As James' thread has wandered off topic it has been decided to separate the crime discussion and place it into the Debate area so it can continue there.

Hi

you said that you were'nt happy with the ''crime situation'' could you enlighten us to what that was and where????

thnx ian

Crime is very low here, remember nearly EVERY incident (even small) is major news so it sounds worse than it is.

Hiya
Didn't want to worry anyone about the crime, it's just new to us, we came from a place where the police were so bored that the kids were getting into trouble for pulling leaves off tree's!!!!!!
I spoke to my sister the other night whom lives in the UK about my concerns and she put it all into perspective for me.
Of course I haven't seen anything here myself and have only read the papers so I would take any concerns i have with a pinch of salt.

cheers
Andrea

So you read tha papers here and think crime is bad...didn't you read the papers in the UK ?

If you compare the 2 you would have no concerns.

Major crime here is someone being mugged (bashed), major crime in UK (murder)....not really comparable.

Car chases also get headline news here in Adelaide. Wouldn't even make local news in UK.

i am genuinely concerned that someone might read that and believe it.

crime rates in the uk and australia are roughly comparable(dont know about gibraltar, sorry).
of course the ammount of offences in the uk are greater because there are more people, but the crime rates are very similar.
you could search for statistics but, it would take a while as they vary considerably.
the conclusion i drew was that australia had a slightly higher crime rate in 2003.

I stand by my post.

I didn't mention crime rates, look at the Advertiser each day and look for the crime, and then look at UK natinal and compare, or even a UK local (Manchester Evening News, Liverpool Daily Post, Evening Standard etc) and you will see the type pf crime reported is different.

if you want.
but papers only tell you want they want you to know.

there was a very serious crime on our street here a couple of years back, which gained almost zero coverage.

we have never been exposed to so much crime, as we have here.
although only threats, directed at us.

we have never had to call the police in the uk, we've had to do it god knows how many times here.

Sean, that doesn't sound good, but you are one case (obvioulsy you may know of others).

In our local paper a major story for a few weeks was a young gang who terrorised a couple (in their fifties I think). They threw egss and left 'mess' around their house. Although not good, harldy what I call serious crime!!!

IN UK our local crimes were about stabbings, rapes, murders...far worse.

I think it may depend somewhat on where you live. I understand, Sean, that you've had a bad run here, as you've mentioned in previous posts. But I don't believe it means that all of Adelaide is crime-ridden. I think you can just be unlucky. Personally, I have lived in South Australia since 1971. I have lived in Elizabeth for a few years, then Salisbury, Ingle Farm, Hope Valley, Clarence Park, and now Rosslyn Park. I cannot recall ever being a victim of crime, except someone rattling on my window at Hope Valley, who I later believed was a brother-in-law who'd had too much to drink! So your truth is that there is lots of crime in Adelaide, mine is that there is crime, but not to the degree that I have ever been affected. Both of our experiences are true for us, but may not accurately reflect the truth of how Adelaide compares with other cities.

i think there is a big difference in the way crime is reported in the uk and australia.
in the uk, crime is a hot political topic, and thus gets a fair amount of coverage.
crime reporting in oz (seems to me) to be of the blink and you'll miss it type.
with more emphasis on mediocre events.

two of the top of my head:
there was a womans body dumped where i go walking sometimes, last year.
a murder with no solution as yet.
there was also a woman murdered in adelaide a couple of weeks back.
but we hear very little about it.


as stated earlier my research suggested rather equal crime rates between the uk and australia nationally.
from memory, uk had slightly higher murder rate, oz had higher burglery rate, and higher rate of crimes against children(mostly by parents).
data is also collected differently which makes comparing more awkward.
also there are differences in criminal and victim demographics.

but you cannot compare absolute values between the uk and adelaide.
assuming the equal equal model to be correct the uk has 60 crimes for every 1 in adelaide.
there are way more many crimes in the uk, then thee are in adelaide, but the proportions are pretty equal.

Glad you are settling in - it can be slow process. With regards to the crime thing which seems to have been sectioned out from your thread and because I can remember it feeling like a big issue to me on arrival, and may be for others, I thought I'd tell you how I felt.

