OKC 50th most dangerous city

[yessir69]

OKC ranked 50th and Tulsa ranked 28th.

Full results: http://os.cqpress.com/citycrime/2010..._hightolow.pdf

[soonerguru]

Look at Tulsa! Number 28. By comparison, New York City is #269 and actually BELOW the national average for crime.

[soonerguru]

And Lawton comes in at #54. Weird that all three of our metro areas placed in the top 54 out of 400 cities that were indexed.

[jmarkross]

Look at Tulsa! Number 28. By comparison, New York City is #269 and actually BELOW the national average for crime.

...thank you, Mr. Rudy Giuliani...

[jmarkross]

Check out the Burglary rate in OKC--and that is even with loose gun laws...staggering...

[Kerry]

El Paso checks in at 275, ergo I don't have any faith in this survey.

[soonerguru]

...thank you, Mr. Rudy Giuliani...

Guiliani gets credit, but it was actually NYC's police chief implementing a community policing model -- plus the addition of hundreds of new officers, which came on the force due to a federal grant -- that did the heavy lifting. Giuliani provided the bull horn.

Not to mention, Guiliani hasn't been mayor of NYC since 2001, so obviously Mayor Bloomberg should get some of your credit for LAST YEAR'S results.

[adaniel]

El Paso checks in at 275, ergo I don't have any faith in this survey.

I've been to El Paso several times, and it is actually a very safe city and has been for quite some time. Most people don't realize it because it is a hop across the Rio Grande from a warzone. You could make an argument that Juarez and its image as a lawless wasteland draws criminal element away from ELP because they know there will be no repercussions there. I remember seeing on soonerfans forum how many OU fans were petrified of going to El Paso for the Sun Bowl last year thinking they were going to get kidnapped and beheaded by some narco thug. As long as you stay out of Mexico you will be fine. I'm not surprised at all that OKC and Tulsa rank way worse in comparison.

If you want a southwestern city with a serious crime issue, go 4 hours up the road to Albuquerque...yikes!

[soonerguru]

I've been to El Paso several times, and it is actually a very safe city and has been for quite some time. Most people don't realize it because it is a hop across the Rio Grande from a warzone. You could make an argument that Juarez and its image as a lawless wasteland draws criminal element away from ELP because they know there will be no repercussions there. I remember seeing on soonerfans forum how many OU fans were petrified of going to El Paso for the Sun Bowl last year thinking they were going to get kidnapped and beheaded by some narco thug. As long as you stay out of Mexico you will be fine. I'm not surprised at all that OKC and Tulsa rank way worse in comparison.

If you want a southwestern city with a serious crime issue, go 4 hours up the road to Albuquerque...yikes!

And yet, Albuquerque placed lower on this list than OKC or Tulsa, too. Not saying this list isn't misleading.

[BG918]

The crime OKC and Tulsa experience is nothing compared to regional cities like Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock and New Orleans. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio also have serious crime problems in certain areas. Like most cities OKC's crime is generally localized in the 'bad areas' (i.e. rundown neighborhoods and/or concentrated areas of public housing) on all sides of the city. The main 'hot spots' are located on the north side (NW 122 & Penn area), northwest side (NW Expy. & Lyrewood Ln. area), central (NW 10 & Penn/Classen area), west (NW 10 & Macarthur/Council area), east (NE 23 & Kelley/MLK area), south (SW 29 & Penn area), southwest (SW 15 & May area) and southeast (SE 59 & Eastern area). The majority of crime in Tulsa is on the north side north of I-244 and usually concentrated near N 46th & Cincinnati/Peoria. Areas in south Tulsa like 61st & Peoria and 47th & Braden are also problem areas, as well as the area around 31st & Garnett in east Tulsa.

[G.Walker]

Look at Austin, TX! They are in the bottom 5, that is great for a city of 800,000 residents!

[G.Walker]

Correction, they are 206, still pretty good, Norman is way down there to, pretty nice!

[GoThunder]

Edmond at no. 366?? I'm surprised it even made it on the list.

[G.Walker]

Lowest ranked city in Oklahoma is Edmond, not surprised!

[adaniel]

And yet, Albuquerque placed lower on this list than OKC or Tulsa, too. Not saying this list isn't misleading.

I did notice that. I guess I'm guilty of leaning on my preconcieved notions. I was there about a year and a half ago visiting a college friend, and honestly the whole experience was unsettling. I saw a TON of graffiti, even in the so-called "nice part of town (NE). I was in a neighborhood of $250K homes and there were still burgalar bars on the windows. There were quite a few people with some interesting tats, including the teardrop one (in gang language those represent how many people you've assulted or killed). My friend was teaching at the time and she was telling me stories of the extreme amount of violence in the schools (stabbings, assaults etc.) and how it barely made the news because it was so common. I though I was just being paranoid, but then I looked on city-data the relocation forum and nearly every other thread in the Albuquerque section had to do with crime.

In many cases, the distribution of crime often matters as much as the amount. In a place like Albuquerque, the crime is distributed almost evenly across the city, whereas in OKC or Tulsa, its really only limited to a few parts of town. Also, crime in this country has become pretty domesticated. If you aren't doing or dealing drugs, picking fights with people, or crippin in some gang you are extremely unlikey to be a victim of a crime even in a so called "dangerous" city.

