More t'ings that does b'un me ass

Dude, wherever you come from has as much crime as, and probably more than, St. Croix, and that includes all of your quiet little country towns with the methamphetamine labs in the backyard...yeah, we know all about those.

Dude, you're dead wrong and that statement is laughable in a tragic kinda way. I've posted the crime statistics from the area I moved from. Pretty sweet numbers, aren't they? Don't you find breathing to be difficult with your head tucked up there?

Dude, wherever you come from has as much crime as, and probably more than, St. Croix, and that includes all of your quiet little country towns with the methamphetamine labs in the backyard...yeah, we know all about those.

Dude, you're dead wrong and that statement is laughable in a tragic kinda way. I've posted the crime statistics from the area I moved from. Pretty sweet numbers, aren't they? Don't you find breathing to be difficult with your head tucked up there?

Oh? so St. Croix is the most dangerous place on the planet?

Wherever you come from has as much crime, or more than, St. Croix. If it is so damn safe there, why are you here putting up with all of us lowlife criminals?

My breathing is fine, thank you...the smell of truth is always refreshing. What stinks is the smell of fear.

LOL...that ain't truth you're smellin' there Bubba! LOL...where on earth does that pass for logical and rational thought? Try again and try looking up some numbers.

Well, let's be frank and real here. The only part of the murder rate that should/does matter to 90+% of us is the random murder rate. I don't have data on random vs. crime/dispute related murders but it seems from what I hear that the majority of the murders in the USVI are due to known family disputes, drugs, etc. My feeling (not data) is that the chances of an innocent person getting murdered here is still higher than average with the U.S. but nowhere near the claims of highest rate in the U.S.

I am going to assume that "aussie" means you come from Australia. Correct me if I'm wrong, and remember, no hard feelings:D

I enjoy the occasional flame, it's all in good fun. We all live here, and we can have lively discussions and still respect each other.

Some figures, as you suggested:

....this, of course, does not mention the massive crime you "aussies" committed by wiping out almost the entire aboriginal population of "Australia"...but I guess that doesn't count as a crime, it was long ago and they were only Black/Colored people.

18 March 2010
Today's release of Australian crime: Facts and figures 2009 by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) shows government expenditure on criminal justice has now risen to $10 billion per year.

The 12th annual snapshot of crime and criminal justice in Australia from the AIC showed reductions in a range of crime types recorded by police, with property crime, assault, and sex assault reports all declining between 2007 and 2008.

While this was good news, AIC Director Dr Adam Tomison cautioned that the long-term trends for serious crime types such as robbery, assault and sex assault have been increasing since 1996.

"The report found there had been a 49 percent increase in assaults between 1996 and 2008, however the number of victims reporting assaults to police dropped from 176,427 to 170,277 between 2007 and 2008," Dr Tomison said.

"Since 1996, there has been an overall decline of eight percent in the annual number of arrests for drug offences, with a five percent decrease between 2007 and 2008.

"While arrests for cannabis and heroin continue to decline, arrests for amphetamines have more than quadrupled, increasing by 310 percent since 1996."

Government expenditure on criminal justice increased from $9 to $10 billion between 2007 and 2008, with the lion's share going to law enforcement. There were 48,024 sworn state and territory police officers employed across the nation in 2008, with a national average of 225 sworn police per 100,000 people.

Prison numbers continued to rise, by 1.4 percent in 2008, with 27,615 people in prison, while the rate of adult males and females serving community correction orders decreased by 18 percent and 19 percent respectively.

The majority of all offenders were male and the offending rate for persons aged 15 to 19 was almost four times the rate for all other offenders. Indigenous prisoners comprised 24 percent of the prison population, at a rate 17 times higher than that for non-Indigenous prisoners.

In 2008 the rate for male juveniles in detention reached 66 per 100,000, a 43 percent rise since 2004. The incarceration rate of males was 10 times that of females and for Indigenous juveniles was 26 times that of non-Indigenous youth.

For the first time, Facts and figures 2009 also contains data on financial instruments fraud provided by the Australian Payments Clearing Association.

Fraud on credit and charge cards had increased by 44 percent since 2006, yet according to victimisation surveys fraud remained one of the most under-reported offences, with fewer than 50 percent of incidents reported to police or other authorities.

The release of this year's report coincides with the launch of a new interactive online data tool, Facts and figures online, which enables people to analyse and compare crime statistics from the Australian crime: Facts and figures collection.

"The AIC's report has been a reliable and useful compendium of information on crime trends within Australia since it was first published in 1998 and we believe its availability as an online resource will help to enhance and inform policy across government, as well as the community and private sectors," Dr Tomison said.

