crime in usvi

I dont know STX--but just use some common sense. Dont hang where drugs are sold...walking around late at night is bad. Be polite.
Knock wood- that works on STT/STJ.

"Good places" and "bad places" are kind of blended together on the island, so it's hard to tell you of any particular area to stay away from. You could have a nice neighborhood adjacent to a housing project.

Bryson,

When you arrive on island, talk to people. Visit some bars, have something cold to drink, and strike up conversations about places to live. Try not to characterize the places as "good" and "bad" because you will find rich and poor, kind and nasty in all neighborhoods and you risk insulting someone who lives in a place that you might feel is "bad." Instead try asking people to "recommend" areas in which you should look for housing. After you've spoken to a few people you'll probably notice that some areas are mentioned frequently and other areas are uniformly ignored. Focus your search on the areas that many folks recommend and you'll be fine.

Mr Callaway

This topic has been discussed many times on this forum. Yes there is crime on St Thomas, St John and St Croix. It is no more and possible less than similar sized places in the states.

The newspapers have very little to report. Crime is news and gets reported more than in the states. There are some problems with a police force that does not do a good job of policing itself. The Daily News does us and the police a service by spotlighting these problems within the VI police departments.

Your comment about moving and bad areas of town make it sound like you have little real knowledge of St Croix. If that is the case and you are moving in two months, you are in for some major problems that have nothing to do with crime or bad areas of "town".

I hope your relocation to St Croix goes well.

Hello there. I moved to St. Croix after having lived and worked inner City in New Haven, CT. I did everything from the 'midnight run' which was assisting the individuals who were homeless and had mental illness to youth outreach, etc.

People who will criminally take advantage of others is not a rich/poor/middle class specific problem. It is usually related to too much alcohol or drug consumption, or with the young, just seeing if they can get away with it.

No matter where you live, live smart. I live in a multi-ethnic neighborhood where I am probably one of four caucasion households. We are a good neighborhood, good neighbors, I know all the kids, and can basically come and go as I please. As I limp, the most I will ever get is an offer of help.

If it is night time, and I see a group of teens drinking on a peer, no, I probably would not choose to walk down it. When walking a side street at night, walk AWAY from the buildings and stay on the sidewalk towards the road. Don't wear a ton of jewelry at 4 a.m. when the bars close, etc.

It's just common sense. Poor does not make good people anymore than rich does, nor does race, creed or color. Sometimes I see tourists who are just walking like victims, and they will be if they walk like they are ready to be taken advantage of and are cowering their way down a street filled with drunken or drugged people. To me, that is dumb, anywhere in the world.

I hope this is helpful. I do not ever feel like I am going to be victimized, but I also know some basic safety concepts and how to scan a street before I walk down it in the dark (oh, also stick to well lit streets with people who are coming from restaurants, hotels etc. If there are other people and lighting, you are doing well).

Best wishes and please do not be afraid of something that is not island specific.

Warm regards,

Dan

What is going on with all the homicides in Vi. I am planning on moving to st. croix in 2 months, and i am very concerned about what areas of town to stay away from, and were would be the best places to live. I read the VI daily news everyday, and it's always something going on related to serious crimes. I know there is going to be crime anywhere you go, but for small islands, such as the islands in VI, that's ridiculous.

First of all, I resent the statement about "all the homicides in the VI", and I'm rather tired of hearing and reading such statements from people who do not live here and have no clue.

Look at the murders...the last one was a lovers' triangle...cop kills ex-lover and wounds her current lover...you are neither the cop's ex-lover nor the current boyfriend of his ex...why would you be murdered by him?

Murder on St. Croix...corrections officer shoots and kills his live-in girlfriend...you are not the officer's live-in girlfriend, so why would he murder you?

Last year Cancun had seven murders in a single day, and nobody says to stay away from Cancun. Some years ago a man with a high-powered rifle shot and killed 30 tourists in Australia...nobody says to stay away from Australia. Five years ago some people crashed commercial airliners into skyscrapers in Manhattan and killed over 3,000 people, but you don't hear people saying to stay away from Manhattan because of the crime rate.

The fact is, St. Croix is a rather peaceful place, boring to some, and the occasional murder, robbery, or break-in, which you will get in any community on the planet where humans dwell, is big news. Sometimes all we have for news is stories about dead horses on the highway, of which the Avis will gleefully print pictures.

Do not come here with preconceived notions about crime and the people here in general. Do a PMV, and for God's sake sit in some of the local establishments, have a Heineken and a chicken leg or something, and talk to some locals. You will get a better perspective.

