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I have only been to ABQ half a dozen times, so I think my perspective is not quite representative. After reading some of the discussions (and personal experience), I summarize some takes on the crime issues (note these are NOT my opinions).
1. The statistics are biased/inaccurate/racious. The statistics can be wrong and misleading. Every place has its good and bad areas. People are just picking on ABQ.
2. There are places worse than ABQ. See El Paso and Phoenix? See Juarez and Columbia? We are safer than those places.
3. If you don’t like it the way (crime) it is, go somewhere else.
4. ABQ is big. Crimes in ABQ is not worse than any other city at it size.
5. I have never been a crime victim, so the crime is not a problem here.
6. I used to live in a statistically safer area, but got robbed x times. I have never been robbed here. Therefore, it is safer in ABQ. That proofs the statistics are all wrong.
7. The APS is great, because there was a kid who got admitted by Harvard.
8. APS is good, they just don’t teach kids to take the tests, that’s why the rank is low.
9. Even top rank places/schools have problems. See that one student was convicted for crime in the best area?
In order to solve a problem, the first thing is to acknowledge the problem. If one does not think there’s a problem, there’s nothing to solve.
If someone believes statistics, here are some reference numbers: List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Let’s not count the places that have very small population. The safest countries are: Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. People like to compare the crime rate with the SIZE of ABQ since they believe higher population density must have higher crime RATE. With that standard, the population densities in those three countries are all MUCH MUCH MUCH higher than ABQ and yet they are the safest places in the world. Why? Some claim that the money is the issue. Well, if you compare the income, New Mexico is the highest among them. Think this, a physician in Singapore makes USD$3523 (2005). That’s less than a truck driver in ABQ! (By the way, the cost of living is higher than ABQ). Is money really the issue? Additionally, most of their physicians (all 3 countries above) live in apartments just like the general public, not like those in ABQ who live in giant mansions – and yet their health care system ranks higher than US??? Japan Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Singapore Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Hong Kong Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Average Cost of Living in Singapore | Singapore Living Guide
APS spends more than $8000 per kid (higher than all those 3 countries), and what result do we get? Again, is money the issue?
For those who have been to the countries might know. If you put an average ABQ driver there, what’s the chance of him/her getting a fat ticket or license suspended?
Maybe the mayor/legislators should start to act, unless they are like some of those who do not recognize there’s a problem. If their perspective is much different from the general public, they should have never been elected. Who are those anyway?
Would it be an idea to hire a mayor from one of the top 3 safest places? I think their salaries are lower than the ABQ mayor…is that an idea? - We out-source all the jobs, including mayors…
In order to solve a problem, the first thing is to acknowledge the problem. If one does not think there’s a problem, there’s nothing to solve.
If someone believes statistics, here are some reference numbers: List of countries by intentional homicide rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Let’s not count the places that have very small population. The safest countries are: Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. People like to compare the crime rate with the SIZE of ABQ since they believe higher population density must have higher crime RATE. With that standard, the population densities in those three countries are all MUCH MUCH MUCH higher than ABQ and yet they are the safest places in the world. Why? Some claim that the money is the issue. Well, if you compare the income, New Mexico is the highest among them. Think this, a physician in Singapore makes USD$3523 (2005). That’s less than a truck driver in ABQ! (By the way, the cost of living is higher than ABQ). Is money really the issue? Additionally, most of their physicians (all 3 countries above) live in apartments just like the general public, not like those in ABQ who live in giant mansions – and yet their health care system ranks higher than US??? Japan Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Singapore Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Hong Kong Average Salary Income - Job Comparison Average Cost of Living in Singapore | Singapore Living Guide
APS spends more than $8000 per kid (higher than all those 3 countries), and what result do we get? Again, is money the issue?
For those who have been to the countries might know. If you put an average ABQ driver there, what’s the chance of him/her getting a fat ticket or license suspended?
Maybe the mayor/legislators should start to act, unless they are like some of those who do not recognize there’s a problem. If their perspective is much different from the general public, they should have never been elected. Who are those anyway?
