Most dangerous city in the USA

[kybob]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10138623/

what is there that is so bad? i worked in Camden for years and never had a problem. taking Public transportation, day or night. taking lunch time walks. i never felt threatened or saw any crime. i think this is b/s.

[ovidsen]

1. Camden has a bad rep. Always has.

Camden is to Philadelphia was Gary is to Chicago. It gets horrible press leaving you with the impression it's a sh*thole.

My Mom, who is in her 70s, says when she was a girl living in nearby Haddonfield, NJ (this is in the 40s), Camden had the same terrible image.

I don't know if it's true or not, but it's a tough label to shake.

[nodehopper]

5. I dunno, Gary IS a real sh*thole

in that case, the rep. is deserved

[foo_bar]

6. it's more than an image problem

Lynch said that, ironically, the war on drugs may be one of the reasons for more murders.

"Police have closed down more than 50 of the city's 200 known drug corners. Reducing the number of drug corners sometimes has a negative effect on the homicide rate, because that causes the remaining drug dealers to be more competitive with each other. A bit of a turf war," Lynch warned.

http://www.nbc10.com/news/2738234/detail.html

[Clutch Cargo]

2. Crime rate stats

is the reason, I believe. Aren't they basing this on crime ratio to population? Someone has to be #1 and, unfortunately, the stats point to Camden.

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Yes. One murder a week in a place the size of Camden

population are 85K would be the same murder rate as about 12 murders a week in Detroit (pop a little over 1M.) The crime rate would add other crimes such rape,assaults, robbery,and thefts.

Camden is a city with a lot of problems and has been for a long time. It's a long road from where they have been to a thriving functional city They are making improvements.

[foo_bar]

3. Barney Frank's district is the safest?

So much for social conservatism.

Safest Cities:
1. Newton, Mass.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10138623

[LetsGoMurphys]

12. its also one of the richest areas in the country n/t

[foo_bar]

15. true

Assuming "Greater Newton" includes Chestnut Hill and Newton Corner. BC might also be to blame, seeing how Amherst made #3. The ratings would be reversed if they measured per capita alcohol poisonings.

[hallc]

4. Camden is scary

I got lost there once looking for the Tweeter Center - scariest 1/2 hour of my life!

And after looking at the safest, i find it interesting to see Brick Township on there again - i used to live on the border of Brick and Pt. Pleasant.

Woo go NJ!

[MsAnthropy]

7. Boy are they wrong. It's Washington DC.

White House, Congress, Pentagon, etc., etc., etc.,

[JPZenger]

8. Revitalization in Parts, But High Murder Rate

The downtown and waterfront have been revitalized. However, many other parts are still very very poor. I believe there are about 55 murders a year in a city of about 80,000. That is an extremely high murder rate. Like most cities, most of the murders are arguments between drunks in bars, gangs fighting over drug turf, and domestic arguments. There are probably few murders against average citizens.

I am a little surprised to see Baltimore so high on the list. There are such large areas of the city that are experiencing a building boom (areas that are far from the Inner Harbor). There is an excellent portrayal of crime in Baltimore in the series "The Wire" (the first 2 seasons are on DVD). I heard one urban cop say that is the ONLY realistic cop show he has ever seen.

[MsAnthropy]

22. The biggest criminals are running our government

[alphadog]

40. Baltimore

I don't know...I had the misfortune of getting lost in Baltimore at night last summer, and I don't think I've ever been that frightened. It was pretty damn bad.

[noonwitch]

9. Hey, Detroit, we're number 2!!!

Detroit is most dangerous to the people who live there, not those who visit for sports and entertainment. The areas of town where stadia, theaters and casinos are located are heavily secured by the police.

I work in Detroit, in a job many would not consider safe (children's services). I've been working there for almost 20 years. I lived in the city from 1989-2001. I have never been the victim of a crime there. I've seen a lot, though, from run of the mill prostitution to drug deals. No one ever broke into my house or mugged me on the street, but some of my neighbors got mugged and one of my friends got mugged in front of the chinese restaurant down the street (the Kow-Kow Inn).

I can't believe that Camden NJ is more dangerous than Detroit, however, or than parts of Miami, the Bronx, LA, etc.

[Giant Robot]

13. I live in Michigan and work in social services myself

And I was born in Camden, so I have a unique view of things. I've seen Detroit and I've seen Camden, and I think Camden is much worse. It's like when you drive into the city, you can smell the hopelessness.

As an aside, when I was getting my MSW, during one of my classes, the professor assigned us an article to read about the rich and poor dichotomy of Cherry Hill and Camden, even though both are only about 20 miles apart. The author was interviewing people I knew from back there. It was frightening and all too real for me.

My mother talked a lot about Camden growing up and how it used to be a lot different. It does sound like quite a sad story seeing how that town has fallen so far.

[kybob]

28. i worked

at RCA from 1976 to 1990. i never seen or experienced or heard of anything. had lots of co-workers that were Camdenites but never heard them relate any troubles.

[Giant Robot]

38. My guess is that you and your coworkers were lucky

But we also have our own limited points of view that we are using to make inferences. Mine is from my own memory and my relative's experiences. Mine just happen to fit the statistics this time. Probably more a coincidence than any deep wisdom.

BTW I didn't know RCA was still operating in 1990. Wow! My grandmother worked there in the '50's or thereabouts. They lived on Winslow St if you remember where that is.