Some months back there was all this talk about a "crime wave" up East End and people were taliking crap about helicopter patrols and putting up fences around the East End. Turns out the "crime wave" was ONE guy, who ended his "crime wave" whan a homeowner shot him...he didn't die, a decent, law-abiding citizen wound up taking his bleeding backside to the hospital.

Sorry about the rant, I just get riled up whenever I hear all this talk about how "crime ridden" St. Croix is, especially from people who live in places where the sirens never stop wailing. The last place I lived in the States was Kansas City Missouri. The week I left, they finally caught a serial killer who had murdered about sixteen people. He turned out to be one of the most respected business men in the city.

You want to see crime?? Go live in any American town and witness the devastation being brought about by illegal usage of methamphetamines...and keep an eye on your children, because the pedophiles will snatch them...and keep them off the Internet, because the United States has a porn industry that pulls in billions of dollars per year, a large percentage of which is from kiddie porn...and watch yourself at the fancy malls, because the innocent looking guy over there is taking surreptitious up-skirt photos of your wife, girlfriend, daughter, and posting them on the Internet.

We can tell you about REAL crime.

Wow! Well put, Native Son!

Bravo! Well stated and you obviously have lived here longer than myself as you had the scoop on these murders. I agree. I just don't get it. As I have PMV'ers staying with me from time to time, I get questions like "Is is safe to walk around the boardwalk in Christiansted during the day.

I always ask where they might have heard such nonsense about some high level of crime, and it is always not from a source that has ever really spent any time here.

I really appreciate your angle on the reason for certain types of crime, and why we really do not need to get involved, for example, in a lovers' triangle and put ourselves at risk of the outcome of stupidity.

Thank you again for setting the record straight,

Dan

Danieljude wrote:

"Poor does not make good people anymore than rich does, nor does race, creed or color."

So why is there a disproportionate number of hispanics and blacks in prison? If it is now class, race or creed--then what is the factor(s)? My international friends from Africa ask me this question because they realize its not an innate racial predisposition. And several from Sudan where raised under the poorest conditions (lost boys--and they hate that label), so they know its not povert.

Basically, I tell them when people dont have meaningfull employment, role models and hobbies, they resort to unlawfull activities. I used to talk to a West Indian women about the relationship between poverty and crime. She told me that years ago people were dirt poor, materially poorer then they are now. But, they had a family structure, religion, discpline in the schools and a sense of community. Well, the fathers are gone, our father is gone, schools have been Americanized, culture has been materialized and kids spend more time watching TV or watching themselves than spending time with their family. Now, you have a potential for unlawfullness.

Why do poor people wind up in jail more often than rich ones??? DUH! Rich people hire good lawyers and get off with a hand slap. In my opinion, this is especially true of young white males -- who come from good homes and get away with things that a young black man from the city would go to jail for.

End of rant -- Sorry.

Bob2,

Or could it be that the disproportionate number of non-whites in US prisons is because whites selectively enforce the rules they make?

Where I just moved from, most murders are not even considered newsworthy so they don't make the TV news or the newspapers. It makes "everything rosy".

I spent my high school days in surburban and urban America. And I spend a lot of extra time volunteering with inner city youth. Yes, I concede that rich families have the resources to influence judicial outcomes. But, I abide my original thesis: kids need family, God, a sense of purpose and something producitve to do. My aunt always said: keep kids in sports and out of the courts.

I would like to pose another question. If black females in America make up 6-7% of the US population, why is that 34% of all new HIV cases are black females? I guess this statistic is unreleted to our previous issue at hand.

Bob2 wrote:

"I would like to pose another question. If black females in America make up 6-7% of the US population, why is that 34% of all new HIV cases are black females? "

You should amend that to read " 34% of all REPORTED new HIV cases..."

It is dangerous to think that you will be less likely to be HIV-infected by a White or Asian female. Some people want you to think that, but they have their agenda...part of which is to discourage inter-racial couplings by making people think that all Black males are on the down-low and carry the HIV virus, which they then pass on to Black females.

It is the same group of people who fabricate Department of Justice statistics to make it appear that the majority of Black men will serve time in prison. Here's a clue...ever hear of REPEAT OFFENDERS? One Black man getting arrested 10 times does not translate into 10 Black men each getting arrested once.

Here's another clue...prison is a growth industry. They make money by locking people up. The ones with money can hire smart attorneys and get away, literally, with murder...just ask Robert Blake and Ted Kennedy. The ones without money get locked up and feed the industry...guess which segment of the US population is most economically disadvantaged. Again, you can compare the statistics for methamphetamine usage and imprisonment of its users to crack cocaine users and their imprisonment rates...then look at which demographic is most likely to use meth and which is most likely to use crack.