I had just moved my family across the world to a place I didn't know. I was feeling very vulnerable and senses were heightened, as a mothers would be when potentially expsosing thier loved ones to strange environments. In the UK I was the victim of several crimes, stolen car, vandalism etc and was surrounded by drug culture. I did not live inner city but small town "nice area." In Adelaide any crime reported locally on the news felt like a major invasion to my safety. I felt unsafe on the streets and to add insult to injury my hospital did a talk on how to protect yourself from violent patients/visitors etc, what codes to call for bomb threats, assualt etc. We were advised never to walk to the carpark on our own. I was nervous for a while - to say the least.

We have been here for 2 years now and have listened to many crime reports. Most of which appear to be drug/gang related and petty theft. None of which have been a personal threat to me either directly, or indirectly. When I look back I can see that I had no need to be concerned. I'm sure statistics show that the crime rate here compared to UK is lower/different. I find some of the crime reports quite amusing cos there are some really unintelligent crims here. (those who read and watch reports will know what I mean!!) There are murders and fraud and theft all around us. I would not advocate getting paranoid about it but neither do I think we should be blase. Be aware of whats going on around you and pay attention to your instincts. Although Adelaide may feel small countrified town, it is a major city with inner city problems. I felt nervous about everything, not just the crime and it was possibly due to the fact I didn't know about the culture/rules/regulations. And of course the realisation that rules and regulations don't appear to have the same political scrutiny here. It's not always what you know but who you know and "cover ups" aren't unheard of. Meeting up with people and learning as much as I could helped me feel more secure. Remember there is always a horror story.

Whilst crime is categorised into major/minor it cannot be emotionally classified into major, or minor. If it feels like a threat actual, or potential it's major.!!!!!! Good luck , Lesley.

Hi,

just to give you some idea of how crime in the uk is getting worse they said last week that up todate 51 tenagers/children have died thru either being shot or stabbed i personally have never known it that bad in the uk.



ian

I dont normally join in on threads like this but have to say I agree with Sean, the crimes here on the TV news hardly get a look in, the lady raped in marion car park only got a mention on the morning news, it was not on any evening news, there was a woman mudered on mothers day near to flinders, I didnt see anything about that in the paper or on the news. News seems to only be news when it concerns football or road crashes!
I also have to say I think most of the crime here is what I would call "petty", car stealing, burglary etc, not that I think this sort of crime is ok.
Someone had been in hubbys van parked on the driveway one night, the shop I work in has been broken into, you only have to read the local neighbourhood watch leaflet to see the amount of petty crime in your area, you wont see it on the TV!
sarah

I think sometimes it depends on the crime committed......which sometimes we only get a snippet of info about.

For example, in the case of dead bodies discovered.....these may not be murders, they may be suicides, in which case there may be some restrictions on reporting.

Another example is that most murders are by people known by the victim. In the case of a spouse murder or something similar, it may be decided not to report if there are children involved or it's not seen as being in the public interest.

Finally, if it is something like a rape case, and they have the alleged perpetrator - the case might be prejudiced by media coverage. So often the only time you hear about a case is when it's been to court and a verdict has been reached.

:)

One of the main reasons we left the UK last year was because of the rising crime levels (In our area).
To process crimes commited by non speaking migrant's where interpreter's have to be brought in takes much longer than to convict a chav say for stealing a car.
Then when the old racist card get's pulled out the whole thing get's bogged down and sound practical judgement goes out the window.
That's what did us in to hear of crimes going unpunished or young lads getting a slapped wrist for kicking a pensioner in for £10.
When you have young children and hear of peadophiles lodged up near primary schools.....
not so good.
Adelaide for us at least definately feels safer.

Darren

Yep I understand all that Andy and the fact there are less people here than in the UK, but I still think the crimes stories are reported less on the TV here, they like to keep it all "fluffy" I think!!!
sarah :blink:

Good job that you didn't move to a country where there are any migrants then........

or do we just want the English speaking ones here in Australia...............

My post is about some of the problems regarding the UK and reasons for us leaving.
There are things we miss about the UK but the soft approach to criminals is'nt one of them.
This was my honest opinion so dont try and turn it into a racial argument sweetheart.

Darren.

