolete, and the "police oppressed town" comment is incomprehensible, at least to me. I'm sure some areas are dangerous, but as someone who grew up in New York City, let me assure you that the worst New Bedford has to offer is far less dangerous than the moderately rough areas in my hometown.

[el_greco]

Not really surprising that the crime doesn't seem as bad when you would only be there briefly in one of the "good" areas for dinner or a show. For someone who only goes downtown to catch dinner or a show I guess it might seem like NYC has worse areas but that is simply false and that kind of misinformation will help no one here. Violent and property crimes of each type are all higher in New Bedford than NYC. In fact when looking at murder, robbery, rape, and assaualt all the rates are AT LEAST double than NYC. Including one rate being 3 times higher and one over 5 times higher

[dpm1]

There is definitely violent crime and drug issues but I still enjoyed it when I lived there. Had only one incident walking to the bar with a number of male friends where we were confronted by some locals, walked away with no problems but it was eyeopening. Had another friend that was jumped when walking home from a bar but ran off, he was drunk alone and it was late. Would avoid walking around at night by yourself because of this issue and the druggies on the street but overall the town has alot to offer.

I miss No Problemo.