What is UP w/the senseless crime here? (Milwaukee, Shorewood: crime rates, house)

[zz4guy]

Maybe you locals can explain this, but why is it all the violence here is so random?

Every few days in the Milwaukee Journal the shooting is almost always over something stupid, like an argument over a girl at a party, or it is totally random - ie somebody gets shot in broad daylight while sitting in their car. No money or car stolen and no connection between the shooter & victim. WTF??!

I know there are cities with higher crime rates, but usually they are big drug trafficing cities. I mean you stiff a drug dealer for$100k and he is gonna find a way to get even. That is understandable.

But why all the senseless violence? If I ever live in this dump I am NOT going to leave the house w/out my side arm!

[Empidonax]

Have you been to Milwaukee at all? You seem to be particularly bothered by shootings here. Some may seem "random," but it's likely that most, if not all, have some sort of rationale. Also, pretty much all of the shootings take place in the inner city and in other hardscrabble parts of town. Most of the rest of the city is safe in this regard. In fact, most of the people and neighborhoods in this "dump" are quite nice and decent.

If you do ever have to live here, I highly recommend that you avoid the inner city and other impoverished areas. Instead, you'll do okay in the far west side corridor, parts of the northwest city, the Roosevelt/Sherman area, most of the southside, Bay View, the East Side corridor, and a few other sections. Geographically, Milwaukee's a large city, so if you explore, you should be able to find some areas you like.

It sounds like you base your judgments on the sensational and selective reporting of mass media, rather than on real investigation or experience. After all, even though many people in the U.S. and abroad think Iowa is dull and boring, many of us who have actually been there know that it has a lot more to offer. Iowa's famous for cornfields, so you must live in a cornfield, right?

[adam76]

Originally Posted by quijote

It sounds like you base your judgments on the sensational and selective reporting of mass media, rather than on real investigation or experience. After all, even though many people in the U.S. and abroad think Iowa is dull and boring, many of us who have actually been there know that it has a lot more to offer. Iowa's famous for cornfields, so you must live in a cornfield, right?

Heh

Random crime, especially homicide, isn't quite as common even in the worst areas of the city. The majority of homicides are where the victim and shooter know each other, and many are either domestic disputes or drug and gang related.

Crime is a major problem in some areas, but most areas are just as safe as anywhere else. Bad things happen everywhere, just look at the tragedy in Crandon.

[Milwaukee Ronnie]

I've been told by people much more familiar with the crime scene than I that oftentimes crimes that are reported as being random are actually not. Say someone is shot, and at the hospital they are being questioned by police over what happened. They're not going to tell the police that two weeks ago they were involved in a drug dispute with such and such person they know and they were shot over it. They're going to tell police "I was just minding my business and this guy came out of nowhere and tried to rob me. I refused to give up my car and he shot me."

Again, it's been explained to me that in other cities, the local press reports crap like this as "gang related" or "drug related." Here, the local press for some reason reports the reason given for the shooting, whether or not the given reason was the real reason.

[zz4guy]

I've been to Milwaukee alot. Lots of family in the northern suburbs. And a lot of them work in the metro area. One of them had their car stolen, thankfully not worse!

I'm not trying to dump on Milwaukee. In fact I'd like to live there someday. The people are nice and it seems like a great town with a lot to do. Cetainly more than podunk, IA where I live. But I dont want to feel like I need to fear for my life driving down the street; I'll stay here in boring old Iowa instead of putting up with that crap!

All I see is the newspapers when they report "random shooting". I wouldn't mind living in the inner city, or at least city of Milw, but I guess that's a bad idea if you dont wantt o get shot. Stick to the burbs to be safe huh?

[Empidonax]

Like I said in an earlier post, there are quite a few Milwaukee city neighborhoods that don't have that level of crime. Unfortunately, many local residents (including many suburbanites) have the same kind of siege-mentality approach that you show. I know an elderly couple who live in the North Shore suburbs, and they refuse to drive south of Silver Spring Boulevard because "it's so dangerous." Yeah, sure, there's petty crime in the safer neighborhoods, and there's also some burglary, but it's unlikely someone will just shoot you in Shorewood or the East Side. Well, they may shoot you with a milk frother from an espresso machine, but if that happens, you have other things to worry about.

I agree that Podunk is generally much safer, but watch out for those meth heads. If you want to be truly safe, you should probably move out of Podunk and surround yourself in a fortress in the countryside. But wait--Didn't "In Cold Blood" take place in such a locale?

[mrkool]

The amount of crime here, and the randomness of it, is indeed puzzling to the vast majority of us.
To find out "why" it is happening, I suppose you'd have to ask the dysfunctional criminal element on the northside. That is where almost all this crap is happening. And even when it occurs in another area, it usually turns out to be northside residents involved.

[LexusNexus]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Maybe you locals can explain this, but why is it all the violence here is so random?

Every few days in the Milwaukee Journal the shooting is almost always over something stupid, like an argument over a girl at a party, or it is totally random - ie somebody gets shot in broad daylight while sitting in their car. No money or car stolen and no connection between the shooter & victim. WTF??!

I know there are cities with higher crime rates, but usually they are big drug trafficing cities. I mean you stiff a drug dealer for$100k and he is gonna find a way to get even. That is understandable.

But why all the senseless violence? If I ever live in this dump I am NOT going to leave the house w/out my side arm!

I think that these idiots don't fear or know the consequences. Either the consequences need to be made more severe or people need to be made aware of what they are.

One serious problem may be how WI is implementing its 3-Strikes Law. Perhaps it is time to make it more strict.

[43north87west]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

Maybe you locals can explain this, but why is it all the violence here is so random?

Every few days in the Milwaukee Journal the shooting is almost always over something stupid, like an argument over a girl at a party, or it is totally random - ie somebody gets shot in broad daylight while sitting in their car. No money or car stolen and no connection between the shooter & victim. WTF??!

I know there are cities with higher crime rates, but usually they are big drug trafficing cities. I mean you stiff a drug dealer for$100k and he is gonna find a way to get even. That is understandable.

But why all the senseless violence? If I ever live in this dump I am NOT going to leave the house w/out my side arm!

It is the same as dumb crime anywhere, and "WTF" is pretty appropriate IMO. What happens when you throw guns, drugs, alcohol, and self-centered, stupid people into a pot and mix them up? Nothing good.

Same as NYC, LA, DC, Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston, Philly or other major metros. Live in the wrong area, it's a dump. Live in the right area, you have little to worry about.