Is Roanoke really a dangerous city?

[weill]

Roanoke ranked second-most dangerous city in Virgina

Roanoke assualt rate was the highest in Virginia

Roanoke violent rate has climbed faster than Richmond and Norfolk combined

Roanoke murder rate is low but steadly rising

How dangerous or safe do you think Roanoke is?

[Jerseyman4]

Roanoke does not compare to Richmond, i dont care what the statistics say. Statistics cant account for all unreported incidents.

[weill]

and i hope roanoke will never compare to richmond.

[Cadeho]

Excuse me?

I wouldn't expect Roanoke to have that much crime. I'm not sure how the city was run and how people were oriented and grouped in the city to try to compare at all. I dfon't know if you guys went through the same things as Richmond that didn't help it.

[StevenRocks]

Don't get offended, Cadeho. I don't think Weil was trying to be insulting.

Roanoke is not a danegrous city. There are parts of town I wouldn't hang out in, but overall it's fairly safe for a city its size.

[weill]

chill cadeho i didnt mean it the way you took it

[mclawsdrive]

Roanoke ranked second-most dangerous city in Virgina

Roanoke assualt rate was the highest in Virginia

Roanoke violent rate has climbed faster than Richmond and Norfolk combined

Roanoke murder rate is low but steadly rising

How dangerous or safe do you think Roanoke is?

I heard that virginia cities reflected higher crime than comparable cities in other states in this study. This is because only in Virginia, cities are completely independent from the county that surrounds them. If roanoke were in Maryland for example, The crime statistics for roanoke would be include everything within Roanoke County..salem, roanoke, vinton. Because Urban centers generally house the poor (because suburbs don't allow people to live there through zoning and exclusionary policies), and the poor are more associated with crime, Virginia cities crime rates were high.

One thing that shocks me, however is that D.C wasn't worse than Richmond. D.C isn't within a county at all because its not in a state. It seems to have a lot more violent crime. It does have 2.5 times the population though, meaning that it could have twice as many murders a year and still have a lower murder rate. Also bigger cities tend to have a lower rate of crimes reported, (mistrust of police, corruption etc.) That could explain Roanoke's high assault rate; people are more likely to report being raped or assaulted than in a bigger city.

[wrldcoupe4]

Roanoke is not a danegrous city. There are parts of town I wouldn't hang out in, but overall it's fairly safe for a city its size.

I haven't ever felt unsafe in Richmond... every town has its bad parts. Violent crime fell across the board last year as well... The Virginia independent city crap makes things appear worse than in other places.

I don't think of Roanoke as a dangerous place... hope it doesn't become one.

[RoanokeFound]

well.. maybe a little violent.

If you consider kicking puppies violent... otherwise, not at all.

[electricmonk]

Can I move to your neighborhood? I forgot about this thread but Saturday before last I was sitting here watching SNL and heard 4 loud explosions that shook the house and about gave me a heart attack and scared my cats so bad they didn't come out of hiding for an hour. Someone decided that they didn't like my front door I guess and plugged it with 2 rounds from a 45. Another round went in the wall between my unit and my neighbor's and the 4th went into the porch.

Since I'm a night owl it's not unusual for me to take some trash out or head out to the store that late. I'm just damn glad I didn't decide to head to the front door right about then.

[BGW]

Yikes! What neighborhood is this?

[mclawsdrive]

Did you call the cops. Maybe they could go CSI on his ass by examing the marks on the bullets. I guess they'd have to have the gun too though, to prove the connection, oh well. That is terrifying. I still think Richmond is more dangerous though. There have been two shootings within a few blocks of me in the last 6 months. Neither person died but still...

ps. electricmonk, in the first picture, is that hole in the wall to the left a point of entry of a bullet that went through the door and then went into the wall?

[electricmonk]

The cops came and took some photos and took the bullets. He said it left some pretty distinctive markings so if they do catch someone with a .45 on them they should be able to match it up pretty easy.

