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Old 12-23-2017, 09:20 PM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,111,561 times
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Originally Posted by Pdm56 View Post
Wish the high crime rate was my imagination but it’s not. Last spring my husband and I took a 13 week course called the Citizens Academy (its has since changed to an 8 wk course). It was a real eye opener. They had experts from every facet of the Sherriffs Department. We went on a field trip to the jail and a working farm where they grow livestock and produce for food for the jail. Approximately 50 people are arrested each day here and go before a judge on a closed caption screen. Their not all murderers but 50 a day is pretty scary. We are also down 44 deputies in Marion County because they don’t pay well. The crooks know the deputies are working at a large disadvantage. The deputy that patrols the schools will tell you that kids are taking opioids and killing themselves at an alarming rate. They also showed us a display of their equipment, much of which was bought with confiscated property and drug money. One piece of equipment, called a Rook was worth a few million dollars. I also volunteered with the Sherriffs Department for a short while. You can also check out a website called Neighborhood Scout and go the the Crime Tab. Ocala is rated a 4 which means we’re at the bottom. The safest would be rated a 100. They explain how they determine each cities rating. You can also download an App called Radio 5.0 and browse to find Marion County. They use mostly code but you can download the codes online. Very telling stuff. People are waving their guns in the air, overdosing, break ins, beating their wives and kids. You name it, it’s reported every 5 seconds. One only has to look around at the moldy, rusted out trailers everywhere along with the education statistics to see a community that’s really hurting. I agree Ocala is not all bad and they do some things really well but compared to the little town I grew up in, in the Northeast, Ocala and most of Florida is unsafe, scary, sad, and very uneducated. I’ve hearing lately that I’m not alone in my thinking either. If I loved the snow we would probably move back. For now we will just make the best of it.
OK, so a few points to consider here. First, I'm not saying you're imagining things, but from what I understand, there are "crime clusters", like certain parts of the Shores and Marion Oaks. I know there are mobile homes here. Did you know that the Northeast has its share of rusted out moldy mobile homes? I understand they're a big hit in Maine, for example.

I grew up partly in the Mid-Atlantic, partly in New England. I've lived in suburban NY, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. I still have family in Connecticut. The opioid/heroin problem is off the hook, especially with the younger people. My sister saw a very sad thing in New London while waiting for the ferry to Block Island this past summer, where a high-school aged girl was "servicing", in broad daylight, two young men on one of the benches near the pier. Probably to pay for a fix. That's pretty desperate to do it in broad daylight. So far, I haven't seen anything like that here. Also, 60 Minutes had a major story on the youth opioid problem in Vermont, I think it was a couple of years ago.

Like you, I grew up in a very nice town. It was a great childhood/adolescence/teen years. I was lucky. But in many places, even the ones we remember fondly, it's not like that anymore and that's the sad reality. No better than Florida, and worse in some cases. I remember reading a report a while back about a night in New Haven where they had like 12 ODs in a short period of time due to the heroin being cut with fentanyl and the police could barely handle it. You should read what's happened to Brentwood, LI in New York. A once pleasant suburb now infested by MS-13, where high schoolers get disappeared.

Having said that, I get that Florida can be scary, I've lived in different parts of the state and I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly over the years. I was just reading in the Citizen yesterday where Oak Run was on lockdown for a few hours one night last week due to a gang that attempted to ram a vehicle transporting prisoners. The gang originated in Sumter, as I recall. They did get the guys. And are you sure they're down 44 deputies because of the pay? In Hillsborough County (Tampa Bay area) I heard they were down something like 120 deputies, not because of pay, but because people can't meet the requirements in terms of fitness: mental, physical, drug and criminal background. That's a societal thing, not a Florida thing.

