Security guard strapped to death at Macy's in Center Philadelphia

[SouthOfTheBorder]

Below are Worlds 20 Most Dangerous Cities determined by homicides per capita. 

St Louis & Baltimore both make the list.  Interesting there no European or Asian cities included.

Basically, dangerous cities are in Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela & the United States.  
 

Edited December 6, 2023 by SouthOfTheBorder

[CuriousByNature]

21 hours ago, WilliamM said:

Years ago I  was robbed with a knife to my throat in West Philadelphia, fairly close to the University of Pennsylvanian.

It was in the early 1970s.  Perhaps It woke me up.  After  I retired I audited courses at  that University. Perhaps I was a bit smarter.

It was in West Philadelphia that I was born and raised, and spent most of my days on the playground.  You know - chillin' out, maxin', relaxin', all cool.  Even shootin' some b-ball outside of the school.  Then unfortunately two guys who were up to no good started making trouble in my neighbourhood.  I happened to get into one little fight, which scared my mom - so she sent me to live with my auntie and uncle in Bel Air.  

[cany10011]

On 12/5/2023 at 7:37 AM, Pensant said:

What a dystopia. Sad, because Philadelphia punches above its weight in many ways, but the violence is now so unpredictable and random. I was born in Bryn Mawr and went to the city all the time for first-run movies, etc. I’m sure there are still safe areas of the city, like Society Hill, Old City, perhaps the area west of Rittenhouse Square. I believe East Falls, Manayunk, parts of South Philly and, certainly, Chestnut Hill are still fine.

I went to school there in the 90s and lived in Center City as the Penn Campus was considered "unsafe". My friends who lived in West Philly always slept with their documents under their pillows in case they needed to make a quick getaway. Some friends of mine from NYC were planning to buy a place in Rittenhouse but decided against it. I wouldn't mind living there but prefer the cultural aspects of NYC more. 

[+ Charlie]

11 hours ago, SouthOfTheBorder said:

actually, the dangerous list used a threshold of 100,000 for “city” population.  The safest list used 300,000 as threshold.  The methodology is all described on the link in previous post.  

As mentioned- you can use different sources and get essentially the same lists with St Louis, Memphis, Detroit, Cleveland among the most dangerous.  NYC as an example, is never on those lists because it’s extremely safe by any measure - and that is the exact opposite of what most people think due to the reporting of NYC crime.

Crimes in NYC are routinely sensationalized because it’s the largest US city &  the center of national media.  Those type stories will always get people to read it.  A random knife attack in St Louis, Detroit or Memphis will not be reported nationally because no cares about those cities.  And that’s how perceptions about big cities are manipulated by the media.  A knife attack in Philadelphia at Macys will  absolutely be reported nationally because people will read the story and talk about it - which is exactly what happened in this forum.

When is the last time you read about individual violent murders in St Louis ?  Even tho that city ranks more dangerous than several violent cities in Mexico & Brazil. You won’t read about St Louis because nobody cares about it.  That’s the point. 
 

The way the lists were presented  gave the impression that both lists were for cities of more than 300,000, not that a different metric was used for the definition of "city" in the second list. The state of Virginia confuses the question even further with its concept of "independent cities." Until the 1960s, Virginia Beach was simply the principal town in Princess Anne County; then the state decided to abolish the county, and incorporate everything within its boundaries into an "independent city" called Virginia Beach. Much of the original county was actually outlying suburban development for Norfolk, another independent city. Like most American metropolitan areas, the suburbs grew faster than the central city, so Virginia Beach is now larger than Norfolk in population. But it doesn't have much of the character of a "city" in the usual sense, beyond the number of residents. Forbes' #2 "safest city" is actually still mostly a big residential suburb, with a tourist-oriented beach, while Norfolk is the more traditional "city." Most demographers  consider the two places to be a single conurbation. The same is largely true of #3 Henderson (Las Vegas), #7 Mesa (Phoenix), and #12 Arlington (Dallas/Forth Worth). For anyone looking quickly at the two lists without knowing how the "cities" are defined or what the demographics are, the presentation is misleading.

[+ WilliamM]

42 minutes ago, Charlie said:

The way the lists were presented  gave the impression that both lists were for cities of more than 300,000, not that a different metric was used for the definition of "city" in the second list. The state of Virginia confuses the question even further with its concept of "independent cities." Until the 1960s, Virginia Beach was simply the principal town in Princess Anne County; then the state decided to abolish the county, and incorporate everything within its boundaries into an "independent city" called Virginia Beach. Much of the original county was actually outlying suburban development for Norfolk, another independent city. Like most American metropolitan areas, the suburbs grew faster than the central city, so Virginia Beach is now larger than Norfolk in population. But it doesn't have much of the character of a "city" in the usual sense, beyond the number of residents. Forbes' #2 "safest city" is actually still mostly a big residential suburb, with a tourist-oriented beach, while Norfolk is the more traditional "city." Most demographers  consider the two places to be a single conurbation. The same is largely true of #3 Henderson (Las Vegas), #7 Mesa (Phoenix), and #12 Arlington (Dallas/Forth Worth). For anyone looking quickly at the two lists without knowing how the "cities" are defined or what the demographics are, the presentation is misleading.

Each city  is more or less on its own, including Philadelphia. Instead of driving to destinations I was going to when I worked for the city of Philadelphia, I would take a bus and ask for directions even if didn't need them. One can learn a lot on the fifteen minute conversation, especially.about food desserts

 

I learned that when  I worked for the city of Chester, Pennsylvania, perhaps the most dangerous city in the Commonwealth. It my to be s said that the late  porn star Joey Stefano grew up in that city.