Is South Carolina really this violent? (Florence, Myrtle Beach: low income, renting, high crime)
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It actually sickens me about the crime. When my great grandfather and grandfather were living, crime was very low. Growing up as a child crime was not a big issue either. I can remember us going to bed with our windows open at night without a fear in the world.
Now, I carry around pepper spray with me everywhere I go. I am fortunate to own land in a very nice private area of Socastee. However, we have these teenagers that have nothing better to do than walk the roads and break into vehicles. We have been lucky so far, but my father in law had his trolling motors stolen last week. Of course he is on the main part of the road where as we are in the back part away from the road.
I'm surprised its taken so long for this subject to finally come up. Yes, SC is ranked among the very top states, not just in violent crime, but in most categories of crime. I have laughed many times reading posts from people who say "I've just got to get away from all this crime in New York, Or Michigan, or CA---I've decided to move to SC." But I will also add that crime rates are even HIGHER in some of the rural counties in SC than in the cities listed above!!!! It is true that much of the violent crime occurs in domestic situations---thats just the way we do it here in the south, so you don't have to worry so much about random violent acts. I contend that SC is a WONDERFUL place to live---I've lived here for 35 years myself---but there are forces that encourage a highcrime rate. The state of South Carolina has a long, long, tradition of social, economic, and racial separation which retarded economic and educational progress--which has the result of fostering all types of crime. Things began to change in the 1950s, but it takes many generations to make up for that kind of neglect. Great progress was made until recently when state government decided they wanted to return to the old ways--hopefully this will not be a perminent change.
I keep hearing domestic violence is prevalent, almost with the undertone of acceptance? Isn't that a contributing factor for children of these housholds to become full blown criminals? In other words the future may not look so good in regards to crime.
I didn't read all teh facts and figures, however, one must keep in mind the transient traits of Myrtle Beach. It is, after all, one of the top tourist destinations on the East Coast.
This is to be kept in mind when factoring into these statistics..
Location: Sunny Phoenix Arizona...wishing for a beach.
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Originally Posted by rrufast
I didn't read all teh facts and figures, however, one must keep in mind the transient traits of Myrtle Beach. It is, after all, one of the top tourist destinations on the East Coast.
This is to be kept in mind when factoring into these statistics..
Absolutely, it reminds me of Vegas on the beach. If people don't expect crime up on that blvd at night they have another thing coming. It's when the crime seeps into the nice residential areas I would be concerned with.
Let me take a crack at this problem with a question. The crimes per thousand residents equals the crime rate. O.k. what about the fact that Myrtle has another 10 million + visitors in town a year. Thats another million people in the population in any given month (Guessing). The resident population is only 300 thousand for the whole metropolitan area, and I presume that is the statistical basis. However there are actually about four times that number of people around to commit crimes. Charleston is similar, as one of the most visited of all cities. Shouldn't that be considered? On that basis the crime rate would be maybe half of the FBI calculation. Most big vacation cities seem to have the same problem. Comments??
Location: Sunny Phoenix Arizona...wishing for a beach.
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Originally Posted by lowcountry
Let me take a crack at this problem with a question. The crimes per thousand residents equals the crime rate. O.k. what about the fact that Myrtle has another 10 million + visitors in town a year. Thats another million people in the population in any given month (Guessing). The resident population is only 300 thousand for the whole metropolitan area, and I presume that is the statistical basis. However there are actually about four times that number of people around to commit crimes. Charleston is similar, as one of the most visited of all cities. Shouldn't that be considered? On that basis the crime rate would be maybe half of the FBI calculation. Most big vacation cities seem to have the same problem. Comments??
While you are right and I do take that into consideration for the very reason you mentioned, it is a major problem when cities like Las Vegas (44) and LA (79) are ranked much lower. Greater NY was 145 on the list! I found that quite amazing! All those cities are huge tourist destinations, much more so even that MB and Charleston.
I personally think that it is more valuable to look at the metro area than the actual city. Most of us live in the metro areas.
I happen to think that South Carolina is just very good at reporting crime when it happens. Here in New York high crime brings down the property values and many local law enforcement departments fail to report them. One incident which happened to me was when I was working in banking a few years back. I worked for a bank which had a branch at the Palisades center mall in Clarkstown, Rockland County NY. I showed up for work at 7:30 AM and returned at 6: PM to find my car had been broken into, my dash board damaged and the cd player stolen. The thief used a drill to cut a hole under my lock and pull it out. When I reported it to the Clarkstown police department they did not want to make a report. I had to force them otherwise my insurance company would not pay out a single dime. Later on in the week I had heard as many as 50 cars had been broken into. All which were owned by employees of the various business interests at the Mall. So you see the police refuse to do their jobs because of political pressure.
You might also expect to see a lot of "Homeless people" pushing shopping carts and panhandlers since there are so many people to mooch from in the summer time, but it's really rare here.
Domestic violence may be the largest contributer as someone mentioned.
It is strange though that you see very few police and patrol cars anywhere considering the stated high crimes. You would expect to see them everywhere all the time, but we don't.
My wife is one who feels very safe here and she would be the very first to say "We're NOT living here".
If you decide on an area to establish your business I would suggest you visit police stations locally and get their opinions and talk to local businesses.
They would be more accurate then a disinterested nation polling company.
If we find an alligator on the porch though we are OUT OF HERE.
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