Safest large city in the country

[hedevil]

I just wanted to show a little love for my home city of El Paso, Tx. We have been named the #1 safest city with a population over 500,000 people. I think this shows all of the great work by our men and women who secure our borders, as well as the fine police force that patrols our streets. Keep in mind that we live directly across the border from the deadliest city in Mexico. Juarez, Mexico. The news and media would have people believing that the border region is dangerous and deadly. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have great weather, one of the best military bases in the country (Fort Bliss), and thanks to these wonderful men and women, low crime and safe streets.

[hurleyfor3]

You don't think we're going to believe you unless you post a link to the original source so we can study the methodology, do you?

[juise]

It looks like the referenced study can be found here (http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010/citycrime2010-2011.htm).


I note that Medford, OR is rated highly in the metro area list. With all those Singlers, I don't know how criminals could roam the streets. If Kyle and EJ were still in town, Medford would undoubtedly be #1 (well perhaps aside from wherever the Davidson family resides).

[El_Diablo]

The Davidson family resides in the center of the sun. And despite the great distance, Patrick always made it back every Thanksgiving.

[hedevil]

Thanks for the link.

Here's another one. How many cities with a population of over 500,000 people can say that they have only had 4 homicides to date. Pretty good stuff.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_16670537

[hurleyfor3]

It looks like the referenced study can be found here (http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010/citycrime2010-2011.htm).


From this page (http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010/City_Crime_Rankings_bypop_2011-2011.pdf)one can see that El Paso is ranked first among cities with a population greater than 500,000. OK, fine, you're first among 34.

Whether this is due to demographics (older, richer, more educated people = less crime), an effective police force, simple geo-political factors (such as a dangerous part of the metro area being out of city limits) or dumb luck (a much safer city having a population just below the threshold) is not clear. A strong argument can be made that El Paso's actual crime rate is much higher, in fact. Border town = lots of illegal immigrants = lots of unreported crimes. You may counter that that's ok by you because it's illegals committing crimes on each other, but that can argument can be turned around to say that poorly-ranked cities aren't too bad as long as you live in one of the "better" parts.

[hedevil]

Geez, Hurleyfor3.

You seem to have a little anomosity towards border towns/cities. Have you been to El Paso? This is one of the most hospitable/safe cities in the country. I've been all over the country due to having a large family, and most of them don't compare in terms of feeling secure, hospitality, great weather, great police and community partnerships, food, etc . No matter how you crunch the numbers, El Paso has been one of the top 3 safest cities (population over 500,000) since 1997. Fans who come to the Bowl games always describe their perceptions of the border beforehand, versus the reality when they actually visit. We are the Glory Road city, where racial barriers were broken in college basketball (vs Kentucky) in 1966. You might want to visit before you criticize.

[Jim3k]

A strong argument can be made that El Paso's actual crime rate is much higher, in fact. Border town = lots of illegal immigrants = lots of unreported crimes. You may counter that that's ok by you because it's illegals committing crimes on each other, but that can argument can be turned around to say that poorly-ranked cities aren't too bad as long as you live in one of the "better" parts.

Unfortunately, Hurley, you aren't making such an argument. You are simply asserting, without any supporting evidence that border towns are more dangerous. I have never thought that was true. And in my visits to El Paso over the years, I've never seen what you think is true. Furthermore, other so-called border towns are relatively safe as well. San Diego is a safe big city on the list. Tucson (off the border by 60 miles) is pretty good, too. Phoenix (120 miles) is not as good, but has been made to look worse than it is; in fact according to FBI statistics, crime is down over all in Arizona despite the politicians who claim otherwise. (That 'kidnap capital of the country' charge is mostly bogus, applying to coyotes who haven't been paid for their smuggling work.)

So your argument is basically that the statistics are wrong because the crimes are occurring but are unreported. That's not very persuasive since it's hard to hide the bodies, if there are any. I think you are swallowing some unproven propaganda.

In fact, the criminal element of the undocumented alien mess is generally found not in the immigrants as a whole, but in the smugglers. That's a tiny group of professional criminals. Most of the people who come in illegally are hard-workers who have a specific purpose that would be defeated if they were incarcerated. Accordingly, they don't take the risk of committing a crime.

[Jim3k]

Unfortunately, Hurley, you aren't making such an argument. You are simply asserting, without any supporting evidence that border towns are more dangerous. I have never thought that was true. And in my visits to El Paso over the years, I've never seen what you think is true. Furthermore, other so-called border towns are relatively safe as well. San Diego is a safe big city on the list. Tucson (off the border by 60 miles) is pretty good, too. Phoenix (120 miles) is not as good, but has been made to look worse than it is; in fact according to FBI statistics, crime is down over all in Arizona despite the politicians who claim otherwise. (That 'kidnap capital of the country' charge is mostly bogus, applying to coyotes who haven't been paid for their smuggling work.)

So your argument is basically that the statistics are wrong because the crimes are occurring but are unreported. That's not very persuasive since it's hard to hide the bodies, if there are any. I think you are swallowing some unproven propaganda.

In fact, the criminal element of the undocumented alien mess is generally found not in the immigrants as a whole, but in the smugglers. That's a tiny group of professional criminals. Most of the people who come in illegally are hard-workers who have a specific purpose that would be defeated if they were incarcerated. Accordingly, they don't take the risk of committing a crime.

Correction: Phoenix is about 175 miles from the Nogales Border station.

[hurleyfor3]

Geez, Hurleyfor3.

You seem to have a little anomosity towards border towns/cities. Have you been to El Paso? This is one of the most hospitable/safe cities in the country.

Yes. Was there earlier this year, in fact. Oh, and I'll be in San Diego in a couple weeks, if you think I have some problem with border towns. Crap, I'm posting this from Hong Kong! Talk about a border town!

I have nothing against El Paso. Honest! Driving around a bit I discovered some pretty cool-looking, well-maintained old-school neighborhoods. My bigger beef is with people throwing out statisics without backing them up or providing us the tools to research their veracity. This goes for crime statistics, college basketball rankings, anything.