[sarcasmo]

31. If Flint is 4, Saginaw should have been 6. Saginaw is just a smaller

run down version of Flint with less strip clubs, but just as many shut down GM plants.

[JPZenger]

10. Some of safest cities

It is also interesting to look at some of the safest cities. Brick Twp. NJ is full of senior retirement communities. Cary NC is an upscale suburb of Chapel Hill, which is home to UNC Chapel Hill, one of the best public universities in the US.

[omshanti]

19. I wouldn't say Cary is a suburb of Chapel Hill.

It's a suburb of Raleigh, and yes, it's very 'yuppie'. Around these parts Cary is known as "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees" :-)

It's so yuppie that the MacDonalds' can't have the giant arch outside! There's a Wendy's in Cary that's green. GREEN!
However, there are also lots of really good ethnic restaurants and a 'Little India' in Cary. Depends who you ask.

[LostinVA]

32. Cary is definitely not a suburb of Chapel Hill

Not even close to it. Cary also has all of that rich RTP employee money in it.

[Giant Robot]

11. Been a while since I have been there

Probably not in the past 6-7 years. I was born there and had family there up until that last visit back. It was a hellhole. Kybob, I don't know if you saw a better side of it, or it had been a while since you have seen it, but it was awful back then. My grandparents lived a couple blocks down from the old Campbell Soup place, and the hookers worked on the corners during the day, there were burnt out cars ont he sides of the roads(literally like they had been in a fire), and the rowhouses were rotting. I had numerous relatives whose homes were broken into and people's lives threatened. While I am sure there is plenty of positive stories in Camden still, I can see why it is the most dangerous city.

[demnan]

14. Good old Richmond, VA (#5)

You can't buy a beer in the grocery store on Sunday but you sure can buy a gun!

[underpants]

16. We're # 5! We're #5!! -up from #9 last year *

* SOME grocery stores.


You may not be shocked by this but WRVA (home to Rush and Hannity) could not stressed enough that that was the CITY of Richmond ;-) nudge nudge not the counties (property values and all).... funny on Friday all they could talk about was the survey that said Richmonders just LOVED Richmond-that one apparently included everyone.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

34. Yeah, I heard that. Underpants, have you been tuning into 97.3 WRIR?

[mrsteve]

17. Blue vs. Red

Hmmm...on the top 5 lists, 6 of 10 of the most dangerous cities are in states that are Red.

9 of 10 of the safest cities are in Blue states.

Interesting, no?

[QC]

27. Rich vs. Poor n/t

[alphadog]

41. But almost all cities are blue

including Detroit, Gary, Camden, all those places, so I don't think there's any extrapolating to be done here.

[MarsThe Cat]

18. washington D.C. is by far the most dangerous city in the u.s.-

the decisions made there ultimately do more to affect the safety of everyone than anything else.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. But since poor people can't afford to live there anymore,

they're taking their wretched crime out to the cheaper suburbs, where it belongs! :sarcasm:

I wonder when these bozos are going to figure out that they need to reduce poverty statistics before they can reduce crime statistics...

[MarsThe Cat]

29. no...the crimes are still being committed where they've always been-

the capitol building, the white house, etc...

[Blue_Tires]

20. any list that doesn't have Newark on it is flawed

n/t

[davepc]

37. Newark has made a lot of improvements

It's rep is worse then reality.

[KamaAina]

21. New Orleans is not No. 8 anymore so stop saying that!

Silver lining dept.: The city had had NO murders for ten weeks after Katrina, until one took place at a well-known writer's house in the faubourg Marigny (adjacent to FQ) last week.

ONE murder in nearly three months is NOT No. 8 on any list of this type. Of course as people return, it's not always going to be quite like this, but still... Maybe that's the slot that can be opened up for Newark :-P

[JPZenger]

24. NO - Gangs Are Gone

I heard one business owner in the French Quarter of New Orleans say that there is one positive effect. He says he no longer has to deal with the gang members from the public housing project next door. He said the public housing project is empty.

[conflictgirl]

23. It's obvious to me that it's a rich vs poor issue

The cities I'm familiar with on both lists are prime examples. Flint, Detroit and Gary are all cities with high unemployment and a high poverty rate. Flint is about 30 miles from me. Troy, MI and Round Rock, TX are both very affluent areas. Troy is the kind of place where you don't even see any older cars. There's a huge fancy mall there (full disclosure: I shop there sometimes because I like some of the stores) and there are THREE Starbucks just in that mall.

Crime is lower where people have enough money to get by: makes sense to me. And of course that's street crime, not white-collar...had to throw that in since someone else might if I didn't.

[Jamison]

26. Wow things are getting better in St. Louis!

It used to consistently be #1 in crime in years past.

[pfitz59]

33. The three CA (safest) cities are suburbs, ...

They shouldn't count!

[Bru]

35. Washington D.C.

I've heard stories of gangs in Washington D.C. starting huge turf wars in places like Iraq. They like to hang out around Pennsylvania Avenue.

[ThePopulist]

36. I guess they missed Jackson, Mississippi

When I live down there in that area I heard about the daily killings, robberies, and car jackings that occured there. Very sad. I hope these things can work themselves out.

[TiredOfLies]

39. New Orleans should

be taken off the list, all of their child molesters and criminals have disapeared or been shipped to another part of the country.