OK...get off soapbox, this site is about moving....

"The ones with money can hire smart attorneys and get away, literally, with murder...just ask Robert Blake and Ted Kennedy."

Don't forget O.J.!

And on Friday Scott Peterson's family offered a quarter of a million dollars for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Laci Peterson's "real killer."

This reminds me of the Sesame Street song:

Three of these guys belong together
Three of these guys are kind of the same
But one of these guys is not like the others
Now it's time to play our game,
It's time to play our game.

One of these guys is not like the others,
One of these guys just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which guy is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

what you say

I do love your ability to put Robert Blake and Ted Kennedy in the same sentence. Unfortunately, it would have been a better read as

Robert Blake, OJ and Ted Kennedy. Now that would have even necessitated a dinner on your truly. LOL

Sure, 42 murders last year, 39 the year before. 12 so far this year, at this rate there will be 48 before the year is out. 110,000 people makes these islands worse, murder wise, than anywhere else in America.

Woops, my mistake. 41 last year, 36 the year before.

noone said:

"Sure, 42 murders last year, 39 the year before. 12 so far this year, at this rate there will be 48 before the year is out. 110,000 people makes these islands worse, murder wise, than anywhere else in America.
"

...so what do you suggest? Can you suggest a way to halt the flow of illegal firearms into the USVI, or a way to stop the culture from being even more corrupted by the influence of American mass media such as MTV and its steady diet of gangsta/hip-hop?

Is there a way to return to family values, strict upbringing of children without the interference of the government...is there a way to create parents who will raise their children with a strong sense of respect for their lives and the lives of other human beings?

What you have here in the USVI is a generation of young people many of whom have lost their sense of direction, or never had one to start with, as a result of poor parenting...and poor substitute parents such as TV, rap, and gangsta culture. Of course the murder rate will reflect that.

If you give a bunch of impressionable young men easy access to firearms, then feed them a steady diet of gansta culture, they will most likely murder each other in disproportionate numbers.

I still hold that if one is not a part of the youth-gang culture the likelihood of being murdered is small. What you mostly have here is the gangsta wanna-be's killing each other off.

"influence of American mass media such as MTV and its steady diet of gangsta/hip-hop?"

Don't blame gangsta rap. There were plenty of murders in the 80s before that came along, three friends of mine among them - none of which had anything to do with gangs. I would even venture to say it was as bad, if not worse then, seeing as how completely unaccountable the police force was at that time. Speaking of the police force, they only solve 25% of the murders down there, compared to the over 60% national rate. Incompetent, corrupt, and criminal - I have personally witnessed a murder that the police were involved in and they covered up. This is something that goes far deeper than just the current crop of murdering kids.

Throwing your hands up and saying that this is the way it is, is not being part of a solution. Recognizing a problem is the first step in solving a problem.

Speaking of the police force, they only solve 25% of the murders down there

...do you currently reside in the Virgin Islands, or did you leave for greener pastures?

I left. I visit once in a while, as I have many friends on St. Thomas, since I grew up there. Last time I was on the island I was down at Magens with a friend of mine (a native) and his son. Two men decided to start shooting at each other, amazingly completely missing each other, even though they were only ten feet apart. My friend scooped up his boy and hid behind the bathroom. Two hours later a disinterested police officer showed up, asked some questions and left. This didn't even make the newspaper. I always wonder how much gets covered up or simply not reported...

noone said " - I have personally witnessed a murder that the police were involved in and they covered up."

So, what did you do to see to it that this got solved?
Seems you are part of the same problem! People not wanting to come forward that witness crimes!

RL

Short of getting shot myself? Nothing. What can I do against the police force? This isn't like witnessing a robbery gone bad, after all.

I find it interesting that it is acceptable that a police officer goes to hotel, asks the front desk for his ex-girlfriends hotel room (by her new boyfriends name), goes to the room, shoots her and her boyfriend, and walks out. Then in court, a number of police officers show up to show support for this comrade of theirs. This crime was not committed in the heat of passion, it was premeditated.

"Look at the murders...the last one was a lovers' triangle...cop kills ex-lover and wounds her current lover...you are neither the cop's ex-lover nor the current boyfriend of his ex...why would you be murdered by him?"

If he is willing to be this blatant, what would he do if no one was around?

Where is the problem here? It is in the very people who are supposed to uphold the law.

Your power is in your vote. Change here happens at the top.