Lol Washington, DC is making it move to get on this list! Within the last week, we have had 11 murders from infants to teens and adults. It is the wild west out here sadly.
Many cities around the world have gone crazy in recent months, this list is from 2023. I'm going to look for the one from 2024, possibly they will update it in a few months. In Lima these 2 weeks the murders have also increased due to extortionists (terrorists).
The FBI only released the 2023 data a few weeks ago so for the US 2024 data is a long way off... One of the best independent journalists in DC a day and a half ago reported that in the first 7 days of Oct, we had
*1 death due to stabbing
3 deaths due to arson (someone lit a house on fire and killed those inside)
6 killed in 6 different shootings
What is sad is that DC has been championing how violent crime has decreased this year but when you look at the homicide numbers between 2019 and 2021 homicide numbers went up from 166 to 226. Then it bounced in 2022 down to 203 before soaring in 2023 to 274. Right now we are at 154 and given my likely wrong attempt at math on pace for still over 200 murders.
The issue though is the district is heating up again. The anti Israel protests police were flown in from NYC and the National Guard was activated so the heavy presence pushed down the numbers considerably. Now they are exploding back up again and I could see them staying high with police presence down since most Members of Congress are back in the district and a ton of Congressional staffers are also out of DC helping with campaigns.
You would think the rich and powerful politicians that live there part time and all the other federal gov adjacent employees/contractors etc that live there would want to clean it up.
One of the reasons I think it is occurring is because with Members and so many staffers as well off campaigning there do not seem to be near the amount of police out. Also, not sure if this is true or not but after weeks of rain and gloom outside the weather has been really nice so people are out and about.
Should have clarified, I meant the high crime rate and especially violent crime in DC in general not just the specific recent incidents you were referring to.
Hmm.... I think there are a few factors in play some that have been addressed but others that have not been.
DC was a defund the police city and that hurt them
DC also was a COVID mandate city. This hit not only the existing officer levels but at one point 3 out of 4 recruits were leaving the police academy each month due to the vaccine mandate so it dug a huge hole.
DC being a seat of power I think also attracts not the greatest people and so there are issues of the crowd that is attracted.
To address the police shortage first year compensation is over $80k now with a base salary of $68k after the first 18 months
This is correct, and explains it for many other U.S. cities.
The double whammy of defund the police and COVID.
Many police tend to run conservative, and many retired within the last 5 years because of vaccine mandates and constantly being attacked by the media and politicians. They decided not to put up with it.
I know a police captain and he said recruitment situation is really bad. They can't hire enough people, so they have to dig deep and relax requirements. It used to be that if you ever had a drug history, you wouldn't be able to join. Now, you just have to have been sober for a year. (I am talking about LA)
BTW, @Cje95, now that MathJax is implemented you have to be careful if using dollar signs. Make sure you don't use double dollar signs $$ because that causes you enter math mode.
Really strange that Cape Town, South Africa is on this list but the other cities aren't. From what I've heard, Cape Town is supposed to be the best (of a bad lot).
The other cities probably just aren't tracking crime.
It's most likely, I was actually surprised that so many cities were missing, this list should be called "the most dangerous cities in America" maybe that would make sense. It makes perfect sense that the most dangerous cities are so dangerous that they don't even bother or don't want to compile statistics.
It is basically impossible to get exact figures for any city, the numbers are always higher, I was even surprised to see Cumana first, I always thought it would be Caracas or Guyana.
I sincerely thought that Caracas was still the most dangerous city, although I haven't seen any news from my country for a while, ever since I emigrated to Peru.
Yes, they have "improved." My grandmother and some acquaintances who are still in Venezuela tell me that crime has decreased, that you can even take out your cell phone on the bus without fear of it being stolen, that surprised me. But just as we emigrated, they did too, and they do the same thing they did in Venezuela but in other countries, a real shame because now all over South America they call us criminals and women prostitutes, not to mention the Venezuelans who don't commit crimes but who aren't the best neighbors, I'm talking about those who are "bulleros" and want to apply their "viveza criolla" everywhere.
That's right, my friend @bief57, as Venezuelans we are frowned upon in many parts of Latin America and only because of a number of people who have done things wrong.
It is not surprising that Mexico leads the list as one of the most dangerous countries. It is no secret that Mexico is governed by drug traffickers and that the politicians in charge are left-wing, which translates into corruption, crime and soft policies against organized crime.
$$because that causes you enter math mode.