Well, let's be frank and real here. The only part of the murder rate that should/does matter to 90+% of us is the random murder rate. I don't have data on random vs. crime/dispute related murders but it seems from what I hear that the majority of the murders in the USVI are due to known family disputes, drugs, etc. My feeling (not data) is that the chances of an innocent person getting murdered here is still higher than average with the U.S. but nowhere near the claims of highest rate in the U.S.

I respectfully disagree. It is not higher than average. The murders are committed by people who are involved in illegal activities killing each other over turf, or vendetta murders, of domestic violence.

You can get targeted for murder in some cities in the US simply because some gang member is trying to earn his credibility, and he doesn't know you from Adam. Or you could simply be in the wrong place at the time when some individual decides to act out his frustrations with the government and sprays a crowd with an automatic weapon.

I am going to assume that "aussie" means you come from Australis. Correct me if I'm wrong, and remember, no hard feelings:D.

Your assumption is incorrect.

The per capita homicide rate in the VI is the highest under a US flag. An article in the Daily News stated that if the VI were a country, we'd have the 2nd highest murder rate in the world - in the world!

Murder is seldom random anywhere.

A number of articles that I've read state that there is a direct correlation between the homicide rate and the overall violent crime rate. So, having the highest murder rate under a US flag appears to mean that we also have a proportionally high amount of crime on this island. My own experiences and the experiences of pretty much everyone I know tends to confirm this. We have no way to compare numbers because crime statistics are not published for the Virgin Islands. Why?

....this, of course, does not mention the massive crime you "aussies" committed by wiping out almost the entire aboriginal population of "Australia"...but I guess that doesn't count as a crime, it was long ago and they were only Black/Colored people.

Dude, I missed this on my first read through. If this is how you discuss things, count me out. An open and frank discussion of the very real issues we face here requires someone on the other end that is capable of the same.

I understand some of your points, but your argument is, in many places totally irrational and illogical which does a disservice to what I think you are trying to say.

Numbers are numbers. They don't lie. Statistically you are far more likely to be a victim of murder if you live in the USVI than anywhere in the mainland United States. The numbers have been posted here many times.

You bring up the likelihood of being murdered by a mass murderer. Does it really matter how you are murdered? Whether it was by a mass murderer or being caught in the cross fire or a robbery gone bad? Either way you are dead.

That said, I don't live in fear here. While the numbers are bad, your likliehood of actually being murdered here, while higher than anywhere else in the US, is still quite low. The risk relative to other dangerous things is not enough to change my behavior or make me leave. I am guessing that this is one of the points you were trying to make?

Sean

The thing that really bothers me is when people say you don't have to worry about our out of control murder rate if you don't do drugs or are not in a gang. How do we know what the cause of these murders are? How do we know where drug dealers or gang members are going to try to shoot each other and do you Really think it's always going to be in some dark dangerous gang neighborhood that you are never in? Come on, all our neighborhoods are so mixed, it's often street by street on what makes a good neighborhood.

While it may be much better for you mental health to not worry about these things all the time, I find it offensive that the innocent people that were shot last year and this year always get dismissed as gang bangers or me who should have know not to be some where. This is the mentality that lets it get worse each year, till there are no safe areas.

Hiya is TOTALLY correct! What about Peter des Jardins? What about Tim of the Big Kahuna? What about the tourist from PR at Coki Point? What about the schoolkid killed by a stray bullet on STT last year? As the murders increase, so does the likelihood that any one of us regular folks MIGHT be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Doesn't matter where you are or who you are, the bad guys just might be shooting at someone next to you or in front of you. I don't stress about it either, but it CAN happen. Anyone who says otherwise is fooling himself. period.

just wednesday and innocent person was murdered and two more shot. Mistaken Identity is why this person was murdered. I happen to know one of the shooting victims. a very nice and decent person. Not necessarily so Random.

The city I moved to when I left St. Thomas is a large metropolitan area of more than 2 million people and had under 50 murders last year and that was higher than the year before. Where do you get your statistics?

After a quick look as far as per capita deaths...USVI

1. Heart DZ
2. Homicide
3. Cancer
4. Diabetes

Worldwide...

1. Heart DZ
2. Cancer
3. Stroke

From W.H.O stats.

Thanks for playing.

I disagree with all of you who quote statistics that "prove" that where you come from is "safer" than St. Croix. One of my biggest pet peeves is claims that the Virgin Islands is one of the most unsafe places in the world. That has NOT been my experience, and I have had the honor of actually living in various other places, including the continental US. There was horrible crime wherever I lived, more appalling than anything I experience here. I could give examples, but it would chill your blood.

