Congrats city of Baltimore! You are the new #1 most dangerous city to live!!
- Thread starter TheGLOV
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Hey we just had 12 days without a homicide. Unfortunately it ended last tues.
Baby steps.
We just got a new Police Commish in the last month or so. Hopefully he can make some headway.
INMO though, its more a problem with the courts and judges than it is with the police.
Many of these guys should NEVER have been released with their records and rap sheets.
I put 60% of the blame on the judges.
If Philly was broken down into neighborhoods they would probably have 3 or 4 in the top 10.
Hopefully the new police commissioner’s first task is cleaning up the police department and restoring community trust in the department. If Baltimore is able to get rid of the corrupt cops like the ones who were just convicted, maybe citizens in high crime areas of the city would have a better relationship with the police.
When you castrate your police force, this is what you get.
I think you're right. A lot of the distrust goes much further back than even the Freddie Gray case.
A lot of it can be placed at the feet of Martin O'Malley who was just locking everyone up for the look good "stats".
Meanwhile all that did is start an undercurrent of distrust and loaded the jails and legal system down with stupid cases of 3 guys drinking 40's on the stoop.
Throw in the recent crap fest of cops robbing drug dealers and planting evidence and well there you go.
Agreed. As with many of these high-profile protest events that we’ve seen in recent years across the country, the protests aren’t just because of the high-profile police killing; it’s merely been the spark on top of a long-simmering sentiment by the community in the way they’re being treated. I can almost guarantee that folks in Baltimore have suspected, known, and have complained for years about the police doing the kinds of things they were just convicted of doing, and have felt for years that people in their community have been getting locked up for the types of non-violent offenses like the one you mentioned while people in other communities who do the same things haven’t been targeted.I think you're right. A lot of the distrust goes much further back than even the Freddie Gray case.
A lot of it can be placed at the feet of Martin O'Malley who was just locking everyone up for the look good "stats".
Meanwhile all that did is start an undercurrent of distrust and loaded the jails and legal system down with stupid cases of 3 guys drinking 40's on the stoop.
Throw in the recent crap fest of cops robbing drug dealers and planting evidence and well there you go.
You can’t change some of the mistakes that were made in the past, but it’s been shown in a lot of places that relationships can improve if the care and effort is put in to do so. Hopefully the new leadership there is able to be a bridge-builder.
I don't know about that. But, I do know that Philly ranks no. 1 in number of 2018 Superbowl championships won.
I hope so. Just getting cops back walking a beat and becoming part of the neighborhoods would be a huge benefit. But right now Baltimore is incredibly understaffed in the Police Dept.
Where are you getting 400 murders a year? There's been less than 350 murders in Philadelphia every year for the last 8 or 9 years. This isn't the 80s. Philly has a lower murder rate than Pittsburgh now.
26 world wide. No Russian, Chinese, or Japan city listed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_murder_rate
They need to bring back Jimmy, Bunk, and Lester
Well the Russians and Chinese have pretty effective police both secret and otherwise to deal with criminals aNd the Japanese have done a great job not allow gun ownership which is easier when you are an island.
Yeah, freedom always just gets in the way of effective police work.
How about 75% of the children born have "No Parents"!!! You think that may be the main problem? Or, do you think another Police Commissioner can make that much of a difference. There were "69 people" shot in Chicago in one freaking weekend, but politicians don't want to address this issue. And, that was after the mayor fired the Police Commissioner who was a good man. The new Commissioner said, "I know when a man is desperate, he is going to go get his gun." Are you freaking kidding me!!!
My friend, a retired police officer was in Baltimore a few years back in a local K-Mart. He was carrying his firearm, and noticed an off duty PO working a security detail. He introduced himself, and told the PO that he was carrying a firearm. The PO responded, "You mean you only have one" That's Baltimore for you.
My friend, a retired police officer was in Baltimore a few years back in a local K-Mart. He was carrying his firearm, and noticed an off duty PO working a security detail. He introduced himself, and told the PO that he was carrying a firearm. The PO responded, "You mean you only have one" That's Baltimore for you.
That is not accurate. I am unable to pull up the statistics right now but I will try to get them by tomorrow.
How can Baltimore be so dangerous? I mean Maryland has tough gun control laws, that's supposed to stop everything!
According to the US DOJ data linked in the article, the three year average homicide to population ratios are:
Philadelphia - 1:5844
Pittsburgh - 1:5007
PSUoh90 would appear to be correct.