Just understandable would be good ;)

As I am 6ft 6" and last time I looked a bloke, I would rather not be your sweetheart, and if that comment was aimed at my wife, it was rather patronising don't you think - pet?

If partners or family members are sharing the same username it may be wise to register separate accounts to ensure no confusion results, similar to the examples above.

Now lets get back to the topic :)

Or just try and avoid being patronising...........

then it doesn't matter who you are addressing.....

True.

I believe that there is an agreement with the media that suicides are not normally reported on, or at least not extensively, so that it doesn't encourage people to copy-cat.

I may be wrong, but I always thought that all murders were reported.

And whoever mentioned about the sport, you are right - there is far too much emphasis put on sports results!

"The state encourages media outlets, such as newspapers and TV, to publicise crimes and punishments imposed on convicted criminals as a form of protection and deterrence"

From my legal studies text book.

Patronizing? Exactly what your first post was in response to mine about crime in the UK.
If you post such comments you should'nt be so precious.

Darren.

Having come from Bromsgrove near Birmingham, I got laughed at by some locals here when I put a steering wheel lock on our car! (its a disklok- covers the whole steering wheel) most of them were asking what does it do.

Needless to say I used it once or twice and now its collecting dust in the garage, crime is relative I guess I have an alarm on my house, but didn't in the UK.

My car in the UK was broken into 3 times before we left, I even put messages in the windows to say nothing inside it but they still tried and caused $1200 worth of damage.

For me there is no comparison crime levels here are much lower, they resort to reporting about police chases as nothing else is happening, in the main the only shootings/stabbings appear to be drug related.

I live in the Western suburbs so it might be a little different for our friends living elsewhere, I think coming from the UK give you a good headstart here, just do what you did in the UK, don't leave things on display in your car and you'll be right.

Grant

There is plenty of car theft and petty crime in Adelaide.

My son has his car stolen twice within a few weeks in Norwood.

G

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti..._a_source=&ct=5


people think its bad in Adelaide!!

Stevo.

My parents arrive on a visit later this week, and I have asked them to bring a copy of the Daily Mail with them - nothing quite like it for making you sure you made the right move here!!!

My partner made a scrap book of all the local papers in the area we use to live in the UK over a 4 week period, the idea was that if at anytime we felt a bit home sick for the UK we could get the scrap book out see all the crime etc and think better of it.

I'm glad to say the scrap book has never been needed and were into a 5th year here, we now have foxtel so if I ever want to see how bad it is in the UK I switch to BBC world or Skynews UK.

As I said before crime is relative, having lived in Bromsgrove and worked in Birmingham the crime levels here are much lower.

Crime rates in Australia - particulalry Adelaide appear to be disproportionate due to the types and ammounts of crimes when compared to the Uk. YES there is crime as there is in every country but as Andy has already commented the media released information is on a needs to know basis. There are many reasons vast amounts of crimes are not reported for many of the reasons Andy stipulated.

Do not be under any illusion that Adelaide is a safe haven as you will be sadly disappointed. Adelaide has been described as the beautiful city of churches whislt running alongside this is the description of it also being the "home of Australia#s wierdest killers" (B. O'Brien 2002)

Upon reading the book by Bob O'Brien his introductory paragraph can sum it up for you:

"Adelaide is no different from any other city when it comes to crime. It has its traffic offenders, its petty theives, its drug users and dealers and its murderers. But somehow Adelaide has earned its reputation for having more than its fais share of killers - and weird, sick ones at that"

You need to put these things into perspective and ensure your safety and that of your family wherever you are, never drop your guard just becasue you "perceive" it to be safer. It may be safer in certain areas but that does not mean crime is not apparant it mearly means that it is not as regularly reported. There are many many many more offenders out there than those reported in the media and many times that the media actually dislay such cases is for the sensationalism and pure shock value and the fact that they will sell more papers. For each and every one murder, child abuse case, sexual assault case reported in the media there are countless more horriffic offences being investigated but which the media are not privy to the information.

You will never life anywhere crime free as it is intrinsic within human nature to do things against the grain but changing your sensitivity to responding when crimes are told/read about can help. Remember you are only as safe as you want to be and only as safe as the next criminal ensures you make yourself.