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> When I got out and realized it was dark, I started to accept something bad was likely about to happen to me. This was the only part that really got me. I hav

> When I got out and realized it was dark, I started to accept something bad was likely about to happen to me. This was the only part that really got me. I have visited a few major US cities but never really lived there, but now I’m wondering how common it is for American city dwellers to be afraid of the dark.

nocoiner 3y ago
Entirely place dependent, these days (30-50 years ago, crime was seriously pretty bad). I live in a huge American city, and I have virtually no fear of personal or property crime when I’m out at night. But in many cases, if I shifted my path a half mile in a different direction, it’d be a different story. Like anywhere, I would suppose, being aware of your surroundings, keeping your wits and not making yourself into an easy target will go a very long way to keeping you safe.
- rmason 3y ago
  Its very important to know the area. Because I grew up in Detroit I know where to go and where not to go. Downtown the billionaire Dan Gilbert owns a huge chunk of buildings. He has his own security force and cameras literally covering every square inch. It's worth it to know exactly where those cameras end because the criminals do and that is where you are most often to encounter them.
  - Nextgrid 3y ago
    Keep in mind that cameras don't mean anything in today's world because law enforcement doesn't care about any crime short of a murder. Maybe cameras still have a chilling effect on law-abiding people but criminals have since wisened up to it.
    - rmason 3y ago
      I cannot speak to other areas but in Detroit cameras have made a huge difference. In Gilbert's case he wants the area around his buildings safe. Detroit police are understaffed but Gilbert's cops augment the force and work closely with them. It matters to them if someone gets mugged or assaulted and they have the manpower to keep up. I've left bars at 2 am and walked to my car feeling very safe. I cannot say that about SF or Chicago anymore. Detroit police have launched Operation Greenlight and placed cameras with cooperating merchants mostly gas stations where a high levels of crimes occur. Part of the agreement with the merchant is they promise a high level of response when there's a crime in progress. Detroit dropping down the national list on carjackings I believe is a direct result of Operation Greenlight.
      - tptacek 3y ago
        It's also possible that Detroit's rankings on carjackings are an artifact of other cities being at the epicenter of the Kia phenomenon. Certainly that's been a major factor in Chicago carjackings.
        rmason 3y ago
        I thought Kia's were stolen off driveways when the people were asleep? Detroit I believe invented modern day car jacking. Someone comes up to you as you're filling your car at the pump, sticks a gun in your face, asks for your keys and drives off. Or someone bumps into you at a light or stop sign. You get out to inspect the damage and exchange insurance cards and again they pull a gun and take your car while their accomplice speeds off in the attack car. Last I checked St. Louis was the current king of car jacking although Detroit is still sadly is in the top ten.
        tptacek 3y ago
        The epicenter of the Kia thing is Milwaukee (I think that's where it started?). The thing about Kias is that they're burner cars. It's not that people are carjacking Kias, it's that they're using burner Kias to carjack other cars. I think we're going to learn in the next couple years that the Kia thing was a much, much bigger problem than we appreciate even now. I think it's a very big deal.