The crime is expanding to what used to be relatively safe neighborhoods now too. The south Baltimore area (federal hill and locust point) has experienced a significant increase in violent crime in recent months. This area is usually pretty safe as this is where many of the bars and restaurants are located on the south side of the harbor. Carjackings and assaults are becoming the norm, and recently a bar tender was stabbed after his shift while at a royal farms. I don't even let my wife park the car anymore if she has to look for a space that's not on our block.
Those are not the numbers I have seen, but even using yours (homicide to population), while I'm no math whiz, the number you show for Philly is higher than Pittsburgh. He said the opposite. In any event, I have seen different numbers for 2017. My recollection is Philly had 317 homicides last year and Pittsburgh 57. I know Philly is much larger, but you can do the math. As I said, if I get a chance today I will dig up what I have.
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I did the math and you obviously didn't understand it:
Based on the DoJ data from 2014-2016 for every 5844 people in Philadelphia there is one homicide. For every 5007 people in Pittsburgh there is one homicide. Thus Pittsburgh had the higher percentage of homicides per person.
Based on your numbers for 2017, yes Philadelphia would have the slightly higher percentage.
When it comes to numbers I don't understand much. Still, the ones I've seen are at variance with yours, but it's no big deal. I live in the Pittsburgh area but have spent a lot of time in Philly and I always felt safe in both. I double checked my 2017 figures and they are accurate, so I'm going to leave it at that for now. I've got a Court appearance within the hour. It's not a homicide case.
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Another issue for Baltimore is that the police force is under a Dept of Justice "Decree". This document noted that Baltimore cops spent more time in high crime areas which happen to be many of the poorer areas with many blacks. So the solution was to spread the police force across the whole city. The majority of the murders are black on black crimes. Police force has problems recruiting. Recently rolled back some of the requirements but they are still having problems getting folks to join and stay. Many Baltimore cops leave for higher paying jobs in suburban locations.
I'll feel so much safer now walking the streets of Chicago, Detroit, LA, NY, St Louis, Boston, Philly, etc. than I will Baltimore! Baltimore is bad and as other posters have mentioned, has plenty of issues but, like any city, you have to know which parts are okay and which parts you don't venture into.
I spent about two years living in Baltimore, just south of Federal Hill in good old South Baltimore. My wife and I loved it there. Great city and great people. But it's amazing how quickly you can go from stable neighborhood to down right scary neighborhood in a matter of blocks. I have several friends who still live down there. One is in Mayfield, a beautiful little neighborhood in the northeast corner of the city. Tree-lined streets, beautiful homes, good schools, a wonderful park. But you walk 15 minutes and it's like you're in another world completely. I have no idea what the solution is, but for the sake of the good people of that great city, I hope somebody eventually finds one.
Obviously, statistics such as these will vary from source to source, but here's a list of the top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. 0 Philly neighborhoods.
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/blog/25-most-dangerous-neighborhoods
I have a sister that lives in Baltimore. Her neighborhood used to be all polish, tree lined streets, brick homes. Now it's rough. You leave anything outside you can kiss it goodbye. Her husband left his motorcycle in the driveway for 5 mins and it disappeared. They've watched drug and prostitution deals occur at the house across the street. Good luck getting a cop to come out for anything less than someone being killed though. I feel terrible that they are raising kids there. I stayed there overnight once and asked them if the stuff in my car would be ok. They said yeah as long as its locked, they just walk the street trying the door handles. I couldn't live like that.
The writer has obviously never been to PHilly. The corner of Broad and Olney has had at least 2 cops murdered. A third was shot in the GameStop in North Philly.
North PHilly is so bad that Wawa won't even open there. North Philly even needs government subsidies just to get a grocery store to open.
When it comes to numbers I don't understand much. Still, the ones I've seen are at variance with yours, but it's no big deal. I live in the Pittsburgh area but have spent a lot of time in Philly and I always felt safe in both. I double checked my 2017 figures and they are accurate, so I'm going to leave it at that for now. I've got a Court appearance within the hour. It's not a homicide case.
Where did you spend time in Philly? Probably Center City which is about 2sq miles out of 120. Philly has 40,000 abandoned homes. I doubt you hung out in those neighborhoods.
Now break it down by neighborhoods. When you average all 1.5 million people in a city the numbers are skewed. Rittenhouse Sq and Chestnut Hill are safe. North Philly is a warzone. Not the same.
If they averaged the whole state would that mean crime in Pittsburgh and Philly were the same?
Do you know any safe neighborhoods that need a dozen full time cops in ONE school?
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Actually I've been all over Philly through the years, including some of the rougher areas. My wife has a very good friend that lives there and we have visited often. I also have a good friend from my Penn State days who lived there for 30 years and just retired to Florida, and a cousin that lived there for the better part of 2 decades.
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