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I am yet to hear anyone on this forum explain that little aberration.
Exactly what aberration? The 'why is crime so high in small towns?' You have asked several times and gotten several answers. It has to do with statistics, which become worthless with very small populations. The crime rates sway too much and become worthless. There are a lot of other factors.
"Data users should not rank locales because there are many factors that cause the nature and type of crime to vary from place to place. UCR statistics include only jurisdictional population figures along with reported crime, clearance, or arrest data. Rankings ignore the uniqueness of each locale. Some factors that are known to affect the volume and type of crime occurring from place to place are:
• Population density and degree of urbanization.
• Variations in composition of the population, particularly youth concentration.
• Stability of the population with respect to residents’ mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors.
• Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability.
"Reliable crime statistics used in law enforcement administration, operation, and management is normally with resident population of 100,000 and over."
Tucumcari They have a population of 5,000+ and had 2 murders in 2011 which throws their murder rate to 36.9 per 100,000... But their biggest problem is Burglaries and Thefts that drive their rate very high. "• Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability. " We have a lot of poor people, some have resorted to stealing copper wire used in electrical wiring, with great danger, and a few fried thieves.
Exactly what aberration? The 'why is crime so high in small towns?' You have asked several times and gotten several answers. It has to do with statistics, which become worthless with very small populations. The crime rates sway too much and become worthless. There are a lot of other factors.
Poncho: no need to get aggravated. I am just asking the question since nobody has obviously given me an answer so far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
Tucumcari They have a population of 5,000+ and had 2 murders in 2011 which throws their murder rate to 36.9 per 100,000... But their biggest problem is Burglaries and Thefts that drive their rate very high. "• Economic conditions, including median income, poverty level, and job availability. " We have a lot of poor people, some have resorted to stealing copper wire used in electrical wiring, with great danger, and a few fried thieves.
So their crime rate is thrown off by copper wire theft - is that what the "official line" is? I am looking at their stats year after year: 490.0, 472.9, 645.1 (!), 473.3, 452.2 - if it was only high one year and low the rest, we could say what you said above. But, it is consistent year after year - something that tells me that this is an ongoing, real problem.
I currently (temporarily) live in a small town of 3,000 with a very low crime rate (consistently), 20 miles from a town of 50,000 with crime rates in the low 200s, also consistently, year after year. So, it is possible to have these crime rates, large or small, again consistently.
I look at most of the small towns in NM and they all have (very) high crime rates, Tucumcari is not an exception. Las Vegas, Espanola, Grants, Silver City.... list goes on and on. Are they all just bad numbers, should I just ignore them since all these places are relatively small?
Violent crime is not the only crime that is annoying or dangerous. I don't want to live in a place where I can't leave a tool or something else of mine in my front or back yard unlocked, or can't leave the house for a few days at a time. Property crime is equally bad and annoying. Ever had your house burglarized? I did. It leaves a very bitter taste to know that someone went through your stuff and took things that were important to you.
Poncho: no need to get aggravated. I am just asking the question since nobody has obviously given me an answer so far.
So their crime rate is thrown off by copper wire theft - is that what the "official line" is? I am looking at their stats year after year: 490.0, 472.9, 645.1 (!), 473.3, 452.2 - if it was only high one year and low the rest, we could say what you said above. But, it is consistent year after year - something that tells me that this is an ongoing, real problem.
I currently (temporarily) live in a small town of 3,000 with a very low crime rate (consistently), 20 miles from a town of 50,000 with crime rates in the low 200s, also consistently, year after year. So, it is possible to have these crime rates, large or small, again consistently.
I look at most of the small towns in NM and they all have (very) high crime rates, Tucumcari is not an exception. Las Vegas, Espanola, Grants, Silver City.... list goes on and on. Are they all just bad numbers, should I just ignore them since all these places are relatively small?
Violent crime is not the only crime that is annoying or dangerous. I don't want to live in a place where I can't leave a tool or something else of mine in my front or back yard unlocked, or can't leave the house for a few days at a time. Property crime is equally bad and annoying. Ever had your house burglarized? I did. It leaves a very bitter taste to know that someone went through your stuff and took things that were important to you.