Would it be an idea to hire a mayor from one of the top 3 safest places? I think their salaries are lower than the ABQ mayor…is that an idea? - We out-source all the jobs, including mayors…
Your post makes no sense, and does not seem to have a point, other than for you to have fun twisting words and ranting about issues unrelated to the original topic. Yet. I still feel compelled to reply (at least superficially).
Why would you compare entirely different countries with completely different cultures to a city in the United States? Yes Singapore is technically safer, but they also impose the death penalty for using drugs, imprison people for homosexual acts, and prohibit smoking and chewing gum in public. It's not a reasonable comparison. Then you go on a tirade about doctors and health care, which are two separate issues. Doctors may earn more in this country, but becoming a doctor also often involves the student graduating with $100,000 - $200,000 in student loan debt. This is not the case in many other countries - especially those with socialized medicine. As a side note, I can guarantee that most doctors in this city are not living in giant mansions. Many, if not most doctors would not even be considered "rich." Also, no one said that "money" is the issue. People have stated that poverty is the issue related to crime. And your final assessment is that the mayor is the problem?
While everyone has the right to express, I do respect that. However, there are some misunderstandings that I wish to clarify.
1. Singapore does not ban chewing gums. It was lifted in 2004. USATODAY.com - Gum returns to Singapore after 12 years
2. Singapore does not impose death penalty for using drugs, however, drug dealers might get it.
3. Prohibiting smoking in public – Well, isn’t US doing the same? Anything wrong with that?
4. Imprison people for homosexual activities – Sodomy laws. Many countries have such laws, including US and many other western countries. Just to let you know that during my 4 years there, I have never heard anyone being imprisoned because of that. In the other words, they don’t really exercise such laws. It’s more of symbolic thing that they do not support homosexuality. - where US exercises such laws frequently in the military. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy_law
The mayor – as a CEO of a company. If the company does not perform well, s/he is always partially –if not entirely responsible – although it may not be directly his/her fault.
Finally I would like to point out that, my main intention is to find out where the problem is – Is it because of cultures? Laws/rules? Anything worthy to learn from those places to improve the situation?
I have only been to ABQ half a dozen times, so I think my perspective is not quite representative. After reading some of the discussions (and personal experience), I summarize some takes on the crime issues (note these are NOT my opinions).
1. The statistics are biased/inaccurate/racious. The statistics can be wrong and misleading. Every place has its good and bad areas. People are just picking on ABQ.
2. There are places worse than ABQ. See El Paso and Phoenix? See Juarez and Columbia? We are safer than those places.
3. If you don’t like it the way (crime) it is, go somewhere else.
4. ABQ is big. Crimes in ABQ is not worse than any other city at it size.
5. I have never been a crime victim, so the crime is not a problem here.
6. I used to live in a statistically safer area, but got robbed x times. I have never been robbed here. Therefore, it is safer in ABQ. That proofs the statistics are all wrong.
7. The APS is great, because there was a kid who got admitted by Harvard.
8. APS is good, they just don’t teach kids to take the tests, that’s why the rank is low.
9. Even top rank places/schools have problems. See that one student was convicted for crime in the best area?
Your post is strange. You state that you've only been to ABQ half a dozen times, but yet post as if you are a native and living there.
Yes there are more dangerous cities in the U.S. and the world than abq. But ABQ crime per capita is high and seems to affect almost all parts of the metro area (aka, is not confined to one or two specific areas). I grew up in CO and had never been a victim of crime and knew very few people who had. In ABQ it was a completely different story. I lived in the se heights and university area, but everyone or at least 99% of those I knew there had also been victims of at the very least property crime at one point or another, and they lived in different areas. Yes Corrales and RR probably have a much lower crime rate but I dont consider either one ABQ, especially RR. RR, while perhaps safer, is not only bland, cookie cutter suburbia (which is not what I moved to ABQ for) but also pretty inconvenient in terms of commuting if you are working at the University or downtown.
