America's Safest Cities, Portland rated with lowest violent crame.

[56kninja]

Link to America's Safest cities.


Thought I would add this. I'm not surprised really, Oregon in general is significantly lower in murders and violent crime compared to other states.

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[MountainBear]

But yet I still won't live there. I paid my penitence in Denver for 14 months. That was enough city living...

 

[BillM]

Link to America's Safest cities.


Thought I would add this. I'm not surprised really, Oregon in general is significantly lower in murders and violent crime compared to other states.

Clicked on the above link-----no problem.

Clicked on the "FULL LIST:AMERICAS SAFEST CITIES" link about halfway
down the page and my anti-virus (AVG) blocked it. Said it was a
known virus/phishing/social engineering site.

 

[elsullo]

Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s Portland had the HIGHEST per-capita violent crime rate in the nation, mostly from the immigration of California drug gangsters and their turf battles. Then the State Legislature passed a bill requiring all county Sheriffs to approve qualified applicants for concealed-carry-weapon permits, the "shall issue" law.

I recall a number of shootings from those days, where citizens who were legally carrying concealed defended themselves from robbers and rapists. Oddly, the interpersonal violent crime rate went down after that. More guns on the streets meant less crime---astounding!......................elsullo

 

[56kninja]

Back in the late 1980s-early 1990s Portland had the HIGHEST per-capita violent crime rate in the nation, mostly from the immigration of California drug gangsters and their turf battles. Then the State Legislature passed a bill requiring all county Sheriffs to approve qualified applicants for concealed-carry-weapon permits, the "shall issue" law.

I recall a number of shootings from those days, where citizens who were legally carrying concealed defended themselves from robbers and rapists. Oddly, the interpersonal violent crime rate went down after that. More guns on the streets meant less crime---astounding!......................elsullo

Doesn't surprise me. Isn't Portland the birth place of meth?

I didn't know that Portland used to be so bad. Considering it's now among the safest cities.

I believe it though. If the criminals have to fear getting shot by someone that their robbing, then they will go to the place where they don't. And southern california is a GREAT place for that.

 

[ZachS]

Doesn't surprise me. Isn't Portland the birth place of meth?

I didn't know that Portland used to be so bad. Considering it's now among the safest cities.

I believe it though. If the criminals have to fear getting shot by someone that their robbing, then they will go to the place where they don't. And southern california is a GREAT place for that.

Portland was never that bad. The poster has incorrect information. Although violent crime was higher here in the early 90's (as it was everywhere in the United States), our problems paled in comparison to those in places like LA, NYC, DC, Detroit, Houston, Chicago, etc., etc.

As far as I know, we've never had a major problem with violence unrelated to the drug trade - muggings, home invasions, etc. That kind of thing can and does still happen sometimes, and it's important to be prepared, but this has always been a nice little corner of a not-so-nice world.

 

[SavageGerbil]

BillM, AVG has been blocking things at random for me lately, Outdoorstrader, here, IGN, I don't know whats up with it, I eventually deactivated it because it was throwing bogus warnings.

I couldn't move to Portland, it'd increase MY chances of violent crime. The way the traffic is I'd go super-villain and make a doomsday weapon, make a crazy costume and have to get myself an arch enemy. Just not worth it

 

[elsullo]

PER-CAPITA, as I stated, Portland DID have the highest rate of violent crime in the nation around 1989. Certainly, other cities with greater population had more volume of crime, but we had more per person. I was in the thick of it then, and believe me, I kept track of the stats!.....................elsullo

 

[56kninja]

BillM, AVG has been blocking things at random for me lately, Outdoorstrader, here, IGN, I don't know whats up with it, I eventually deactivated it because it was throwing bogus warnings.

I couldn't move to Portland, it'd increase MY chances of violent crime. The way the traffic is I'd go super-villain and make a doomsday weapon, make a crazy costume and have to get myself an arch enemy. Just not worth it

I've been looking for an arch-nemesis.

I'm the great tacticool mall ninja hero known only as "Muzzle Flash"

 

[ZachS]

PER-CAPITA, as I stated, Portland DID have the highest rate of violent crime in the nation around 1989. Certainly, other cities with greater population had more volume of crime, but we had more per person. I was in the thick of it then, and believe me, I kept track of the stats!.....................elsullo

All crime rates are per-capita. While I haven't been able to find city-by-city statistics, here are the violent crime rates for Oregon and New York state for 1989:

Oregon
14,625 violent crimes/2,820,000 people = 519 violent crimes/100,000 people

New York
203,042 violent crimes/17,950,000 people = 1,131 violent crimes/100,000 people

The NYC and Portland metro areas both account for over half of the population in their respective states, and I doubt much of the violent crime in New York state in 1989 was committed upstate.

Just for fun, here's one more jurisdiction:

Washington DC
12,937 violent crimes/604,000 people = 2,142 violent crimes/100,000 people

This indicates that it's very very likely Portland had a much lower violent crime rate than either of these two cities, and probably many others.

I grew up in NE Portland in the 1980's, just a couple of miles away from one of the most violent parts of town. Hardly ever heard a gunshot.


So, I'm curious: where are you getting your information?

 

[elsullo]

I only know what I read in the Oregonian. And I have lost count of the times that I have been menaced or had weapons aimed at me in North and Northeast Portland. I only had to wrestle twice, and spray teargas once. Only shot at twice. And only once was I covered in somebody's blood. Ah, the good ol' days in NoPo.......................elsullo

 

[dario541]

Still, if I had to live in a big city, it would be Portland. I lived there for a number of years and never had any problems. I was always careful of the company I kept and stayed away from "threatening" places.