Thanks!
OD
I share your dismay. I just haven't ramped up my rhetoric yet for this particular issue because, frankly, it baffles me. If I spent enough time in Tucumcari, maybe I would have a clear perspective on the source of the problem. I hope to do that fairly soon. If I can figure out that town, maybe the clarity can be extended to other NM small towns.
I would think the local police force would have a strong opinion on it and how to fix it, even if it might not make good public policy. Reading the actual crime reports would provide some clues. There could be some problem with how city-data gathers crime stats in NM. It may be that crime simply follows tourists because of their casual attitudes about locking cars and leaving property in plain view. It may have something to do with the frequency of arrests relative to a particular crime. Maybe Tucumcari is very effective at arresting criminals, but not as effective in keeping them locked up. Maybe the jails are too small to hold them all. Maybe there is corruption in the town politics. If the problems are truly endemic to NM and not other states, that changes the whole scope of analysis.
Poncho: no need to get aggravated. I am just asking the question since nobody has obviously given me an answer so far.
I'm not agrgravated, you have asked the question before and have gotten answers from two different people. You seem to have forgotten and/or ignored it. It has become monotonous, boring, , tedious, irksome, tiresome, humdrum.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ognend
So their crime rate is thrown off by copper wire theft - is that what the "official line" is?
Now you start your word games... No. But your replies have become tiresome. There is no official line.
Last edited by Poncho_NM; 05-14-2014 at 09:27 PM..
Tucumcari is a world of different than it was 30 years back. I once enetered into talks with an owner of an "Route 66 icon" motel to buy it, but the numbers just didn't add up. Now when you go down 66 through town, there are more ghosts than tourists. Scary isn't it!!!
Tucumcari is a world of different than it was 30 years back. I once enetered into talks with an owner of an "Route 66 icon" motel to buy it, but the numbers just didn't add up. Now when you go down 66 through town, there are more ghosts than tourists. Scary isn't it!!!
That theme of abandonment seems to be a tradition all along Route 66 in "modern" times. The big highways and bypasses, along with a new generation of travelers, are erasing the original mystique. Albuquerque is trying to keep it alive to some extent, but the notion of crossing the western frontier may be a vanquished dream. The prolonged drought isn't helping, but on the other hand, someday in the future (post-methlab), our children's children may rediscover the ghost towns and lost roads.
Tucumcari is a world of different than it was 30 years back. I once enetered into talks with an owner of an "Route 66 icon" motel to buy it, but the numbers just didn't add up. Now when you go down 66 through town, there are more ghosts than tourists. Scary isn't it!!!
I drove through Tucumcari a few weeks ago on my way back from a trip to Arizona (didn't even see it on my way there), and my feelings were similar, and similair to some of the earlier posters who were hit with a sense of fascination with this town. It was only by accident that I drove through the town of Tucumcari, as I took one of the off-ramps to find a gas station. While I wasn't running out of gas, I had learned on my way to Arizona that it would be best to not let my tank go below the halfway point before refilling when driving through New Mexico's beautiful, but vast, nothingness. Good luck to me if I did run out of gas. From what I remember, the city wasn't that visible from the Interstate, so I didn't know what to expect as I wound around the corner. Then I came upon the beginnings of what I now know is the old Route 66. It's quite desolated and abandoned, but I must say, I couldn't help but imagine what this place was like at its peak; it had to have been a complete blast. Such charm. One of the motels had an in-ground pool, which signaled to me that it was bustling enough to warrant such a feature to attract people to stay there. These buildings look like they've been abandoned for decades. Who owns all of those abandoned buildings?
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From what I remember, the city wasn't that visible from the Interstate, so I didn't know what to expect as I wound around the corner. Then I came upon the beginnings of what I now know is the old Route 66. It's quite desolated and abandoned, but I must say, I couldn't help but imagine what this place was like at its peak; it had to have been a complete blast. Such charm. One of the motels had an in-ground pool, which signaled to me that it was bustling enough to warrant such a feature to attract people to stay there. These buildings look like they've been abandoned for decades. Who owns all of those abandoned buildings?
