Job Discussion Forums

[thelmadatter]

[gypsygirl1475]

Guess I'm lucky because my husband is from Mexico, and has thoroughly explained how to be safe there. When we are down there driving around or going somewhere he always shows me, or tells me, where not to go and things to keep aware of. Though, I have to admit that I forget a lot of the places because we don't go near, or pass, near there enough for me to remember.
However common sense should guide us. Unfortunately there are those that have none. Like people who get mugged, it has been overly stated on how to keep from getting mugged for years now on the news, all over the world. Do people listen? NO!

[john_n_carolina]

i like everyone's posts here...there's been lots of good info. along with my MA.ED, i'm working on a side project on this subject of "the rise of crime and gangs in Latin America".

but, back to the original post of which is more dangerous:? US or Mexico.

and, the answer is Neither.

you see, as ESL teachers we are not in the "risk pool" of being murdered. let's take MELEE's example, that there were 494 murders in NY in 2007. of those 494, 93% were male-male, 60% had criminal backgrounds, and 60% were African American.

here you can see a homicide chart for 3 YEARS 2003-2005 in NY.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/04/28/nyregion/20060428_HOMICIDE_CHART.html

so, your chances of being murdered while strolling down the street with your Target bag are virtually 0.

Now, go back 25 years to NY, and it's a different story, and it's related to crack. but crack's gone, handguns are illegal to carry, gangs have left, and everyone has LOJACKS (satellite car trackers).

here's an article from NY in 1987:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DB163EF933A15750C0A961948260

[john_n_carolina]

2006 Top Ten Most Dangerous US Large Cities

(1) Detroit, Compton, Baltimore, Newark NJ, Stlouis, Oakland CA, DC, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Buffalo (10)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate

[john_n_carolina]

NY Scores #1 Safest City in 2006 (1 million + people)

By CHRISTOPHER FAHERTY
Special to the Sun
October 31, 2006

New Yorkers can now rest easy knowing they are just a little bit safer than the residents of Denton, Texas, and Palm Bay, Fla.

On a list of America's safest cities released yesterday, New York City is ranked first among cities with a population of more than 1 million. Of cities with populations of more than 500,000, New York took fourth place, behind El Paso, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; and San Jose, Calif., according to the annual rankings compiled by Morgan Quitno Press

[dixie]

[john_n_carolina]

so then, what "risk pool" do us ESL teachers fall in:?
these type of crimes are associated with our pool:

- taxi thefts
- atm holdups
- atm express thefts (using a taxi)
- muggings
- spiking your drink (bar/bus)
- hiking thefts
- bus baggage thefts
- pick pocket thefts
- slicing your backpack thefts
- hotel thefts from your room

....

[john_n_carolina]

if you're curious, this is a great site for looking up anything about a US City. (crime, registered sex offenders, weather, house prices, unemployment, jobs,)

http://www.city-data.com/

for e.g. my city has not had a murder in 15 years....

[Samantha]

Gypsygirl wrote:

[dixie]

[gypsygirl1475]

Sorry, I was not trying to insult anyone. Sorry to here about what happened to you.
I was referring to here in the states, specifically, New York an Boston areas where woman and sometimes men are mugged quite frequently. Then when they are interviewed you learn that they were somewhere they knew better not to be, they always have an excuse of trying to take a short cut or something dumb. After the interview the police give a speach as to how to avoid this situation and what the woman/man should have done differently.
Maybe it was a bad example, but the point still stands, people don't use common sense, and are instructed on how to be safe, but people simply don't listen. Of course every situation is different, and bad things are still going to happen. Now days crime is rapidly spreading in various forms, even in places least expected. Education is the best safety.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

out of date

[Prof.Gringo]

Go out and buy TODAYS copy of The News. It has a very interesting article about kidnapping. It says there are about 900 kidnappings per day. That's from NOTIMEX.

[gypsygirl1475]

The "whistle guys' are great. The first time I heard them it was so irritationg especially when I was trying to sleep, but after my hubby explained what they were doing I felt a little silly. They do make a difference.
People in my neighborhood do care. Last year around this time there was a chicken shop robbed across from our house. ( You know, where they sell you freshly cut chickens? )
Anyways one morning a car parked down the street about 6 am and was there for a few hours. About the time that people started to get suspicious they jumped out and robbed the store. But before the robbers got to far, about 10 block, they were caught by a citizen until the police got there. My husband said that the word travels fast when a place is robbed. I was shocked they can't even manage to do that here in the states.
Just to add that this kind of stiff does not happen very often. First thing that has happened in all of my years coming and living there. Most of the bad stuff happens in other areas.

[Guy Courchesne]