- jon-wood 3y ago
  I’m not sure this is true anywhere. I live in a moderately sized UK city, and have done most of my life. There’s nowhere in the city that I would intentionally avoid at night due to the risk of bad things happening to me, many decades ago a friend and I were mugged by a large group of teenagers, and that was in what’s widely considered a good part of the city. At the same time I’ve walked through what are considered rough areas late at night on the regular and never had anything more threatening happen than drunks stumbling about the place. The only thing I can think of here is that I’m a fairly heavyset 6’1” male, who wears chunky jackets most of the time. Maybe trouble sees me coming and decides it’s not worth the hassle (which is for the record hilarious to me, I’ve been in two fights in my life, and got my ass kicked both times).
dghlsakjg 3y ago
Not an American city thing. It’s a bad neighborhood while carrying an iMac box thing. There’s plenty of cities worldwide with rough neighborhoods where I would absolutely not want to be lugging apple branded stuff through at night.
- FirmwareBurner 3y ago
  That's why I feel safer rocking Chinese branded electronics. Who's gonna rob my Lenovo and OnePlus?
  - ponector 3y ago
    Junkie can. They will hit you first and then figure out what is in the box.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      Luckily there's no junkies in my area.
- Joeri 3y ago
  Even by day it can be harrowing. By far the sweatiest walk home I’ve ever had was the 20 minute walk carrying home my 5K iMac through the outskirts of a less than fancy neighborhood. They wrapped it in nondescript cardboard to conceal, but the shape unmistakably said “new iMac walking”. It didn’t help that it was a warm day and those 5Ks are deceptively big and heavy. Shouldn’t have cheaped out on calling a cab.
  - PaulRobinson 3y ago
    I once bought a new laptop and walked out of the shop realising I had walked into a riot of Millwall football fans facing down Greater Manchester Police’s finest (including dogs and horses). I and the laptop got out unscathed thanks to me knowing shortcuts and back streets. Fun times.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
I'm quite unafraid to roam around my own neighborhood, even though it's quite rough, because it's densely populated, and so there are plenty of other locals passing by at any given time. The scary thing about nighttime in a big urban area, is when you're in a strange neighborhood and you're not known as a local, and you don't know the gang scene there, or ethnic culture is different or whatever. So yeah, carrying around a conspicuously expensive box of electronics will get you noticed in those situations. I'm fairly standoffish and I'm wise to a lot of the soft street scams that individuals tend to use. So I'm not likely to attract someone who will bully or mug me or rough me up. I've literally never had it happen to me. One time I did make a lot of friends on the bus ride home, when I'd been to Fry's Electronics to purchase a large and ostentatious Corsair computer enclosure. It was literally nothing else but the enclosure, so no appreciable electronics, but there was no bag large enough to conceal it, and so the other passengers sat up and took notice of that. Of course, that was in daytime, going through some relatively calm neighborhoods. I'm usually found on the way to or from a train station around here; train stations are fairly well-regarded as patrolled and safer than the surrounding environs, so it's sort of like getting home free when I end up there.
- raisedbyninjas 3y ago
  Yes, the big electronics box was a target. No thanks, I'll help myself to a black trash bag and drag it around like a crazy person.