Yeah that's the path the round took. Luckily it didn't go all the way through into the next unit and hitting the girl that lives there. I ended up getting wounded anyway. A couple days after I was closing the door and the jagged edge ripped my finger open. I've since pounded it down.

Richmond is definitely over all more dangerous than Roanoke and Baltimore is more dangerous than Richmond. I've lived in all 3.I don't think it's fair to compare cities of different sizes like that the way the original article did. Even using the per capita figures there are too many other variables involved. I would be more interested in seeing how Roanoke compares to other cities nationwide in the 75,000 to 125,000 range.

Oh, BGW I'm in the Old Southwest area but there's a good part(south of Elm Ave roughly) and a bad part(north of Elm) and I'm in the bad part. Although there was a homicide in February in the good part of Old Southwest

[Jerseyman4]

Richmond is definitely over all more dangerous than Roanoke and Baltimore is more dangerous than Richmond.

And Camden, New Jersey is more dangerous than Baltimore

[burt]

Monk, I don't suppose the gunman was ever apprehended. Wonder where he was aiming and who was his target? I hope the RPD locates him and puts him away for life without parole.

[rusthebuss]

Stuff like that happens all the time in Norfolk and Newport News aka Bad News.

[electricmonk]

The cops theory was that someone just pulled up to the stop sign and decided to pop off a few rounds and for whatever reason used my door for the target. Because of the angle he said they were either in a car or a midget. I doubt anyone will ever be arrested for it. If I think about I might call and ask though. Unfortunately I didn't think to get the investigating officer's card or name so I can't contact him directly.

[mclawsdrive]

The cops theory was that someone just pulled up to the stop sign and decided to pop off a few rounds and for whatever reason used my door for the target.

Thats what I was thinking too. It was an urban version of the shotgun blast to the streetsign technique I sometimes see out on country roads. The difference is there are people behind those doors in the city. I'm glad you're alright and we can all hope that this guy will get nabbed eventually.

[bmedguy]

Holy Crap! Dude, I am glad you are OK. I know I'm joining this late, but that is scary as hell. Especially considering it is apparently so close to where I live. I am also in Old Southwest. Granted we are on the "good side" (as you put it electricmonk) and it does feel significantly different than the other side of Elm, but that is just wrong to have that kind of crap happening in our neighborhood! I really hope they find who did this.

[StevenRocks]

The Roanoke police tend to stay on top of things pretty well when they're not writing parking tickets.

[weill]

With the recent violence and the controversial topic of gangs, I ask again, is Roanoke really dangerous city?

[StevenRocks]

Overall, no, but there is some gang activity going on that's disturbing.

[mclawsdrive]

Do you guys remember when Javier Cruz was busted. He owned a restaurant on 419 (can't remember its name), and also a large used car/car parts lot. He was indicted by the feds for cocaine trafficking and cut a deal to rat out members of the Cali cartel. (or it might have been the Medellin cartel). Anyway, the feds were saying that the Roanoke area was a distribution point for a large percentage of the cocaine to Chicago and new york. Javier Cruz jumped bail, flew to Colombia, and was gunned down a few weeks later.

I'm sure that that particular operation was effectively shut down, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is still a hotbed for drug trafficking. I don't think Roanoke police ever tried to strongly link that activity with violence in the city though. Most Roanoke violence is either domestic or possibly tied to local turf wars for local drug dealing or other 'gang' activity. It seems the best way to avoid violence is to avoid violent people and bad relationships and not hang out with people with an unusually strong affinity for combining firearms and intoxication (via alcohol, cocaine or otherwise).

[rusthebuss]

Roanoke isn't dangerous at all to me. I don't think anywhere in VA is that dangerous. There are some bad spots but overall its fine.

[mclawsdrive]

Dangerous for city council members roanoke times - 'council members threatened?' As angry as I imagine he was, its pretty stupid to announce violent intentions, whether they are serious or not.