You cannot get rid of crime here or anywhere else simply by discussing it, and none of you would be willing to take the repressive measures necessary to truly combat crime. You have to live with it as a byproduct of wanting to live in a free society.

I am leery of people who want to infer that we have more crime because there are more Black people here.

You can call my peeves irrational, but this is my home and I dislike seeing it slurred by people who expect to come here and find paradise while promoting everything that makes such a utopia impossible. Society dictates that we have total freedom...well, that means that women are free to have babies at an early age for "men" who are free to not support said babies, thereby forcing said women to go on welfare or work, leaving nobody to properly raise a boy, who is then free to join a gang, free to get a gun, and free to murder his contemporaries. The boy is also free to have his mind corrupted by TV, movies, cRAP music, and a host of other things that ultimately result in money in somebody's pocket. Freedom is not free.

It would require a massive restructuring of society ingeneral for any viable reduction in crime statistics here or anywhere to be seen. This restructuring would require an emphasis on spiritual things. That alone makes the task impossible, because the mere mention of anything spiritual sends people into paroxysms of rejection and denial.

Yeah, we have plenty of churches already and still have crime, but I'd bet the crimes are not being committed by the folks sitting in church. The churches can only do so much, though. There is no concerted effort involving spirituality and commercialism. The two are diametrically opposed. Money is king, and as long as people want to pursue the acquisition thereof without regard for their fellow humans we will have murder and mayhem.

Get used to it, and stop making comparisons. It is all the same.

....this, of course, does not mention the massive crime you "aussies" committed by wiping out almost the entire aboriginal population of "Australia"...but I guess that doesn't count as a crime, it was long ago and they were only Black/Colored people.

Dude, I missed this on my first read through. If this is how you discuss things, count me out. An open and frank discussion of the very real issues we face here requires someone on the other end that is capable of the same.

The real issue is that people like you want to pretend that St. Croix is uniquely violent when in reality our violence pales in comparison to what is happening wherever you lived before coming here.

And yes, you aussies did in fact wipe out almost the entire aboriginal population of Australia. That is a crime that was never punished.

WE face real issues here, yes...one of which is denial of history. Did it ever occur to you that some of our youth are acting out due to their reaction to history? Both past and present? There are many factors at work here of which you are apparently totally unaware. You want discussion, but on your terms, with plenty of sugar-coating.

One of these days, maybe you can organize a discussion seminar for young men. Be sure to include some of the young men who worked at the refinery during the construction of the cat-cracker. Ask them about their experiences with the gentlemen who came here from Texas and Lousiana. You would be surprised at wherein lies the disillusionment of some of our youth with the system.

You'd be surprised at how deep the roots to some of the violence here goes. Or maybe you already know, and you won't be surprised.

The real issue is that people like you want to pretend that St. Croix is uniquely violent when in reality our violence pales in comparison to what is happening wherever you lived before coming here.

Dude, you're a real piece of work. Point out where I ever stated that. There's nothing unique about violence. It's a just matter of degree. Lemme see, the community I moved from had 4 homicides in 7 years and the VI had how many last year?

"And yes, you aussies did in fact wipe out almost the entire aboriginal population of Australia. That is a crime that was never punished."

May I suggest that you work on your reading comprehension skills?

Dude, why do you continue to feel the need to play the race card? Perhaps you missed President Obama's message?

This is my home too and it is painful to me to see such a large percentage of my neighbors suffer due to crime and homicide. You cannot argue that a larger percentage of our us are affected by crime. The numbers don't lie. You can bury your head in the sand if you'd like, your neighbors and friends, and possibly yourself, are still more likely to die via homicide here on St. Croix than anywhere else in the mainland United States. The reasons for this can be debated, but acknowledgement of the problem is not really up for debate by rational people unless you don't believe that the people gathering the statistics can count (it's a pretty basic equation).

It would require a massive restructuring of society ingeneral for any viable reduction in crime statistics here or anywhere to be seen. This restructuring would require an emphasis on spiritual things. That alone makes the task impossible, because the mere mention of anything spiritual sends people into paroxysms of rejection and denial.

Yeah, because mass murder never happens in the name of spiritual things. Crusades, Jihad, etc. :S

As for "freedom" and "welfare," the two things are completely incompatible. When one takes welfare they do it by taking freedom from another. I have to pay taxes to pay someone else's welfare. Instead of choosing how to spend my money I am forced by the government (under threat of violent incarceration) to pay for someone's groceries because of the choices they made. Freedom IS free by definition, unfortunately the meaning of freedom has been lost.

