Is there anyplace safe in central louisiana? (Lafayette, Lake Charles: sex offenders, crime rates)

[waymire01]

We moved here almost 5 years ago, to help out family, and got stuck in Lake Charles. It has been horrible. The crime is insane, sex offenders and drugs everywhere. Just a few months ago a man got beaten almost to death in the mall parking lot in broad daylight by three punks who stole his car. Bank robberies every week or so, murders just as often. People are generally hateful to each other.. seems like everyone has a chip on their shoulder for one reason or another.. the racism is pervasive, black or white it goes both ways. We have been robbed four times, the last time they sawed off the locks on my tack room 10 feet from my daughters bedroom window- WHILE WE WERE HOME. That does not even count the last time they tried to rob us but we scared them off at 3am.. only a month ago.. they were ripping open the back of my feed room to bypass the alarm... did I mention we have a fence all the way around and a locked gate? Doesn't make a bit of difference. We have horses, and last year the city passed legislation that kicked every form of livestock out of the city limits.. including riding.. we are 1/4mi into the parish and are completely locked in now.. the only way to get anywhere to ride is by going through the city limits. Can't even trailer out to ride, none of the state parks allow horses. We want to move.. but everywhere I have looked within a reasonable distance: Alexandria, Leesville, Sulphur, Lafayette, even Natchitoches has crime levels just as bad or worse. Is there anywhere safe to live in the state?

[annie_himself]

First of all, it isn't Central Louisiana, secondly, I've never heard a story like yours come out of Lake Charles. You would like Nachitoches, or Lafayette much better.

[Innotech]

Lafayette isnt bad really.
I havent heard much about Lake charles being dangerous either.
Whereabouts are you located?

[waymire01]

Read the paper if you don't believe me. Man injured in carjacking, 3 arrested - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana - that was in July. Today there was a shooting, a couple arrested for using duct tape to tie up a 6yr old boy and bite him in the chest, another sex offender who failed to register, and two robberies in sulphur... that is just today.

Our house is in the NE just outside the city limits. The south side is "nicer" but the crime occurs there as well..

The latest crime index for lake charles is 430 (319 is the national average), lafayette is 490, nachitoches is 529.. this is from 2010 the latest on the city-data website. I would bet that lake charles is higher now.. it has gotten progressively worse over the last two years. We have lived here for five.

[Jimbo_1]

Originally Posted by waymire01

Read the paper if you don't believe me. Man injured in carjacking, 3 arrested - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana - that was in July. Today there was a shooting, a couple arrested for using duct tape to tie up a 6yr old boy and bite him in the chest, another sex offender who failed to register, and two robberies in sulphur... that is just today.

Our house is in the NE just outside the city limits. The south side is "nicer" but the crime occurs there as well..

The latest crime index for lake charles is 430 (319 is the national average), lafayette is 490, nachitoches is 529.. this is from 2010 the latest on the city-data website. I would bet that lake charles is higher now.. it has gotten progressively worse over the last two years. We have lived here for five.

Crime is going to happen in every place with a decent population. I doubt those crime statisitics are the best thing to base your decisions off of. For example Houston crime index is 545, Dallas is 480, Nashville is 540, Salt Lake City is 522. That national average is most likely based off of the whole US population but cities (or places with a decent population size) always have higher crime rates. Getting robbed 4 times is too much, though, so either you are doing something wrong, are just unlucky, or the neighborhood is not as great as it seems.

[annie_himself]

I don't want to appear insensitive but I agree with you Jimbo.

[waymire01]

Lafayette has a pop of 120k, Dallas is 1.2 million... yet has lower crime. I actually lived for five years outside of Dallas.. in Arlington which is 365k and also has lower crime than Lafayette.. there are places in Dallas where it is not safe to go in broad daylight. The state fair was so bad they had to put in guard towers and armed patrols because people were getting mugged in the parking lot. The city was so large though it was easier to stay in safe areas.. here in LC they are everywhere.. you can be in a really nice neighborhood and drive a few blocks and be afraid to get out of your car... the mall for example is in a nice area, just minutes from the lake and it's "exclusive" neighborhoods, even has patrols in the parking lot.. but you see what happened there.

We moved here from OK, we lived just outside of Spencer which was considered a "bad part of town" index of 176, closest towns where we did all our shopping etc. were Choctaw 113, Midwest City (which has a military base, always raises the crime) 391, and Edmond which is bigger than Lake Charles.. 132. Can't afford to move so far away.. in case your next advice was "just move back".

If you think the crime indexes are faulty.. what would be your suggestion for a true representation? Obviously the area was not as safe as it seemed.. which is what I am trying to avoid by doing my research this time. I don't know what else we could do if we are doing something "wrong".. we are fenced and gated with hot wire on top all the way around, even have a double fence in the back of the property, alarms on all our doors, security lights (both dawn to dusk and movement sensors), padlocks on all our sheds and outbuildings, and the last time we were robbed successfully we had a Boxer and German Shepard loose on the property. At least they did not kill them that time.. the time before we had another Shepard and a Great Pyrenees that were both poisoned within a week of the break in. The Shepard was dead but the Pyr was still alive, drowning on his own blood when I rushed him to the vet to have him put down. Rat poison is a horrible way to die.

