Don't Believe the Hype : Tucson, Arizona (Phoenix, Mammoth: apartment complex, rent, loft)

[AZ4Life]

When has the news ever NOT exaggerated anything negative? The news has become just another tabloid. A kid got cut at my high school with an exacto knife and the news reported a "stabbing" and conveniently their clip art picture for the story was a knife that looked the size of a military issue k-bar! A kid gets shot behind the fence of the school and it is reported as a shooting at school. Subliminal messages sent through our media corrupt our views of what really happens in our city. Think about it the next time you turn on your news...

[AZ4Life]

Ignorance is the only reason Tucson is viewed as a dangerous ghetto town full of gangs. Ignorance is also the reason why nothing is done to improve education to keep individuals from adhering to a gang related future. Ignorance is the reason why people think that the problem is solely brought from across the border and not started in our own back yard. Ignorance is the reason why these "gang bangers" are given the opportunity to gain any clout and a false sense of respect from our fear.

Any one who lived in the ghettos of places like LA, NYC, and Chi Town knows there are no prevalent gangs in Tucson. The "gangs" in Tucson are usually small groups of teenage kids who believe they need to live out what their favorite rap star spit in his latest hit single.

I grew up on the south side, lived at the UA for two years, and then moved a little further north after I got tired of living on campus. I felt in more danger living on campus then I did living on the south side because the environment at the U of A attracts the criminals in our community. As a matter of fact, I have been more worried about getting jumped by a bunch of intoxicated college kids late at night than getting robbed by a base head.

Criminals are given a lot of opportunity to commit crime on campus because too many items of value are not secured in a protective fashion. Yet, still I do not believe anyone should be too scared to come to Tucson if they want to attend the U of A. Just educate yourself about what could possibly happen if you are not paying attention to your surroundings. This is a golden rule for any new environment that you enter in to.

The pros that out way the cons of Tucson are related to the environmental and geological aspects of Tucson as stated in some of the earlier posts. One must remember this if they want to live here.

The best way to understand Tucson is too explore and educate your self on every aspect of it. Unfortunately the people I know that appreciate Tucson the most grew up in Tucson and that does not mean we are in denial, we just respect were we come from.

[azloafer]

The Tucson gangs are the WESTSIDE BARRIOS, BARRIO VIEJO, BARRIO HOLLYWOOD and the POSSE BLOODS. There have been 19 gang related slayings so far during 2006. This is from Tucson Police information Officer.

[AZ4Life]

I do not mean to say there are no gangs in Tucson but these sets are not nation wide; they are local. There has been gang related violence as you've stated and may God bless anyone's soul if they were innocent victims of this violence. But, to worry about living in Tucson because of these gangs I believe is a little too extreme. The majority of the times that my well being was threatened were by posers; insecure kids who carry guns because they can't protect themselves. I am not affiliated with any gang or gang related activity so I did not instigate any of these occurrences. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time because of where I grew up.

Gangs are difficult to suppress because they maintain a form of a chain of command and unfortunately the individuals in charge of the set are not stupid. Therefore, in our neighborhoods we need to make the extra effort to not put ourselves in situations that would instigate gang violence, even if it is inconvenient or not our fault, and to make sure anything we value is kept in a safe place. When we are not careful, we can be easy targets and that could lead to us becoming victims of gang initiation crimes. These crimes are the most random and unfortunate because it is hard for law enforcement to track the actions of new members that have not been active.

This link is the best source I could find that explains how to identify and avoid gangs in Tucson. It also provides the number of the Pima county task force against gang violence if anyone needs information or assistance.
http://www.pcao.pima.gov/gangunit.htm (broken link)

[azloafer]

When you are the victim, it doesn't really matter if the gang is a union card carrying member or not!

[AZ4Life]

Nation wide gangs have more power, more resources, and can make more drastic moves in a community than local gangs. Local gangs do not have strong leadership.

Besides the idea is to avoid being the victim. As long as you do all that you can to protect yourself and belongings anything else that happens is fate. I was not so smart when I was younger and did not know what thugs were capable of until I got caught up in a bad situation. I learned how to avoid those situations now and it has become my experience that someone really has to **** off a real gang member to get some type of retaliation directed toward them.

[azloafer]

If you really want to learn about the "other" Tucson try being a "ride-a-long" with the local PD. You will see why they should be paid 2-3 times more than they are. It is like a war out there with the good against the bad on a nightly basis! We all need to show much more respect for the local law enforcement officers on the street!

[Quag7]

I walk four to five times a week after 11:00 PM, and have done so in the three parts of Tucson I've lived in at night.

I have never been a victim of any crime while walking or been threatened. I spend most of my waking time at night, drive around at night, and I'm sorry if people feel unsafe, but frankly, as someone pointed out, if you feel unsafe here at night, you should never go out at night *anywhere*.

There is crime in Tucson but it is mostly drug and gang related. Avoid gangs and drugs and you'll probably never encounter violence. There are gangs, there are drugs. Most of those are in certain parts of town. Avoid those parts if you can. I agree that more should be done to combat it. But those are the wages of poverty, and so long as people claim that poverty isn't their problem, you're going to have those problems.

I don't know what people expect; when a city grows as Tucson does, so does crime. As for tagging, I've seen like, a few tags like I do in any other town of the country but I haven't seen any kind of serious problem with it.

I guess I just don't have a reason to go into those parts of town.

[LivingLikeAGradStudent]

As the city grows bigger, it becomes easier to avoid the questionable areas. And avoid staying out anywhere past midnight.

[mdtoaz]

We're moving out there from the suburbs of Baltimore in the summer. We're checking into towns midway between Tucson & Phoenix now as opposed to living in Tucson. Our main reason for that is the job market.

I have to admit, though I got a little chuckle reading some of the previous posts. I understand that there are crime issues, but seeing as Baltimore is (and has been) neck and neck with Detroit for the most dangerous city with over 500,000 people, I don't see how Tucson is as bad as what I'm reading here. The "bad" areas of Tucson seem pretty easy to identify, whereas in Baltimore you can be in a great neighborhood, go one block and be in the hood.

As far as gangs go, they are definitely everywhere. Believe it or not, Baltimore even has a gay gang called the pink stars, and they're hardcore.

One question... is the bulk of the crime concentrated in the city or is it throughout the suburbs and outskirts too?