big city = big crime, hick town = hick crime
Saturday, June 09, 2007
So I was talking to my old man today about our decision to move back to the small community from whence Superwife and I moved about 5 years ago and the topic of crime came up.
I mentioned to my Dad that crime was one of the factors that prompted my decision to move the fam back up to our old hometown, one of many in fact. We currently live near the US border, and while crime isn't rampant here, there are reminders all over that this isn't the safest place to live.
Examples are almost too easy to find. I have been told that every single 24 hour corner store has been held up here, some multiple times. I was driving to one on my 1 am lunchbreak a few weeks ago and couldn't go in because the place was closed due to a robbery a few minutes earlier. There is a problem with rape here that is conveniently kept out of the papers for fear that people will choose to send their kids to a more secure college town. My office downtown, while in a nice modern building, overlooks an alley that we can actually watch drug deals taking place in. There was a home-invasion style murder on Christmas Eve a few years ago that was less than 3 blocks from my home.
I know that these things happen everywhere, but I am looking forward to deluding myself that they don't happen in the little community we're moving back to. So to that end, here's a little story that my old man told me that should help nicely in that delusion.
Not that long ago, my Dad, let's call him Ed because its a funny inside joke to do so, attended a township meeting between members of the local community where I'm moving and an official representative of the Ontario Provincial Police, to discuss the effectiveness of the local OPP detachment. The representative patiently wrote down the criticisms of the locals, while Ed tried to hide his snickers in the back. When the complaints were listed, they were all variations of the facts that people were still parking in front of the post office, and were improperly parking in perpendicular fashion rather than on an angle in front of the bank. The rep then commented that in all the times he had spoken before groups about their crime problems, he had never once come across a group that didn't have a single complaint about local crime.
And if I needed one more justification for my decision to move, that's not a bad one.
I mentioned to my Dad that crime was one of the factors that prompted my decision to move the fam back up to our old hometown, one of many in fact. We currently live near the US border, and while crime isn't rampant here, there are reminders all over that this isn't the safest place to live.
Examples are almost too easy to find. I have been told that every single 24 hour corner store has been held up here, some multiple times. I was driving to one on my 1 am lunchbreak a few weeks ago and couldn't go in because the place was closed due to a robbery a few minutes earlier. There is a problem with rape here that is conveniently kept out of the papers for fear that people will choose to send their kids to a more secure college town. My office downtown, while in a nice modern building, overlooks an alley that we can actually watch drug deals taking place in. There was a home-invasion style murder on Christmas Eve a few years ago that was less than 3 blocks from my home.
I know that these things happen everywhere, but I am looking forward to deluding myself that they don't happen in the little community we're moving back to. So to that end, here's a little story that my old man told me that should help nicely in that delusion.
Not that long ago, my Dad, let's call him Ed because its a funny inside joke to do so, attended a township meeting between members of the local community where I'm moving and an official representative of the Ontario Provincial Police, to discuss the effectiveness of the local OPP detachment. The representative patiently wrote down the criticisms of the locals, while Ed tried to hide his snickers in the back. When the complaints were listed, they were all variations of the facts that people were still parking in front of the post office, and were improperly parking in perpendicular fashion rather than on an angle in front of the bank. The rep then commented that in all the times he had spoken before groups about their crime problems, he had never once come across a group that didn't have a single complaint about local crime.
And if I needed one more justification for my decision to move, that's not a bad one.
Labels: everything else
posted by raistlinsghost at 6/09/2007 05:37:00 PM
4 Comments:
Yeah, there are good things about living in a small town that is for sure. My grandma lives in fort erie (along with my aunt and cousin) and she is terrified of the crime. She moved there from Coleborne, which has like 3 people in it (ok, 3k). I've lived in both, I like both. Sometimes.
There's crime in Canada?
I must be desensitized to crime, because Florida has a huge crime rate (and the highest occurence of serial killers) but I still don't see myself in any immediate danger (as some guy jumps our fence and a cop speeds down the alley and asks which way did he go). I'm so paranoid about things sometimes though, when I shower home alone I have to get out periodically and check the closets to make sure no one has crept in.
I do marvel at the crime rates and especially the gun deaths of Canada verses the US. Maybe I should get in touch with my maternal Canook roots and head north. If something ever happened to us here I could almost gurantee that.
from the sounds of things Jen, you are pretty remote where you are, so you know what I'm talking about.
Unfortunately Michael, there is crime. By US standards I imagine its pretty tame, but Canucks are just as capable of dumbassery as any other people.
And killer, you and Joe and the rest of the posse are going to have to shag your asses up here where its safe(r). Colder than Florida, but still safer.
Post a Comment
<< Home