I can understand why Ocala in particular and Florida in general might not appeal to you and I'm not judging you for that. I lived briefly in the Orlando area, found it pretty scary and couldn't get out fast enough. Maybe another area like St. Augustine would be better for you, maybe somewhere nice in Georgia or South Carolina.
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Old 12-23-2017, 09:37 PM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,111,561 times
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I just thought of where in Florida you might be more comfortable: check out Vero Beach. It was popular with many people from my old town in Connecticut, for retirement.
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Old 12-24-2017, 09:56 PM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
14 posts, read 23,592 times
Reputation: 42
Yes, everything I stated was a fact. Lt. Winston came to Trilogy to speak to the members about a Neighborhood Watch Program and told us they were down 44 deputies. They were hoping some of us would join the Citizen Patrols as every little bit helps. He also said many people start off in the Ocala deputy training program but then quit and go to better paying counties and yes some probably don’t meet their criteria. Your correct also that most of the crime is black on black or white on white. They mostly seem to hurt those they know but theres still way too many problems here. And yes many places are struggling with drugs especially Vermont and probably Maine. The world has changed dramatically for the worse everywhere. My cousin lives in Oak Run and yes they went into lock down. Thought I heard they only caught 3 of the 5. She used to love it here and talked us in to moving here but now even she wishes she could leave and go back to the Northeast but it’s way to expensive. My daughter in law is a teacher in CT and I can tell you that at least where they live, my grandkids are getting a really good education. Their town is rated a 49 and that’s a far cry from a 4 rating. Also there were a few trailer parks around CT but nothing like the rusted, moldy trailers that you see in FL. Not in north central CT anyway. I would never put my kids in the schools in Florida even though I know there are a few good ones around. Ocala was rated the bottom of the bottom to raise a family. Their are plenty of really nice people here but way to may rednecks who don’t seem to have much pride in how they dress or take care of themselves. We’re noticing a strange dress code here. People wearing there pj’s to the store! It’s kind of gross and terribly sad at the same time. Anyway not trying to convince anyone just stating a few facts.
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Old 12-24-2017, 09:56 PM
 
160 posts, read 187,067 times
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I assume no one is trying to claim the northeast is safe. I lived in New York. The crime was not to be believed, and everyone, including the cops, accepted it!

If your car broke down on certain highways, it would be stripped, period. Right there on the shoulder. No way to stop it. Cops didn't do a thing. There were huge areas where white people and Asians simply could not go without risking death. It was understood that they would be attacked. If you walked in Times Square after maybe 11 p.m., you could pretty much count on having a prostitute come up and grab your crotch. It happened to me. Big groups of whores stood on the sidewalk, out in the open, doing business with no fear at all. I remember missing my stop on a subway train with some of my friends. Black people came up to us and warned us to stay on the train until we reached a safe area. They were worried about us. One very nice lady told my friend, "Your life ain't worth a nickel here." I always thought that was a stand-up thing to do. She could have looked the other way and let us take our chances.

I worked at the student grocery at Columbia University. We had a problem with our milk supplier, and we tried to get someone else to deliver. We got word from the mafia that we could not change suppliers. They said the problem would be handled, but that we could not buy milk from anyone else. Our side of Broadway belonged to a certain company.

The grocery was held up by a man with a rifle, and they locked a buddy of mine in the walk-in box. Two of my friends had an armed home invader tie them up. Another acquaintance tried to resist an armed mugger, and the criminal changed his mind by holding a revolver to his genitals.

The people at my local pizzeria were very nice about credit. I went once and forgot my cash. They told me not to worry; I could pay them later. I found out they weren't worried about money because their real business was selling heroin. The mob had a bunch of pizzerias moving their drugs. When they upgraded to a bigger location, it was full of potted plants and flowers with cards bearing good wishes from this Italian family and that Italian family.

It's astounding how northerners tolerate mafia scum. They let barely literate morons who should have been bagging groceries push them around. Mobsters are really stupid. There used to be a few of them in North Miami, but the Colombians showed up and showed them what real criminals looked like. They used to cut people's throats and pull their tongues through the holes. They burned people to death. They liked saws. A lot of the wise guys ran back to the northeast, wetting their pants the whole way.

