is Seattle safer than San diego ? (Edmonds: crime rate, home, neighborhoods)

[hodster]

is Seattle safer than San diego ?

[angelenogirl]

Moved here from San Diego, though I'd only been there a year (moved down from my native Los Angeles). I felt extremely safe in San Diego. We were in North County, though; maybe it's different farther south. It was actually the most boring place on earth. I couldn't imagine anything bad happening to me in SD. Even in L.A., I'd left my purse in my car many times without thinking about it and without incident. I spent most of my life in L.A. and never had anything stolen, car broken into, home burglarized, etc.

When I moved here I had to get used to the idea of never leaving anything in my car, always checking every window and door multiple times, etc. I feel less safe in Seattle because the non-violent crime rate is very high (car prowls, robberies, etc.). People also talk about the extremely aggressive homeless population downtown. I haven't experienced this, but I can't imagine an angry homeless person getting in my face or pushing me if I didn't have any money to give.

We're currently looking at heavy-duty alarm systems because there is a rash of burglaries going on in Edmonds - which is a nice, safe community otherwise! That sort of thing just happens in nice neighborhoods here. It's disconcerting, but I guess you just get used to it.

[Hemlock140]

We spent a lot of time in San Diego and it's worst parts are probably worse than the worst parts of Seattle, with more violent crime, but Seattle has more property crime. You do need to watch your car when left parked in Belltown or near the market. I pass the homeless & panhandlers twice daily and other than the occasional mentally ill person I ignore them and have never had any problems.

[hodster]

Originally Posted by angelenogirl

Moved here from San Diego, though I'd only been there a year (moved down from my native Los Angeles). I felt extremely safe in San Diego. We were in North County, though; maybe it's different farther south. It was actually the most boring place on earth. I couldn't imagine anything bad happening to me in SD. Even in L.A., I'd left my purse in my car many times without thinking about it and without incident. I spent most of my life in L.A. and never had anything stolen, car broken into, home burglarized, etc.

When I moved here I had to get used to the idea of never leaving anything in my car, always checking every window and door multiple times, etc. I feel less safe in Seattle because the non-violent crime rate is very high (car prowls, robberies, etc.). People also talk about the extremely aggressive homeless population downtown. I haven't experienced this, but I can't imagine an angry homeless person getting in my face or pushing me if I didn't have any money to give.

We're currently looking at heavy-duty alarm systems because there is a rash of burglaries going on in Edmonds - which is a nice, safe community otherwise! That sort of thing just happens in nice neighborhoods here. It's disconcerting, but I guess you just get used to it.

What about Southeast San Diego - I heard it's really bad over there ?!!!
A homeless guy from Seattle doesn't have a gun (usually) because he doesn't have any money to buy a gun unlike a gang member in SD.
I am from middle eastern origins but I have some Mexican/Latin look so it's freaking me out if I might get into trouble with gangs because of my look. Help me out here!

[Tall Traveler]

I compared the crime data that CD has posted and San Diego has a slightly lower murder rate over the last 5 years averaging 3.2/100,000/year versus Seattle's 3.8/100,000/year. Thefts is where there is a huge difference with Seattle having more than twice the thefts per capita.

I was a little surprised that San Diego's was that low. How do they do it? Have they locked up or priced out the criminals?

[GatsbyGatz]

Both are safe overall, but both also have hoodrats in some places. Seattle arguably has more aggressive homeless people, but as someone already mentioned, they don't actually do anything violent.

[CarawayDJ]

Each site that lists crime stats seems to vary a bit, but most will show San Diego as having much less crime of all types than Seattle. It has less violent crime and about half the property crime. Even Los Angeles has a lesser crime rate. Again, each site can vary. Seattle is still one of the safer cities in America, but San Diego is at another level. This is especially true when you consider it is over twice the size of Seattle yet has lower crime rates.

A lot of cities have done an amazing job cleaning up crime in the past decade or so. It might just be me but it seems as if Seattle's violent crime is trending in the wrong direction?

[tifoso]

And San Diego accomplishes this despite having significantly fewer police officers per capita than Seattle:

Seattle: 21.7 officers per 10,000 population

San Diego: 14.2 officers per 10,000 population

Source: Governing Magazine, stats from the FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2010.

Perhaps it's not the number of officers that's the problem, as so many Seattle downtown residents and business owners argue. Perhaps it's how they're used.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by tifoso

And San Diego accomplishes this despite having significantly fewer police officers per capita than Seattle:

Seattle: 21.7 officers per 10,000 population

San Diego: 14.2 officers per 10,000 population

Source: Governing Magazine, stats from the FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2010.

Perhaps it's not the number of officers that's the problem, as so many Seattle downtown residents and business owners argue. Perhaps it's how they're used.

The thing about Seattle though... Seattle is known for having trigger-happy police officers. Anyone want to find out how many of Seattle's murders are from police shooting suspects?

[spotlesseden]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

The thing about Seattle though... Seattle is known for having trigger-happy police officers. Anyone want to find out how many of Seattle's murders are from police shooting suspects?

i think that's because CA police got alot of lawsuits over the year.