To wit, in Seattle we had our car broken into once. We also had a habit of forgetting the car keys /on top of the car/, such that we would have said we live in a very very safe place. Despite the time the car was broken into.
When I lived in Atlanta, the general practice was not to lock your car, so that they wouldn't have to break in to it.
Why not? High crime rates are bad in any city. It doesn't become okay if multiple big cities have high crime rates.
It's weird to see how so many people are trying to normalize crime rates this high.
My point is, as someone that doesn't live in San Fran, I don't know how this compares. Is it actually high? Or, is half actually low for comparable density locations.
Back when I was in a low population area, but lived in duplexes, I had my apartment broken into. And way more petty theft than now that I live where I do. Yet, I don't know that I would expect crime is higher there.
reading that some other city has X armed robberies per capita doesn't give a great sense of how that would actually impact my day-to-day life. obviously I'd like X to be as low as possible, but if it's already lower than where I currently live and the place has other positive qualities, I would consider moving there.
At some point you need the police to arrest all these people and throw them in jail. Even a few weeks behind bars can drastically improve behavior among a population used to zero consequences for theft and violence.
I still don't claim it is a safer city than Seattle. Not by a long shot. Just as I don't recommend walking downtown Seattle super late. Though, of course, have done so many times. Similarly, we never had package theft in Seattle. I don't know how I could claim that isn't a thing, though.
It's useful to also gather the sentiment. It doesnt matter if SF is the best city if they're all bad. At a certain point it doesnt matter if you're slightly better than unacceptable -- it's still unacceptable.
Crime more typically happens between people with connections to each other. For example, my city has a per capita crime rate similar to San Fransisco's, but most don't experience it unless they live or work in a few neighborhoods (or single intersections in some cases.) In my city, something like 5-10% of people would report having recently been a victim of a crime, despite the number of crimes per capita being similar.
I too am a victim of theft!!
Drama aside, that's exactly once, about 16 years ago, and it was (i reckon) some kids that came in through an open window and took a backpack (cool cameo design), a gaming console, and my sons bike.
(Perth, Westerm Australia)
Total cost - well under theft insurance rates which I have yet to subscribe to.
Point being "nearly half" doesn't convey nearly as much infomation as the scare reaction to the statement warrents.