Sean

Hiya is TOTALLY correct! What about Peter des Jardins? What about Tim of the Big Kahuna? What about the tourist from PR at Coki Point? What about the schoolkid killed by a stray bullet on STT last year? As the murders increase, so does the likelihood that any one of us regular folks MIGHT be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Doesn't matter where you are or who you are, the bad guys just might be shooting at someone next to you or in front of you. I don't stress about it either, but it CAN happen. Anyone who says otherwise is fooling himself. period.

It's a SHAME that you couldn't name a single local born person that has been killed. I guess their killings didn't matter.

And please tell me more about "the schoolkid killed by a stray bullet on STT last year"??? This is news to me because I do not recall this happening.

The real problem is the war on drugs. When we killed Escobar we decentralized the drug trade and the former drug mules in Central America saw it as time to take their share of the pie. Now we have multiple drug gangs running around at our border killing people with impunity.

In the 70s and 80s a large part of the drugs came through the Caribbean, then in the 90s they saw it was cheaper and easier to use mules through Central America. Now, because of the chaos in Central America, they are shifting to bringing drugs/guns/thugs up through the Caribbean again because it has become cheaper/easier.

The BVI/USVI/PR islands are the front door for the USA in the Caribbean. Look forward to things getting much worse.

The entire carribbean is full of lying, cheating, misfits. The prevalence of worthless people here is astounding. But I love the ones who defend everything VI. Boohoo bleeding hearts. I just came to the conclusion that everyone who moves here is a waste of life looking for a easy way to do nothing. I have a hard enough time keeping you people from rubbing your poor on me. Later VI!

It seems to me that anyone who does not enjoy living in the VI can easily go to the airport and leave to go anywhere else - I certainly do not find that " the entire Caribbean is full of lying, cheating misfits" - overall the Caribbean people are far mellower, much happier and way more friendly and less judgmental than anywhere else I have been - but I am only well into 7 decades of life on earth and fairly well traveled so far and still on the road.

Interesting...

The consensus seems to be that St. Croix is the most dangerous place on the planet. Even a Realtor said so. Guess he/she will stop selling real estate here now.

I happened across this website and was amazed at the volume of negative comments directed towards St. Croix. This is my home, and I have NOT experienced St. Croix the way a lot of these negative posts depict it. If my defense of my home offends people, such as the aborigine-exterminating aussies, then so be it. Last time I checked St. Croix had a really nice airport.

You do not add anything to peoples' impression of the island by quoting statistics that make it look like we are a bunch of savages. WE are NOT savages. We have crime, but wherever you came from has as much crime as here or more. We have the usual problems that are created when a society looses control of its young men.

When you mention raising them in a more spiritual manner, you get attacked by people who quote stuff about jihad, crusades, etc. Well, do you have a better solution? You have to raise better people in order to curb crime. You can't raise good boys on a steady diet of cRAP music, violent TV shows, violent movies, sexual objectification of women, etc etc. This society is geared towards the acquisition of money above all else, and then people want to post negative crap when there is blowback What the hell did you expect, angels?

This is my home, and if people get offended because I defend it, fine. If I attacked your hometown the way you attack St. Croix you'd get pretty defensive too. I am tired of all the negative crap about crime. If you don't want guns on the street then close down all of the gun manufacturing plants. If you don't want people killing each other over drugs then legalize the drugs. Remember Prohibition, and the crime wave created by the outlawing of booze. You don't see alcohol cartels anymore, do you...

I will see you all for my next defense of everything Crucian. To recap:

1. the term "island car" is offensive...people born here do not use it
2. wherever you came from has as much crime as, or more crime than, St. Croix so STFU

The entire carribbean is full of lying, cheating, misfits. The prevalence of worthless people here is astounding. But I love the ones who defend everything VI. Boohoo bleeding hearts. I just came to the conclusion that everyone who moves here is a waste of life looking for a easy way to do nothing. I have a hard enough time keeping you people from rubbing your poor on me. Later VI!

Sounds like some idiot who came here expecting natives in grass skirts to serve him alcoholic drinks while he lounges on a beach. Good riddance.

His post does have SOME value though, in that it pinpoints the underlying attitude that many of his kind have towards the "natives". You don't really want to associate with us, you don't really like us, we look like the people you were taught to consider to be your inferiors. You are here to make money, and we just keep getting in the way. It is only your fear of the young men on the street with the guns and the pit bulls that keeps you from doing and saying what you really want to do and say. The sad thing is, you think that we are too stupid to realize this.

The worthless people here built everything you can see, including our magnificent forts, government house, yacht club, and all of the stunning mansions you see all over St. Croix. They cut your grass, clean your houses, work 16 hour shifts at the big refinery, drive taxis, teach your children, and take care of your sorry ass when you get sick.

People like you are why I will continue to post my pet peeves.