If I'm next to a blue light, then are muggers less likely to mug me?

[TracyN06511]

<p>I can see that some of the posters here are not interested in the truth. Kdog044, are you serious? You ask what I find insulting about your comments. Well let me tell you. I have lived and worked in the New Haven area for years. Have you? I have been assaulted on the streets of New Haven. Have you? Your demeaning response about the “weight” of my comments implies that I should not be allowed to point out what is indisputably the truth here because I am new to this online forum. Unless you live here, you are in no position to be dismissing these facts. Do gunpoint confrontations occur in other urban areas? Of course. Are the previous poster’s comments suggesting that armed assaults are unheard of for Yale students or are so extremely rare as to be dismissed out of hand to be given greater weight than news stories and my own experiences? No. Sheesh. </p>

<p>T26E4, you’re absolutely right about suburban campuses not being immune to crime but there are real threats in the New Haven area that cannot be blithely dismissed. None of this will stop our daughter from applying to Yale if that is what she wants to do next fall but some of you on this board are letting your apparent love for Yale blind you to reality. I started out here just wanting to correct the previous poster’s remarks. This is a sensitive subject for me. I’ll end with this comment.</p>

[T26E4]

<p>Tracy: I’m not blind to the realities of New Haven. I grew up in a town with an enormously higher crime rate to be frank. I enjoyed my community involvement in NH while I attended Yale. And I don’t believe in undue risk for the sake of it. But to let either kid attend Yale – I see it as no different if, they attended a nice quiet rural school and then said they were accepting an internship in Manhattan or Buenos Aires.</p>

<p>There’s truth in many arguments – I think people are shortchanged if they dismiss the good of Yale for misconceptions of its safety or lack thereof.</p>

[gibby]

<p>See: [Safety</a> in New Haven: a tale of two cities | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/sep/15/safety-in-new-haven-a-tale-of-two-cities/]Safety”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2009/sep/15/safety-in-new-haven-a-tale-of-two-cities/)</p>

<p>But as it happens, there is a gulf between perceptions and reality — these incidents are aberrations in an relatively safe college town. Although statistics suggest that New Haven as a whole is still more dangerous than other cities of comparable size, the area around Yale is no more dangerous than those that surround other schools."</p>

<p>"In 2007 and 2008 combined, New Haven reported 2,690 violent crimes for every 100,000 residents, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reports. This number is comparable to the crime rates in two of Connecticut’s other major cities, Hartford and Bridgeport — 2,377 and 2,338 respectively. (As defined by the FBI, violent crimes include murder, forcible rape, robbery rape and aggravated assault.)</p>

<p>The average U.S. city of comparable size to New Haven had only 1,246 violent crimes per 100,000 residents — less than half as many.</p>

<p>But the fact that New Haven has more reported violent crime than other cities does not necessarily make it more dangerous. Indeed, the FBI discourages ranking cities based off of the FBI crime reports. The purpose of the reports is to give statistics to academics and cities to do research, FBI Unit Chief Stephen Fischer Jr. said.</p>

<p>“A ranking provides no insight into the many variables that mold crime,” Fischer said. “One city might report more crime than another, not because there is more crime, but because one city might be more proactive in investigating and reporting crime.”</p>

<p>Neighborhoods with high crime rates form a ring around downtown, Lewis said. Much of the crime in those neighborhoods, he said, is linked to illegal drugs. At the same time, he noted, there is little street crime downtown and around Yale. Almost all incidents in that area are related to intoxicated bar patrons getting into fights, he said.</p>

<p>“It’s a tale of two cities,” he said. “I would argue our downtown is safer than many urban downtowns. But I’d say some of our neighborhoods are more dangerous than many neighborhoods in the country.”</p>

<p>“Yale reported 11.7 criminal offences per 1,000 students in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available. Harvard University reported the most criminal offenses on campus with 20.5 per 1,000 students.”</p>

<p>“All other Ivy League schools reported between 9.6 and 12 criminal offences per 1,000 students.”</p>

[Hunt]

<p>If your main concern is the safety of your kid, you need to look at the big picture. At a rural campus, for example, your kid may be much more likely to get into a car with a driver who has been drinking–something that is very unlikely to happen at Yale.</p>

[latichever]

<p>I live in New Haven, and my impression is the the greatest safety risk to Yale students comes from their reckless pedestrian behavior–e.g., stepping into a crosswalk, where cars are supposed to stop for pedestrians ALREADY IN THE CROSSWALK, on the assumption that a car will be able to stop in time no matter its speed, or texting while walking. </p>

<p>Young people are just as dangerous on their feet as they are behind the wheel.</p>