Are there thugs roaming around Sacramento all the time? (motel, lawsuit)

[FlipMC]

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

Yup I guess you guys are right. Sacramento has a crime index of 3 - meaning Sacramento is safer than 3% of the cities in the US.

[ElectroPlumber]

I think it's getting worse, probably because of the economy. It's not the safest city for it's size that I have lived in. I think the police could do a better job of having a presence in areas where it is needed. It seems they are always racing to the problem areas after the fact instead of having a presence there in the first place.

[wburg]

The police have a hard time having a presence because there are fewer police present--our ratio of police to residents was already about the lowest in the country for a city our size before the recent layoff of several hundred officers.

[Curmudgeon]

Yes, there certainly are, but they're called "politicians!"

[ElectroPlumber]

Originally Posted by wburg

The police have a hard time having a presence because there are fewer police present--our ratio of police to residents was already about the lowest in the country for a city our size before the recent layoff of several hundred officers.

I agree with you about the recent cuts, but when we got here five years ago, we went down to the Crest for a film festival and there were drunks and people mouthing off to my wife and I all along the route we had to walk. I couldn't believe that there wasn't a cop in sight for what was obviously an area that needed a police presence. It was the last time we went downtown after dark.

[Aquaboy]

We have nice thugs here. They say "sir" and "maam" before robbing you.

[NorCal Dude]

California in general is under-policed. The conundrum occurs when you pay one cop 125k vs 2 cops 60k.

[hydro]

yes, Sac has thugs! You judgin' ?

[LDH]

The Light Rail is very scary in some area of Sacramento and in between. My daughter takes it every day too and from college and really has to be on her toes. The Light Rail has their own cops who are supposed to patrol but they are hardly seen. A couple of months ago a man who appeared to be on something was grabbing the women at one stop and luckily there were men there to pry him off of them. Apparently when I called the LR the next day no one had called the police to report the incident.

[kalyson]

Originally Posted by LDH

The Light Rail is very scary in some area of Sacramento and in between. My daughter takes it every day too and from college and really has to be on her toes. The Light Rail has their own cops who are supposed to patrol but they are hardly seen. A couple of months ago a man who appeared to be on something was grabbing the women at one stop and luckily there were men there to pry him off of them. Apparently when I called the LR the next day no one had called the police to report the incident.

Yes, that sounds typical. My friend used to commute to work on the light rail until some guys pulled guns on each other en route to downtown. During rush hour, even.
The light rail 'police' are just there to write tickets for people who can afford to pay. Homeless people are just quietly escorted off. If you are a working citizen they will fine you around $100 (don't know the exact amount).
In fact, the aforementioned friend started riding the light rail and thought you were supposed to purchase the ticket on the train (as in most cities) and they ticketed him on his first ride to work. Of course, when the thugs pulled guns in the rail car none of the security guards were anywhere to be found.

That being said, you can ride on the light rail many times without incident. But eventually something untoward can and usually does happen. I believe this to be a result of the lack of security staff.

I do not intend to say that there is nothing nice about this city. It has a fantastic bike trail that has safe areas on it (there were only a few times I can recall people being mugged or shot on the trail -- that is pretty rare). The city is close to many great things to see and do -- mountains, ocean, SF, etc. They have a fantastic rock climbing gym. Food here is marginal, but you can drive to the bay area for culture and great food. There are nearby areas to live that are relatively safe like Folsom/El Dorado Hills, certain parts of Davis, parts of Auburn, Nevada City, etc. We are moving because of the traffic, the crime and the pollution (inversion layer -- air quality is also one of the very worst in the nation).

But we will miss the many great things about this area.