[BG918]

If you aren't doing or dealing drugs, picking fights with people, or crippin in some gang you are extremely unlikey to be a victim of a crime even in a so called "dangerous" city.

Exactly. People really shouldn't worry about random crime if you aren't involved in the above activities. You are much, much more likely to be injured/killed in a car accident on your way to work.

[Kerry]

Sadly, the latest trend here in Jax is to kill the family of the person involved in the drugs, and not the druggie. The druggie is the customer and killing your customer is bad for business. Plus, the drug dealers have figured out if you kill the user you never get your money.

[soonerguru]

The crime OKC and Tulsa experience is nothing compared to regional cities like Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock and New Orleans. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio also have serious crime problems in certain areas. Like most cities OKC's crime is generally localized in the 'bad areas' (i.e. rundown neighborhoods and/or concentrated areas of public housing) on all sides of the city. The main 'hot spots' are located on the north side (NW 122 & Penn area), northwest side (NW Expy. & Lyrewood Ln. area), central (NW 10 & Penn/Classen area), west (NW 10 & Macarthur/Council area), east (NE 23 & Kelley/MLK area), south (SW 29 & Penn area), southwest (SW 15 & May area) and southeast (SE 59 & Eastern area). The majority of crime in Tulsa is on the north side north of I-244 and usually concentrated near N 46th & Cincinnati/Peoria. Areas in south Tulsa like 61st & Peoria and 47th & Braden are also problem areas, as well as the area around 31st & Garnett in east Tulsa.

I agree with you to a point, but there have been several high profile violent incidents in tony Midtown Tulsa recently. Tulsa has gotten much, much worse in the last few years. The crime there has spread all over the city.

[BDP]

What's weird is that I have lived in some relatively sketchy neighborhoods in California and it wasn't until I moved back here that I was ever a victim of crime, and that was in a nice neighborhood... Of course, that's purely anecdotal, but I do think much too much is made out of the illusion of safety or, more accurately, illusion of non-safety, especially when looked at too broadly like this. One block can usally make a big difference in your crime risk, even in OKC, and, as others have pointed out, if you'r enot involved in crime, your chances of being a victim of it are usually a lot lower than these numbers indicate.

[BG918]

I agree with you to a point, but there have been several high profile violent incidents in tony Midtown Tulsa recently. Tulsa has gotten much, much worse in the last few years. The crime there has spread all over the city.

Midtown Tulsa, Nichols Hills and suburban cities like Edmond and Moore are not immune to crime, but it is not very common in those places either. Norman, for instance, may not have much violent crime but burglaries are a problem.

[jmarkross]

What's weird is that I have lived in some relatively sketchy neighborhoods in California and it wasn't until I moved back here that I was ever a victim of crime, and that was in a nice neighborhood... Of course, that's purely anecdotal, but I do think much too much is made out of the illusion of safety or, more accurately, illusion of non-safety, especially when looked at too broadly like this. One block can usally make a big difference in your crime risk, even in OKC, and, as others have pointed out, if you'r enot involved in crime, your chances of being a victim of it are usually a lot lower than these numbers indicate.

You are about twice as likely to be burglarized on OKC as in Los Angeles...go figure...

[BDP]

You are about twice as likely to be burglarized on OKC as in Los Angeles...go figure...

Well there you go.

[jmarkross]

Well there you go.

In 25 years there--I was burgled twice and had three cars stolen...on balance--not too bad! Lived in Brentwood and Sherman Oaks mostly, Los Feliz and Manhattan Beach as well...

[soonerguru]

Midtown Tulsa, Nichols Hills and suburban cities like Edmond and Moore are not immune to crime, but it is not very common in those places either. Norman, for instance, may not have much violent crime but burglaries are a problem.

I read the Tulsa World daily and there have been several recent violent crimes, assaults, homicides, home invasions, carjackings, etc. in some of the nicest neighborhoods in Midtown Tulsa. This is not happening to the same degree in Nichols Hills.

[MikeOKC]

The crime OKC and Tulsa experience is nothing compared to regional cities like Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock and New Orleans. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio also have serious crime problems in certain areas. Like most cities OKC's crime is generally localized in the 'bad areas' (i.e. rundown neighborhoods and/or concentrated areas of public housing) on all sides of the city. The main 'hot spots' are located on the north side (NW 122 & Penn area), northwest side (NW Expy. & Lyrewood Ln. area), central (NW 10 & Penn/Classen area), west (NW 10 & Macarthur/Council area), east (NE 23 & Kelley/MLK area), south (SW 29 & Penn area), southwest (SW 15 & May area) and southeast (SE 59 & Eastern area). The majority of crime in Tulsa is on the north side north of I-244 and usually concentrated near N 46th & Cincinnati/Peoria. Areas in south Tulsa like 61st & Peoria and 47th & Braden are also problem areas, as well as the area around 31st & Garnett in east Tulsa.

And all those places you just mentioned have the same thing in common with the top 10 cities. But to keep it politically correct (as to not let the facts intrude) I'll stay out of this one. Will we ever be able to talk about this with all the cards on the table?