[Jimbo_1]

Originally Posted by waymire01

Lafayette has a pop of 120k, Dallas is 1.2 million... yet has lower crime. I actually lived for five years outside of Dallas.. in Arlington which is 365k and also has lower crime than Lafayette.. there are places in Dallas where it is not safe to go in broad daylight. The state fair was so bad they had to put in guard towers and armed patrols because people were getting mugged in the parking lot. The city was so large though it was easier to stay in safe areas.. here in LC they are everywhere.. you can be in a really nice neighborhood and drive a few blocks and be afraid to get out of your car... the mall for example is in a nice area, just minutes from the lake and it's "exclusive" neighborhoods, even has patrols in the parking lot.. but you see what happened there.

We moved here from OK, we lived just outside of Spencer which was considered a "bad part of town" index of 176, closest towns where we did all our shopping etc. were Choctaw 113, Midwest City (which has a military base, always raises the crime) 391, and Edmond which is bigger than Lake Charles.. 132. Can't afford to move so far away.. in case your next advice was "just move back".

If you think the crime indexes are faulty.. what would be your suggestion for a true representation? Obviously the area was not as safe as it seemed.. which is what I am trying to avoid by doing my research this time. I don't know what else we could do if we are doing something "wrong".. we are fenced and gated with hot wire on top all the way around, even have a double fence in the back of the property, alarms on all our doors, security lights (both dawn to dusk and movement sensors), padlocks on all our sheds and outbuildings, and the last time we were robbed successfully we had a Boxer and German Shepard loose on the property. At least they did not kill them that time.. the time before we had another Shepard and a Great Pyrenees that were both poisoned within a week of the break in. The Shepard was dead but the Pyr was still alive, drowning on his own blood when I rushed him to the vet to have him put down. Rat poison is a horrible way to die.

Well crime rates usually factor in population and are per capita, so I dont know if it really matters that Dallas is much larger. For example 60 robberies in Lake Charles is equal to 400 robberies in Dallas. The 40 robberies in Lake Charles happen to the 15% of the population that live in the 15% bad parts of Lake Charles and the 400 robberies happen to the 15% of the population that live in the 15% bad parts of Dallas. But really I was trying to say that city-data statistics are usually not a good source. This would probably be a better crime source: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics since it is a government website. Also I do believe there is much more to it than just the statistics. For example in a lot of cities crime is usually restricted to the "bad" neighborhoods in cities but of course there is always the occasional crimes in the better neighborhoods. Plus people's personal experiences in these cities is also important like your's or even another Lake Charles resident who is not affected by crime. But Lake Charles is a city, it is going to have a higher crime rate. You cant really compare small towns or Arlington (isn't that just an over grown suburb) to Lake Charles. The center city is usually always ranked higher in crime and that is one of the reasons people move to the suburbs. So maybe you could try moving to the farther out suburbs or towns in Lake Charles or another Louisiana town if you truely believe the center city is too unsafe.

If you did all that to your house and still got robbed. Then you truely do live in a horrible neighborhood and definetly should move. But really I dont know what else to tell you. There are many South Louisiana people on this site (including some Lake Charles people, I believe) and I bet most of them have not gone through what you have in just 5 years. So that leads me to believe it is your neighborhood or you are just really unlucky because I doubt crime is that bad in the majority of Lake Charles (beside those freak incidents that happen every once in a while).

[Innotech]

Originally Posted by waymire01

Read the paper if you don't believe me. Man injured in carjacking, 3 arrested - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana - that was in July. Today there was a shooting, a couple arrested for using duct tape to tie up a 6yr old boy and bite him in the chest, another sex offender who failed to register, and two robberies in sulphur... that is just today.

Our house is in the NE just outside the city limits. The south side is "nicer" but the crime occurs there as well..

The latest crime index for lake charles is 430 (319 is the national average), lafayette is 490, nachitoches is 529.. this is from 2010 the latest on the city-data website. I would bet that lake charles is higher now.. it has gotten progressively worse over the last two years. We have lived here for five.

A lot of the crime happens in specific areas. Especially in Lafayette. You can easily avoid those areas too.
Louisiana doesnt have a lot of those super sanitized suburb areas like many states do. The cities are smaller, people are in the same region as the poorer crime areas instead of fifty miles away. however, there are still parts of cities that are quite safe, even at night. Ive NEVER been a victim of a crime and neither have my parents. Neither have my neighbors or people I know at work. Its not like you walk around outside and get shot or something.

[VAtoLA14]

I moved to Lake Charles recently from VA and haven't felt unsafe at all. I haven't even noticed that much crime...I feel a generally safe 95% of the time. You must be either really unlucky or in a bad area.