Wednesday, August 25, 2010

High crimes: Military towns are among the country's most dangerous

I was wondering why Huntsville is so full of fear and suspicion. It also seems to ber extremely violent.  Now is seems clear.

"The second-ranked neighborhood, thePatton Roadarea near Alabama's Redstone Arsenal, has an estimated property crime rate of 691 per 1,000 residents."

From the Daily Finance

Military bases and the neighborhoods surrounding them often seem like the ultimate refuge of middle-American values. Run with military efficiency and discipline, the well-trimmed yards, cleanly-paved roads and orderly layouts convey an ideal image of life as it should be: safe, peaceful and friendly.

However, as the horrific shootings in Fort Hood demonstrate, this perception of structure and normalcy may be deceptive. According to a study byNeighborhoodScout, which offers neighborhood-by-neighborhood crime analyses, some of America's military towns have crime levels that place them among the country's most dangerous neighborhoods. While the danger in these areas is much more heavily skewed toward property crimes like vandalism and theft than violent crimes like murder or rape, the statistics are startling.

3 comments:

Yokota Fritz said...

You left out this part: "
military neighborhoods as a whole tend to be considerably safer than most of the country
."

I grew up in a military family, either living on or near military bases. You have the concentration young male idiot yahoos doing the stupid vandalism and theft like young male stupid yahoos do all over the world, but overall it was a very safe and protected environment.

I live near Santa Cruz, CA. The nearest substantial military presence is probably the Monterey Presidio. Our violent crime rate is substantially higher than Huntsville's.

marshmallow said...

I don't think Patton Road area is the kind of neighborhood they're talking about. One would never mistake it as an area with "well-trimmed yards, cleanly-paved roads and orderly layouts"

Unknown said...

I think the "well-trinned yards, cleanly-paved roads and orderly layouts" is a farce. While I do agree with the ideal that military based cities or more likely to be violent; the reasons for Huntsville's crimes like other cities stem from the extreme separation between wealth and poverty that is present in this city. Yes, places like New York City have people far wealthier than Huntsville but those places offer services which are available to the lowest income earning class. Huntsville does not provide adequate services to its poor, its children, and its elderly and is certainly doomed if it does not change.