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Hi, We just moved here and were originally thinking of moving to Knightdale until we heard that there are gangs in the local HS. I was quite shocked and then talked to some kids right out of high school that confirmed this. I looked on an older thread of this board ( i think from 2007) that talked of gangs in Knightdale and other areas of Wake County. Knightdale and other areas of Wake County look so nice.
Can you tell me if this is still a problem or has it gotten worse? What schools to avoid?
We are hoping to buy a house in 3 months and want to live in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Otherwise, we may have to put the kids in private school (who knows the same gangs could be in there as well).
Can someone please give me the low down on Raleigh crime. Thanks.
Welcome to 2009, I think gangs are everywhere. Probably not in private schools, because they can throw someone out of school instantly for pretty much whatever they decide to, but as I hear it, every public school (even some elementaries) has SOME kind of "gang" presence. Probably a factor of so many people moving here from "big cities" and bringing their "city ways", I'd suspect.
thanks. before moving here we lived overseas in Singapore for 7 years, which has very little crime and no gangs. The governement is a democratic dictatorship (ironic, i know? but singapore politics are crazy). All this is a huge change for us and we are quite concerned.
I agree that there is probably a gang presence in most public schools...I disagree that it has anything to do with people moving here...probably more to do with a combo of social/economic/media factors.
But what do I know....heh.
I do remember hearing about gang problems in Knightdale and possible curfews...not sure what became of it. But you see the graffiti everywhere...even saw some on the new-ish sound walls on US1 right around the Crossroads area.
The one thing (that I hope is not too much "wishful thinking") about middle/high school "gangs" is that most of them are actually harmless and no real threat to safety; it's just kids wanting to belong to something. Those sorts of "gangs" are more like "fraternities" than they are hard-core street gangs, even though the kids might "operate" the way they think LA Gangs do, flashing signs, graffitti, etc. Not that that is any comfort, and not that I would want them in my neighborhood even if they were just "emulating" the Crips/Bloods, but I'm pretty sure that most "gangs" in schools locally aren't serious threats.
BUT, you never know which ones are, or which ones just need a little push. It's definitely a problem...but universal, I fear.
There are some people who are not going to like what I'm going to say, but you really need to move to Chapel Hill or Northern Chatham county (on the direct outskirts of Chapel Hill) to escape most of what you are talking about. In these two areas, you have mainly middle class to upper middle class ( and a lot of upper upper middle class) and those areas tend to see lower crime. The downfall to this is that if you work in Raleigh, you would have a nice little commute and you would be not be getting much house for the money. The exchange; great schools, low crime, low poverty, and you neighbors would probably have a phd or masters degree. I don't have a phd or masters, but I just saying that's just how Chapel Hill and northern chatam is. Many people may feel safe in their neighborhoods, but when you look at stats as a whole, Chapel Hill and northern chatham county win hands down!
Oh yeah, you might live in a very nice subdivision that doesn't have any problems, but if the school has some problems your child could get mixed in with the wrong crowd. That's what happened to my little sister. She grew up a very good kid and was always into church. Once she hit the middle grades, she got involved with the wrong crowd and started getting involved with a lot of bad things. She was pulled out of public school at that point and put in private school. My father paid a lot of money and is still paying now that she's graduated. Once she was surrounded by these private school kids, she became one of them: studious, and an all around good girl. She obiously was influenced by her surroundings. She now is in college and who knows how she would have turned out if it weren't for getting out of that school with all the bad influences.
Ever see the movie "Colors" with Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. It's just like that around here <rolleyes>
I came from Baltimore. This is nothing. Crime travels, no where is 100% safe and all schools have "gangs" in one form or another. Lower income schools call them gangs, upper class call them cliques. The thing you want to be the most concerned with is graduation rate, testing scores and of course school violence but again. It's all relative to what yo are used to.
I am going out on a limb here but you can probably determine the level of the school and the crime in the area by the price of the homes. Higher cost usually means better schools and less crime. I may be wrong but that's the great thing about opinions. They can be :-)
Welcome to 2009, I think gangs are everywhere. Probably not in private schools, because they can throw someone out of school instantly for pretty much whatever they decide to, but as I hear it, every public school (even some elementaries) has SOME kind of "gang" presence. Probably a factor of so many people moving here from "big cities" and bringing their "city ways", I'd suspect.
There have been gangs in rural Kansas for years. Look it up if you think I'm making it up. A lot of your Latino gangs come from kids new here that don't necessarily come from "big cities". Gangs have nothing to do with big cities, other than you might find more gang members there because there are more people there period. Raleigh has had black gangs for YEARS. Now they are experiencing different types of gang growth.
Hi, We just moved here and were originally thinking of moving to Knightdale until we heard that there are gangs in the local HS. I was quite shocked and then talked to some kids right out of high school that confirmed this. I looked on an older thread of this board ( i think from 2007) that talked of gangs in Knightdale and other areas of Wake County. Knightdale and other areas of Wake County look so nice.
Can you tell me if this is still a problem or has it gotten worse? What schools to avoid?
We are hoping to buy a house in 3 months and want to live in a safe neighborhood with good schools. Otherwise, we may have to put the kids in private school (who knows the same gangs could be in there as well).
Can someone please give me the low down on Raleigh crime. Thanks.
I cannot give you a low down on Raleigh crime. But I can tell you that you will find gangs in schools in any area you move to. Thats guaranteed!!
I live in Knightdale myself and personally have never even seen a problem here anywhere. Of course I am not everywhere at once. LOL
But I have a middle school aged child and have never seen a problem. I feel very safe.
Naturally when you get teenage kids together (school) there are problems. Everywhere.
I hope this helps.
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and then talked to some kids right out of high school that confirmed this. I looked on an older thread of this board ( i think from 2007) that talked of gangs in Knightdale and other areas of Wake County. Knightdale and other areas of Wake County look so nice. 