nocoiner 3y ago

Entirely place dependent, these days (30-50 years ago, crime was seriously pretty bad). I live in a huge American city, and I have virtually no fear of personal or property crime when I’m out at night. But in many cases, if I shifted my path a half mile in a different direction, it’d be a different story. Like anywhere, I would suppose, being aware of your surroundings, keeping your wits and not making yourself into an easy target will go a very long way to keeping you safe.

rmason 3y ago
Its very important to know the area. Because I grew up in Detroit I know where to go and where not to go. Downtown the billionaire Dan Gilbert owns a huge chunk of buildings. He has his own security force and cameras literally covering every square inch. It's worth it to know exactly where those cameras end because the criminals do and that is where you are most often to encounter them.
- Nextgrid 3y ago
  Keep in mind that cameras don't mean anything in today's world because law enforcement doesn't care about any crime short of a murder. Maybe cameras still have a chilling effect on law-abiding people but criminals have since wisened up to it.
  - rmason 3y ago
    I cannot speak to other areas but in Detroit cameras have made a huge difference. In Gilbert's case he wants the area around his buildings safe. Detroit police are understaffed but Gilbert's cops augment the force and work closely with them. It matters to them if someone gets mugged or assaulted and they have the manpower to keep up. I've left bars at 2 am and walked to my car feeling very safe. I cannot say that about SF or Chicago anymore. Detroit police have launched Operation Greenlight and placed cameras with cooperating merchants mostly gas stations where a high levels of crimes occur. Part of the agreement with the merchant is they promise a high level of response when there's a crime in progress. Detroit dropping down the national list on carjackings I believe is a direct result of Operation Greenlight.
    - tptacek 3y ago
      It's also possible that Detroit's rankings on carjackings are an artifact of other cities being at the epicenter of the Kia phenomenon. Certainly that's been a major factor in Chicago carjackings.
      - rmason 3y ago
        I thought Kia's were stolen off driveways when the people were asleep? Detroit I believe invented modern day car jacking. Someone comes up to you as you're filling your car at the pump, sticks a gun in your face, asks for your keys and drives off. Or someone bumps into you at a light or stop sign. You get out to inspect the damage and exchange insurance cards and again they pull a gun and take your car while their accomplice speeds off in the attack car. Last I checked St. Louis was the current king of car jacking although Detroit is still sadly is in the top ten.
        tptacek 3y ago
        The epicenter of the Kia thing is Milwaukee (I think that's where it started?). The thing about Kias is that they're burner cars. It's not that people are carjacking Kias, it's that they're using burner Kias to carjack other cars. I think we're going to learn in the next couple years that the Kia thing was a much, much bigger problem than we appreciate even now. I think it's a very big deal.
jon-wood 3y ago
I’m not sure this is true anywhere. I live in a moderately sized UK city, and have done most of my life. There’s nowhere in the city that I would intentionally avoid at night due to the risk of bad things happening to me, many decades ago a friend and I were mugged by a large group of teenagers, and that was in what’s widely considered a good part of the city. At the same time I’ve walked through what are considered rough areas late at night on the regular and never had anything more threatening happen than drunks stumbling about the place. The only thing I can think of here is that I’m a fairly heavyset 6’1” male, who wears chunky jackets most of the time. Maybe trouble sees me coming and decides it’s not worth the hassle (which is for the record hilarious to me, I’ve been in two fights in my life, and got my ass kicked both times).

dghlsakjg 3y ago

Not an American city thing. It’s a bad neighborhood while carrying an iMac box thing. There’s plenty of cities worldwide with rough neighborhoods where I would absolutely not want to be lugging apple branded stuff through at night.

FirmwareBurner 3y ago
That's why I feel safer rocking Chinese branded electronics. Who's gonna rob my Lenovo and OnePlus?
- ponector 3y ago
  Junkie can. They will hit you first and then figure out what is in the box.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Luckily there's no junkies in my area.
Joeri 3y ago
Even by day it can be harrowing. By far the sweatiest walk home I’ve ever had was the 20 minute walk carrying home my 5K iMac through the outskirts of a less than fancy neighborhood. They wrapped it in nondescript cardboard to conceal, but the shape unmistakably said “new iMac walking”. It didn’t help that it was a warm day and those 5Ks are deceptively big and heavy. Shouldn’t have cheaped out on calling a cab.
- PaulRobinson 3y ago
  I once bought a new laptop and walked out of the shop realising I had walked into a riot of Millwall football fans facing down Greater Manchester Police’s finest (including dogs and horses). I and the laptop got out unscathed thanks to me knowing shortcuts and back streets. Fun times.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

I'm quite unafraid to roam around my own neighborhood, even though it's quite rough, because it's densely populated, and so there are plenty of other locals passing by at any given time. The scary thing about nighttime in a big urban area, is when you're in a strange neighborhood and you're not known as a local, and you don't know the gang scene there, or ethnic culture is different or whatever. So yeah, carrying around a conspicuously expensive box of electronics will get you noticed in those situations. I'm fairly standoffish and I'm wise to a lot of the soft street scams that individuals tend to use. So I'm not likely to attract someone who will bully or mug me or rough me up. I've literally never had it happen to me. One time I did make a lot of friends on the bus ride home, when I'd been to Fry's Electronics to purchase a large and ostentatious Corsair computer enclosure. It was literally nothing else but the enclosure, so no appreciable electronics, but there was no bag large enough to conceal it, and so the other passengers sat up and took notice of that. Of course, that was in daytime, going through some relatively calm neighborhoods. I'm usually found on the way to or from a train station around here; train stations are fairly well-regarded as patrolled and safer than the surrounding environs, so it's sort of like getting home free when I end up there.

raisedbyninjas 3y ago
Yes, the big electronics box was a target. No thanks, I'll help myself to a black trash bag and drag it around like a crazy person.