Bay Area Cities Top 10 Highest and Lowest Per Capita Violent Crime Ratef (San Jose: 2014, crime rate)

[18Montclair]

No real surprises. Central Contra Costa County is so like perfect.

What are the Bay Area’s 10 safest

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

I'm really surprised to see Fairfield on the dangerous list. I always felt really safe when I took the train there and visited friends who live there. Even when I had to wait alone at an empty, unattended train station - no weirdos or homeless people. I went out to eat, went shopping, and I never even saw any shady characters, nothing. Must be a bad part of town I never saw somewhere. Will have to ask my friend about it.

[3rdGen SFan]

I was expecting to see San Jose on the dangerous list since the media reports a lot of murders there these days, but it looks like it didn't make the list. Is San Jose too far South for the list?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

I'm really surprised to see Fairfield on the dangerous list. I always felt really safe when I took the train there and visited friends who live there. Even when I had to wait alone at an empty, unattended train station - no weirdos or homeless people. I went out to eat, went shopping, and I never even saw any shady characters, nothing. Must be a bad part of town I never saw somewhere. Will have to ask my friend about it.

I agree. I am through there frequently (with errand stops). Talk about a nothing place. Fairfield is so boring and undistinguished I sometimes verge on panic attack sensations because I experience no feedback that I am still alive and the world is real when there.

[calicoastal]

Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan

I was expecting to see San Jose on the dangerous list since the media reports a lot of murders there these days, but it looks like it didn't make the list. Is San Jose too far South for the list?

San Jose's violent crime rate is too low to make the list, it is below the state average. I downloaded the FBI data files. Something interesting I found is that SF's and Oakland's violent crime rates both went up significantly in 2013, mostly due to many more robberies.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSnowForMe

I'm really surprised to see Fairfield on the dangerous list. I always felt really safe when I took the train there and visited friends who live there. Even when I had to wait alone at an empty, unattended train station- no weirdos or homeless people. I went out to eat, went shopping, and I never even saw any shady characters, nothing. Must be a bad part of town I never saw somewhere. Will have to ask my friend about it.

Well it probably helped you were in Suisun City and not Fairfield, which isn't as bad imo. Where in Fairfield are you spending time in? North of I-80 or Coredlia?

Fairfield definitely has A LOT of homeless and weirdo's/trashy/shady looking people. It doesn't really look or "feel" violent but it has regular shootings and the occasional murder. I'm not surprised to see on the list although I was surprised Pittsburg wasn't.

[matzoman]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

I agree. I am through there frequently (with errand stops). Talk about a nothing place. Fairfield is so boring and undistinguished I sometimes verge on panic attack sensations because I experience no feedback that I am still alive and the world is real when there.

Great comment! This may explain in general the high amount of depressed people on pills in suburbs across america.

[Dave Coe]

Interesting Contra Costa has both the best and worst.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by 3rdGen SFan

I was expecting to see San Jose on the dangerous list since the media reports a lot of murders there these days, but it looks like it didn't make the list. Is San Jose too far South for the list?

You can try this link:

Homicide down, but gains uneven in Bay Area crime - SFGate

The media is dominated by SFGate and Chron these days, and these newspapers are more than eager to report on crimes in San Jose and Oakland more so than in SF, the crimes in SF gets a quick glossing over with minimal details and generally it all looks very peachy.

That, and the police pension battle in San Jose is also seeing the union portraying their city in a bad light and making mountains out of mole hills. The more casual folks perceive San Jose as "dangerous" the more ammo the police union has to fight the pension reforms.

San Jose is no longer the safest big city in America, but it's still damn near the top, I think it was ranked #5 the last time one of those survey things pop out last year.

Of the 3 big cities, San Jose is still the safest by a million miles.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

You can try this link:

Homicide down, but gains uneven in Bay Area crime - SFGate

The media is dominated by SFGate and Chron these days, and these newspapers are more than eager to report on crimes in San Jose and Oakland more so than in SF, the crimes in SF gets a quick glossing over with minimal details and generally it all looks very peachy.

That, and the police pension battle in San Jose is also seeing the union portraying their city in a bad light and making mountains out of mole hills. The more casual folks perceive San Jose as "dangerous" the more ammo the police union has to fight the pension reforms.

San Jose is no longer the safest big city in America, but it's still damn near the top, I think it was ranked #5 the last time one of those survey things pop out last year.

Everyone in San Jose wants it to go back to the days when 20 homicides were the norm. They also forgot that back in those days, San Jose has about 700,000 or so people. It now has a million. Times and demographics have changed.

Pretty much this. Crime has steadily decreased in San Jose for many years and the current crime increase is only recent. The police staffing just hasn't kept up with the population growth.

It's funny when the media dramatizes a homicide or other serious crime in a historically bad part of San Jose. Almost every single time they show a serious crime in San Jose, it's in a neighborhood that's always been a bad part of town. They try to act like the place is going to s**t when it's always been a s**t neighborhood. The infamous Story/King area is actually far nicer now than when I used to go to school in the area in the 80's/90's.

I'd actually say that San Jose's biggest criminal quality of life issue is home burglaries that have been on the rise due to police staffing issues. I know the Evergreen district has been hit especially hard. It's really not all that surprising there though because it's a nice to incredibly nice upscale part of town that's just a few minutes from some really crappy parts of town. It's a quick trek from the hood for opportunistic criminals.