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Safety in Poland
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simon_porter00



Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 505
Location: Warsaw, Poland

PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

and as we're in an anecdoty mood. I remember when I travelled around the world back in '03, my friend and I arrived in LA and walked for several blocks through downtown LA looking for our hostel with backpacks on our backs and looking thoroughly out of place.

When we arrived at the hostel and said what we had done, they looked at us with amazement in their eyes that we were still alive.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In a similar fashion, I took a late flight to Newark and then a bus to the subway station - at 12:30 am. Took the subway to Times Square and walked into the lobby of the hotel two blocks from the station. The on-duty manager was horrified.

Yet, I walked around my home in Boise (same size as Gdansk) at 3 am a few dozen times and only encounters were occasional police officers.

None of which changes the situation in Poland or other CIS/FSU countries.
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PeterParvo



Joined: 18 Dec 2011
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always felt I could have been randomly beat up in Poland. In the States, that I could be randomly shot.
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343

PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Are there areas of Polish cities that are unsafe ? There certainly are now in the Uk - and I am sure in the USA.

I lived in Bulgaria for many years and I did not come across any areas of the bigger cities (Sofia, Burgas, Russe, Plovdiov, Varna) where I felt uneasy.
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Master Shake



Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

www.osac.gov: "According to Polish police sources, 2011 once again showed a continued decrease in overall crime in the country."

wikipedia.org: "Newer studies (2009) report that the crime victimisation rate in Poland is constantly decreasing, and in 2008 Poland was 25th among 36 European countries."

inyourpocket.com "In general Gdansk is safer than most cities."

Compare Poland and the US here: http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Poland/United-States/Crime Quite a sharp contrast in most categories with Poland the safer of the two.

PeterParvo wrote:
I always felt I could have been randomly beat up in Poland. In the States, that I could be randomly shot.
This pretty much sums up my impression as well. I've been in a few scrapes and seen several fights in the four years I've lived in Poland, most of them in Gdansk

There are some parts of Gdansk I wouldn't be keen to go late at night.

But, as was said, you can't go through life in constant fear that something will happen.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Master Shake wrote:


PeterParvo wrote:
I always felt I could have been randomly beat up in Poland. In the States, that I could be randomly shot.
This pretty much sums up my impression as well. I've been in a few scrapes and seen several fights in the four years I've lived in Poland, most of them in Gdansk

There are some parts of Gdansk I wouldn't be keen to go late at night.


So we agree, GREAT.

Consensus was easier than I thought it would be.
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Master Shake



Joined: 03 Nov 2006
Posts: 1202
Location: Colorado, USA

PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ecocks wrote:
So we agree, GREAT.

Consensus was easier than I thought it would be.
You think that Poland is as, if not more dangerous, than the US. I think that Poland is generally safer.

And if you avoid late nights at the bars/clubs it makes a huge difference. That's where most drama occurs.

I'd rather have a black eye than bullet wound.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Sun Mar 24, 2013 7:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Master Shake wrote:
ecocks wrote:
So we agree, GREAT.

Consensus was easier than I thought it would be.
You think that Poland is as, if not more dangerous, than the US. I think that Poland is generally safer.

And if you avoid late nights at the bars/clubs it makes a huge difference. That's where most drama occurs.

I'd rather have a black eye than bullet wound.


Sane people would rather have neither.

Like others you ignore that it isn't just my feelings I base this determination on but the two of you just corroborated what I said I had heard from others.
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dynow



Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 1080

PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Master Shake wrote:


Compare Poland and the US here: http://www.nationmaster.com/compare/Poland/United-States/Crime Quite a sharp contrast in most categories with Poland the safer of the two.



the assault stats are interesting. it shows that assault victims in the USA vs. Poland are the same and unlike most of the other numbers on that chart, it's a percentage of population which makes it far more accurate of a comparison. considering that gun violence in the USA is more prevalent and that when someone is shot at or shot and not killed it is an assault (aggravated), it would suggest that in Poland, you are more likely to be assaulted by means other than a firearm than in the USA.

also, the chart shows that "total crime victims" are the same.

I'm still looking for stats that back up your claim, that if you take a random city in Poland and compare it to a random city in the USA, statistics will show that there is more crime. regardless of what these numbers said, they're overall numbers, which means that the 10 worst cities in the USA could (and do) make up the majority of these numbers. where i grew up, we never even took our keys out of our car ignitions or locked the front doors to our houses, but drive 30 minutes east and you wouldn't dare.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Violent crime is more prevalent than in the past places I chose to live.