Is your comment tongue in cheek about 1 student getting admitted to Harvard that came from APS system? I'm sure there's been more than that. I knew people that got into Georgetown law school and other such accomplishments. I don't think APS in by any means the worst in the country, but it does have its issues, but that requires a separate thread all together.
And to make a comment about if you don't like the crime the way it is, go somewhere else, that's just plain, ignorant. I haven't seen really anyone come on this thread to trash abq, but rather to say, yes, there is a problem with crime that is above average, try to figure out why and what is there to do about it. Most people posting here seem to geniunely wish for that aspect of abq to be positively changed, why are you arguing against that?
And lastly, to the poster that suggested that anyone who has been a victim of crime in abq must have either been a drug dealer or gang member, I'm sorry but WTF? that's just plain wrong and insulting. I was neither. Not even close. So um, move along.
And lastly, to the poster that suggested that anyone who has been a victim of crime in abq must have either been a drug dealer or gang member, I'm sorry but WTF? that's just plain wrong and insulting. I was neither. Not even close. So um, move along.
I am not sure whether my post was the one that offended you, and if it was I apologize and hope to clarify . I have consistently said that most crime in NM is domestic, drug, or gang related. I still stand by that. That does not mean that all victims are involved with drugs or gangs - but that the perpetrators of crime are likely involved wtih drugs or gangs. I'm with you, almost everyone I know here has been touched by crime.
I've been following this discussion with interest because I currently live in Miami and am hoping to take a job in Albuquerque after I finish grad school. I checked the Wikipedia crime link that was posted earlier and while Miami is ahead in total violent crime such as homicide, robbery, and agg assault, ABQ seems to have a lot more sexual assaults. Burglaries and property crimes come out about the same. I haven't seen anything that would scare me away from Albuquerque.
I grew up in Colorado in a neighborhood where everyone left their doors unlocked, and even though I stopped living that way long before I came to Miami I got a lot more strict about personal safety rules. Miami is a strange city in that the neighborhoods are very chopped-up and within a span of a few blocks you can go from a rich area of town to the 'hood and back to an OK neighborhood so if you don't know your way around you can end up someplace you don't really want to be. From my visits to New Mexico over the past few years and reading this forum, I haven't gotten the sense that Albuquerque shares that "patchwork" trait. But like Miami, it does have a lot of poorly-educated people with limited options, and crime is one of the options.
Education is probably the answer, but somebody much smarter than me would have to implement it. Perhaps living in Miami has inured me to high crime rates, but when I move I will bring my street smarts with me and do my best not to be a victim. Thanks, everyone, for a levelheaded discussion with lots of good info.
PS-Marmom, we have "mijito syndrome" here, too, but it's not limited to any particular group. The fastest way to turn a criminal into a saint is for him to get what's coming to him, especially when he gets it from the police.
I really think all the crime fear is overstated. If you dont deal or buy drugs, arent in an abusive relationship, or belong to a gang, you arent likely to be a crime victim.
Or maybe your car will get broken into. But that happens everywhere. Of course there are exceptions and bad things do happen, but that is in any city. Yes the crime may be more spread out. but I'd be willing to bet most(not all) of the crime victims still fit into the above categories.
No Marmon, I was not responding to anything you had written. I was responding to the above post/poster. I should have quoted it the first time, but was feeling a bit lazy.
I stand by what I said. Other than property crime/vandalism. If you arent involved in crime yourself, you are UNLIKELY to be a crime victim. That doesn't mean it will never happen to anyone. Just that it is UNLIKELY. That is not an insult to you. Im sorry you were a victim of crime, but that doesn't make what I said insulting or inaccurate.
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. I have consistently said that most crime in NM is domestic, drug, or gang related. I still stand by that. That does not mean that all victims are involved with drugs or gangs - but that the perpetrators of crime are likely involved wtih drugs or gangs. I'm with you, almost everyone I know here has been touched by crime.
