Anchorage is a dangerous place. It is like so many places in the U.S. Out here in the boonies, people live by the SSS rule (shoot,shovel, shut up), so property crime is restricted to times when no one is home. In Anchorage, however, there are shootings every night--many drug-related. The crime rate went up dramatically when they switched from a conservative mayor to a liberal (who ran on an anti-crime platform) and hired the most police ever in the history of the city. Since Medicaid expanded at about the same time as the new mayor was elected, perhaps it was a combination of Federal, State, and City liberals who caused the dramatic increase in crime.
It was on my Jacksonville news app that a young teenage boy was found shot to death yesterday in one of our "not so safe" areas. A Lt. with the JSO stated that he really wished that all of these shootings/murders would stop, or at least slow down. Definitely doesn't look like that will happen. We will be darn glad to get out of here...…….period!
I have to say that I'm a very stressy person... and I just would have a heart attack if I lived in an area with murders and shootings and property theft going on around my area on a regular basis... London is just turning into what they are naming in the media as 'the wild west' with all the recent knife killings and murders this year....and even though I was raised in a city the crime was nowhere nearly on the level it is these days..not even a patch, so I would never live in a city again due to the crime levels...much as it's really closest to my heart. I've lived here in a beautiful rural area 20 miles from London for over 40 years and I'm grateful that we still ( touch wood)...only have small town crime here...someone's bike being stolen, or a house being broken into.. or someone stealing a bottle of alcohol from the nearest store still gets headlines in the local paper..
Although not quite on a daily basis, there were a lot of murders and other violent and non-violent crimes in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. I am not sure how much of it I would have been aware of if not for my being a paramedic, though. Nevertheless, although I was aware of it, I rarely felt unsafe. There were a few times when we were called into violent areas, particularly where there were crowds of people, any one of which might have been the murderer when I regretted having arrived before the police, and there were some areas where we wouldn't send an ambulance without a police escort. But in my personal life in the Valley, I didn't feel threatened. I left my keys in the ignition although I drove a new truck, and I didn't lock the doors of my house unless I knew I was going to be away for a long while, like working a 24-hour shift or something. Even then, there were generally windows open. There wasn't a lot of random violence there, though. Among the high school and early 20's set, alcohol or drug-related violence wasn't uncommon, but violence against adults was usually related to the drug trade or alcohol-induced. An innocent bystander might be in the wrong place at the wrong time once in a while, but generally, everyone else was left out of it. There wasn't anything in the way of religious or racial violence, and I don't think there was a lot of burglaries of random houses. Being on the Texas-Mexico border, I would have thought there'd be a lot of car thefts but that didn't seem to be a major problem either.
I know Anchorage has areas now, where the medics are not allowed to respond without a police presence, as several ambulance teams have been attacked while responding, mostly to overdose cases among the homeless community. Anchorage is proceeding down the path that San Francisco and Seattle have trod, and the homeless population is growing rapidly. Not too much of a problem out here, as there are no free services available here. I don't know why anyone would choose to be homeless in Alaska, especially in Fairbanks, but many choose that life for the freedom. A lot of folks are injured by the cold every year, though. Churches and other non-profits are allowed to take in homeless on an emergency basis, when the temp drops to -20 F. or lower, but they have to comply with strict standards during regular times.
@Holly Saunders And only 20 miles away? Surprising, as the areas surrounding our own large cities, the "Metropolitan Areas", stretch in some cases 100 or more miles, Los Angeles being one of them. If one drives there from Las Vegas, one uses Interstate 15, which winds it's way down to San Bernadino (CA), thence another freeway (forget which) heads due west towards L.A., past literally tens of thousands of homes and businesses, a distance I'll guess is perhaps 80 miles or more. L.A. has a fairly high crime rate, nothing new there, as Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) delved into it's intricacies 60 years ago. Some of it's surrounding "suburban cities" are seething with crime, Pacoima and Burbank come to mind. Frank
Per topic My small rural NE Texas town has very low crime, some drugs on the N side but very low crime here all together, we just do not tolerate it at all neither does the Sheriff or Police. When we got loads of Katrina refugees it overnight went sky high as to thefts and other related issues but when residents got enough and stopped all that they left and it just seemed to stop over night. Back to normal.
Yes, Frank.. because this is such a small island in certain areas of the country , a distance of 20 miles can make a huge difference in the dynamics of the area, and even the accents and dialects...
@Tex Dennis It would be interesting to know what the prevailing attitudes are in your town regarding personal protection: firearms ownership. Frank
@Holly Saunders And I would never have thought of it in that way! Enlightenment strikes me more often the older I get! Frank
Frank we are very PRO firearm here almost 30% have a LTC permit, we just do not tolerate crime and those engaged in crime know that very well, rural small town where you know your neighbors, the response time for me if I had to call the Sheriff is over 20 minutes usually, I would call neighbors 1st then Sheriff. During Katrina refugee times the home break ins started after 2-3 of those breaking in were shot by residents they seemed to stop overnight. Rarely ever do you see any open carry yet legal with permits. I know of none of my neighbors that do not own firearms. Several churches here have shooting groups that are well attended by all ages. We also offer free to members that qualify situation awareness and LTC classes. Also a church security team in place.
@Tex Dennis I like it! Cozy, with neighbors united, rather than at war with each other. I'm generalizing a lot here, but the 20 years we lived in the Phoenix area, we saw conditions deteriorate; bigger the city got, the worse it was. Then, we sold out and bought a 300 acre spread in the Missouri Ozarks, buried in the Mark Twain National Forest. My nephew and neighbor from PHX went in thirds with us. $120,000 bought 300 with a livable old farmhouse with power and phone, no internet. Nearest neighbor was half a mile away. But, 23 miles to town of any size, 8 to town of 390 pop., no stores. Taxes were around $1.00 per acre per year! I shot target anytime, anywhere I liked. My carry has been with me for many years now, S & W 6906: Frank
Frank the 2nd day I moved here I was paid a visit from neighbors bringing food and refreshments to us, the 1st day of the move they showed up to ask if we needed any help! 2-3 were carrying a firearm, they brought a card with all their contacts numbers in it for me and asked mine as we all stand together watching for each other then you have MS Evans who is some different, very nosey which we all love and has an open door policy, she never knocks just a I am here same for her home. She was some years back the victim of a home breakin, raped, beat almost to death bones broken etc at 83 years old, when he left her to start the stealing of her items she managed to retrieve her shotgun and gave him a center of chest blast which stopped the incident totally deemed a town hero, the Sheriffs Dept bought her a handgun and free training, her comment was priceless "I just lost it when he took my purse" no charges filed and deemed a hero.
@Tex Dennis People helping people, especially in adversity. Just as it should be, in my estimation. Appreciate hearing about that. Frank