Right now in Philadelphia, they're having an uproar because misguided folks are trying to ban bulletproof glass in stores and other businesses. The glass makes the neighborhoods look bad, so the government's answer is to expose Asian and other shop owners to racist violence, and naturally, they're terrified. I have not noticed any bulletproof hamburger joints in Ocala yet.

I would not be surprised if Marion Oaks and the city of Ocala were iffy, but I'm out in the woods surrounded by nice people who own their homes and take care of them. Marion Oaks seems ghetto. I only go there to get groceries.

I lived in Coral Gables, in a high-crime county, and I was not worried about crime near home, because it wasn't common, and most of it was burglary and so on. On the other hand, I could get in the car and drive seven minutes and be in a ghetto where getting out of the vehicle was a bad idea. You have to use common sense when you look at an area. If you move into a poor minority neighborhood or one full of methed-up white trash, you're going to have crime. In the United States, most crime is committed by minorities and poor whites, as FBI statistics prove. If you buy a place criminals have to drive a few miles to get to, you'll probably be safe. Criminals are lazy, and they like to do their business close to home.

Neighborhood Scout is a garbage site that charges people for bogus information. It gives Ocala a 4 and known hellhole Philadelphia a 10 (better), but it says your odds of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Ocala are only 2/3 as high as in Philadelphia. To me, lower odds of becoming a victim equal "safer." Belleview's violent crime rate is about 25% of Philadelphia's, but Neighborhood Scout gives it nearly the same rating: 11.

Philadelphia has THE highest violent crime rate of any American city, so how can Ocala be worse? Ocala averaged less than TWO arrests per day last year.

One bit of info I trust: the Neighborhood Scout map shows a bunch of high-crime areas near town, surrounded by areas where the rate is much lower. No surprise there.

Trulia's crime map for Ocala shows a big green area (safe) with a tiny yellow area in the city (less safe). If you blow it up you find little yellow areas in places like Marion Oaks.

Violent dirtbags generally prefer cities. Fact of life. It may make more sense to worry about being near a city than about which area of the country you live in. Cities are generally dangerous. If you look at a list of America's safest big cities, New York is number 8, and only an idiot thinks New York is safe.

Build a city, and trash will show up to infest it and commit crimes. Look at Salt Lake City. Surrounded by clean-living, hyper-industrious Mormons in one of the most conservative states, but it has a high crime rate.
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Old 12-25-2017, 10:20 AM
 
Location: Salt Lake City
27,864 posts, read 29,668,262 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by A Little Hoarse View Post
Build a city, and trash will show up to infest it and commit crimes. Look at Salt Lake City. Surrounded by clean-living, hyper-industrious Mormons in one of the most conservative states, but it has a high crime rate.
Possibly, if you're looking at Salt Lake City proper (population: 180,000), and most of the crimes are of the "non-violent" variety. And if you're looking at the Salt Lake City metro area (1.2 million) the crime rate is actually very low.
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Old 12-26-2017, 10:17 AM
 
160 posts, read 187,067 times
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I'm just going by what I dug up on the Internet. I found that Salt Lake City had a relatively high crime rate. Not like New York, I'm sure, but much worse than the surrounding rural areas.

What you say is consistent with the proposition that crime is worse in cities. The greater Salt Lake City area SHOULD have a lower crime rate, because it's less urban than the core of the city.

Even Detroit has nice suburbs.
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Old 12-28-2017, 06:06 PM
 
1,332 posts, read 2,168,380 times
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This is a good website with plenty of statistics and maps of Marion County crime.

Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

Crime is very, very, very low in the retirement communities along Route 200. The crime is mostly domestic, black on black and drug related. There's a large meth and opioid problem with many of the poorer blacks and whites in the county. It is sad but this is going on all over the country and is not anything unusual. Don't go out late at night looking to buy drugs and associate yourself with undesirables and you should be fine.

