Missouri and Covid

@tinamarie1974 - St Louis ranked as the most dangerous city in America, and 13th most dangerous in the world.

@kdemo @tinamarie1974 And crooks with guns likely won’t get covid since they already wear masks. Darwinism working in the wrong direction.

@kdemo yes, but no. There are issues, but it is not THAT bad. The numbers are skewed because of our governmental divide. If the metro was combined we would be something like 150 instead of top ten…this article will explain

https://m.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2014/02/05/st-louis-named-no-5-most-dangerous-city-because-no-one-knows-how-statistics-work

Hey, stop that. We like people not coming here because it’s just soooo dangerous.

@kdemo @tinamarie1974 I notice they said “cities” in that article with respect to those with skewed crime rates. I’d guess the city I live in has the same problem (as well as the one I grew up in - although none in the “top 10” rankings). It is where 3 counties come together and a number of suburbs in each one, each called a different city, but all part of a metro area that, without signs, you have no idea you have changed cities or counties. In one business district all you need to do is cross the street (which shoplifters do hoping the cops can’t follow them to arrest them - that eventually got solved but it took time as it was caught in a hoopla over cop car chases that crossed city lines).

Of course when I lived in one of those suburbs cities of metro area that city tried to keep their crime rates low using a different method. They tried their hardest not to actually create crime reports. Instead they’d create an informational report or refuse to create any report at all so they could keep their title as one of the safest cities.

Examples:

My credit card and then identity was stolen. Cops wouldn’t make a report unless I could prove it happened while I was breathing air in their city and not another one. I forced the issue telling them that I was sure the news would be interested so they wrote a crime report - so they wrote one - but then refused to investigate. I managed to figure out who had done it because the jerk had used his real name as the recipient of the western union money transfer. They still wouldn’t investigate. I then kept googling his name and about a year later found he was in jail for the same crime in the county over (of the same metro area). Cops then told me he was already doing the time, why prosecute for him having done it another time? Sigh. They never did follow up.

One day 13 of us had stuff taken out of our yard or open garage on two streets where I lived. Cops were called. Most of us with stuff taken gathered. Cops refused to file reports because it was our fault for leaving garages open or stuff in the yard. I pointed out a kid bike lying on the grass a couple of houses down and said, “My kid covets that bike. So what you are telling me is since it is left sitting in the front yard I can take it and it isn’t a crime?”… They said, “Well no… that’s stealing.”. I said, “Help me understand. I must be stupid or something. Stuff is stolen out of the yards and garages of those of us standing here and it isn’t theft but if I take that bike it is theft”. All the bunch of us got in the end were informational reports.

The community had 72 houses. One summer there were 13 break-ins in several weeks. Cops refused to file reports except in cases where the insurance companies hounded them on behalf of those stolen from. No investigation, no prints taken, nothing. The crime spree stopped when a home owner tackled the young teen who lived in the neighborhood as he was fleeing that person’s house with his arms full of stuff.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the city I lived in was the safest one to live in in the metro area. Until someone was murdered (shot) in the parking lot of an apartment complex around the corner from where I lived. Guess they couldn’t get away with no report with that. Too many witnesses to drag the body one street south to put it in another city.

@OnionSoup wears socks with sandals.

@kdemo @Kidsandliz so not really. We have St Louis City with its own city hall, police force, court system, etc. We then have St Louis County with its own structure as well. Within these two separate municipalities you have towns, neighborhoods, etc BUT those smaller municipalities roll up into either the city or county govt.

From what I recall there is only one or two other major cities in the US that have a similar model. We have tried to combine the city and the county a few times to streamline processes, remove redundancies, etc but it continues to be voted down.

So the cycle continues. Crime is on the rise in the city, folks move to the county. The city loses tax revenue to support its efforts, things get worse. When the population numbers decreases the per capita statistics change as well, negatively representing St Louis. All the while the folks that move are still in the St Louis metro area, BUT they live in the county - - a different municipality so they are not part of the statistic.

@kdemo @tinamarie1974 How you describe the government/court difference is different than here although there are a ton of things that are taken care of in county court rather than the individual city’s court. Not sure why. The juvenile justice system and the jails are county wide and not by city. But the crime rate is by city, regardless of where people go to court or jail. The system here sounds a bit hybrid.

People bail from the crime ridden city here (either because of the crime or the state of the schools) to surrounding areas as well. It got so bad that they passed a law rule that if you work for the city government you had to live in the city and not in the surrounding area. There are a couple of little enclaves that are nice (and in some cases behind really high fences), but for the most part it is “inner city”.

you’re an all-star

When you lose integrity in the data, you’ve lost everything. It’s a sad state of affairs.