London was an option for me about 11 years ago, I rejected it and stated a preference for Galway or a small town near Portsmouth. That was based upon the recounting of all the muggings and such in the area where the corporate office was located. Maybe the other places were just as rough around the edges though.

Just today another expat was telling about (in other words "bragging") about fighting over the weekend in a pub.

Pretty clear that the fear of firearms here has a lot to do with a frustrated and violence-prone population.
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PeterParvo



Joined: 18 Dec 2011
Posts: 103

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just had a 'ja pierdole' moment on the weekend. As I am waiting for my son's barber to finish up his haircut, I was flipping through one of the magazines on the table. It was nothing but advertisements for 100-round clips and assault rifles. I look up and sure enough I can see the barber has a piece under his shirt.

I am not a gun prude; I used to have guns and hunted, but I am not going to have my son get his haircut by a guy packin' heat.

Yes I am in the U.S.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PeterParvo wrote:
I just had a 'ja pierdole' moment on the weekend. As I am waiting for my son's barber to finish up his haircut, I was flipping through one of the magazines on the table. It was nothing but advertisements for 100-round clips and assault rifles. I look up and sure enough I can see the barber has a piece under his shirt.

I am not a gun prude; I used to have guns and hunted, but I am not going to have my son get his haircut by a guy packin' heat.

Yes I am in the U.S.


And in our town, the three barbers at our shop are all carrying firearms. Both my sons had their haircuts there and several of my friends did as well.

Isn't it wonderful, living in a free country where you can pick and choose your barber?!?
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Infinite



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 235

PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Given the sheer amount of violent crimes in the US, I'm rather surprised that you'd think that Poland's less safe. I was told to keep out of Praga at night yet I love the place. Best bars and beer in Warsaw, same with some parts of Wroclaw and Krakow... but while living and traveling in Poland vs. living and traveling in the US... well, in Chicago I'd heard gun shots through out the night, in Oakland I was told not to leave the house after dark, in Newark NJ my car was approached by 10 to 12 year old kids trying to sell me crack at the red light. In Philly my car was rocked with bottles, in Brooklyn I once made a wrong turn and ended up on a block where Bloods were having a BBQ cook out... bad move.
That's just the criminal factors. My job took me across states and into some less than privileged areas, I can assure you, there's absolutely nothing that comes even remotely close to what I'd witnessed stateside. Now you'd mentioned corruption and police. Every day in the US someone, usually a member of the so called minority, loses a life to a "mistake" of a police officer. I'm not trying to judge here, I don't know any of you personally, but I can tell by your replies, that you'd never actually lived or spent time in the ghettos of American cities.
There are places, like Camden NJ for example, like Detroit, Cleavland, or parts of LA, where you are nearly guaranteed to get into trouble upon entry. If you think about an amazingly beautiful city of Baltimore and its stats. Nearly 50% of kids in that city quit school before their HS graduation.
There's absolutely no way to compare Poland to the US. The occasional scuffles at bars, local clubs or discotheques are a far cry from the extensive, poverty driven gang wars in the streets of all American cities.
I've never felt unsafe in Poland, never felt that my life was in danger. I find Poland to be very safe, fact alone that my kids don't have metal detectors in their schools as it was standard during my youth in the states, speaks volumes.
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ecocks



Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 899
Location: Gdansk, Poland

PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

"poverty driven gang wars in the streets of all American cities. .."

What an absolute crock of mis-information.

If I ever live in any of those places you cite I may adjust my opinion.

In the meantime though......
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Infinite



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 235

PostPosted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quoting the FBI here:

"Some 33,000 violent street gangs, motorcycle gangs, and prison gangs with about 1.4 million members are criminally active in the U.S. today. "
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/gangs/gangs

http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Measuring-the-Extent-of-Gang-Problems

http://jrc.sagepub.com/content/49/4/489.abstract

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/23/most-dangerous-cities-lifestyle-real-estate-dangerous-american-cities.html

http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Demographics

Living in the American suburbs provides a false sense of security and safety. Distances between cities and towns provide an imaginary buffer zone for the more fortunate who can afford to live there. Cities are now divided and rezoning is in full effect causing clustering of those less fortunate and causing a spike in violent crimes across the nation. It must be nice to live in a bliss, but the reality of things is vastly different.
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