Last edited by Yac; 01-18-2018 at 07:45 AM..
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Old 12-29-2017, 08:59 AM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,111,561 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by logybogy View Post
This is a good website with plenty of statistics and maps of Marion County crime.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed
Crime is very, very, very low in the retirement communities along Route 200. The crime is mostly domestic, black on black and drug related. There's a large meth and opioid problem with many of the poorer blacks and whites in the county. It is sad but this is going on all over the country and is not anything unusual. Don't go out late at night looking to buy drugs and associate yourself with undesirables and you should be fine.
The only thing I've seen along 200 so far is a couple of homeless people. No one should be homeless in the US, unless they choose to be. I've heard it said that for many homeless, the streets are safer than the shelters.

Last edited by Yac; 01-18-2018 at 07:44 AM..
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Old 02-12-2018, 12:40 PM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
14 posts, read 23,592 times
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I agree with what most have said. The world has changed and there aren't many safe, nice little towns to move to. What I know for sure is that Ocala most certainly didn't have only 2 arrests per day in 2017 as A LITTLE HOARSE stated. I'd like to see the website that showed that. Go to "mugshotsocala.com It currently shows 98 people were booked in the last 3 days in Marion County and as I stated previously, I attended 13 weeks of classes and took a tour of the jail. The deputy that gave us the tour stated that approximately 50 people PER DAY are arrested in our county. You can also download an interesting APP on your smartphone called Radio 5.0. It's basically a police scanner. After one week of listening you might even be afraid to leave the house. And the scanner is only the Sheriff's side and not the Ocala Police side. I believe you need to be on a different frequency to listen to them. Between the crime, people waving their guns around, the overdoses, the rollovers, domestic violence, etc. it's pretty scary. Orlando of course is even worse. Can't even watch the news anymore. When I go back home to see the grandkids the killings and violence is no where near the scale it is here.
Regarding Philadelphia crime, the number 10 might be higher because the population is much much higher than Ocala and it's the 6th most populous city in the US therefore the scale of crime is different. The statistics from Neighborhood Scout is collected from the FBI and other agencies. Regarding trailers in Ocala. Here you can buy a piece of land almost anywhere, put a trailer on it and let it and let it go to pieces. There's no pride, no money to fix it and no accountability and it all starts to look like a dump. That would never be allowed in most of the areas that I grew up in even today.
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Old 02-12-2018, 02:25 PM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,111,561 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pdm56 View Post
I agree with what most have said. The world has changed and there aren't many safe, nice little towns to move to. What I know for sure is that Ocala most certainly didn't have only 2 arrests per day in 2017 as A LITTLE HOARSE stated. I'd like to see the website that showed that. Go to "mugshotsocala.com It currently shows 98 people were booked in the last 3 days in Marion County and as I stated previously, I attended 13 weeks of classes and took a tour of the jail. The deputy that gave us the tour stated that approximately 50 people PER DAY are arrested in our county. You can also download an interesting APP on your smartphone called Radio 5.0. It's basically a police scanner. After one week of listening you might even be afraid to leave the house. And the scanner is only the Sheriff's side and not the Ocala Police side. I believe you need to be on a different frequency to listen to them. Between the crime, people waving their guns around, the overdoses, the rollovers, domestic violence, etc. it's pretty scary. Orlando of course is even worse. Can't even watch the news anymore. When I go back home to see the grandkids the killings and violence is no where near the scale it is here.
Regarding Philadelphia crime, the number 10 might be higher because the population is much much higher than Ocala and it's the 6th most populous city in the US therefore the scale of crime is different. The statistics from Neighborhood Scout is collected from the FBI and other agencies. Regarding trailers in Ocala. Here you can buy a piece of land almost anywhere, put a trailer on it and let it and let it go to pieces. There's no pride, no money to fix it and no accountability and it all starts to look like a dump. That would never be allowed in most of the areas that I grew up in even today.
Pdm, have you checked out Vero Beach yet? You might be more comfortable there.
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