[suzanne4]

Please take the time to check out the crime statistics in any area that an agency may place you. You may be very surprised at what you will find.

If the area has a crime listing that is higher some of the major cities in the US, run. If the area has a large gang infusion, run. Bloods, Crips, and MS13 are some that you do not want to be near. MS13 is a hispanic gang that is probably right up there with some of the asian gangs that you hear about, and maybe even worse.

These agencies are just interested in selling you for a price, you need to watch out for your own safety. The agency will not be there to do it for you, nor offer any assistance if you do get injured. They will get their money and you will not hear from them again.

Please be safe and stay safe.

[jakey]

Hi Suzanne!
where can we search for this info? I'm choosing between Ca, Az or Florida.....hope to hear from you. Thanks in advance

[suzanne4]

You need to check on the specific city, not the state. Did a search last night about a city that someone here was interested in going to and they have three times the crime as other cities close by. 300% increase in murders, forcible rape, and other heavy duty crimes. Not a safe place for a foreign nurse, let alone even an American one.

You can just Google crime statistics and then enter the city and state and it will also do a comparison between two cities in the same area.

[suzanne4]

We used AreaConnect in our search, and it was quite interesting what we came up with.

[MARI 1]

Originally Posted by jakey

Hi Suzanne!
where can we search for this info? I'm choosing between Ca, Az or Florida.....hope to hear from you. Thanks in advance

Here is a link to a site where you can put in two cities and check.
For example do Irvine California (great area close to Los Angeles) and Lancaster California (north of Los Angeles) you will get a good idea about the differences. It is expensive to live in Irvine but you are much safer.

http://www.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm

[Aquarian]

This is the site Suzanne was referring to:

http://www.areaconnect.com/crime/compare.htm

[Aquarian]

Specific data can be found in the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. Latest is 2005. Preliminary report for 2006 is up to June only, to be completed on Dec. 2007.

www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm

Wikipedia tabulated these FBI reports (cities with population greater than 250,000 in 2005).

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_by_crime_rate

[Aquarian]

Just another thing to consider also, especially people in this forum with kids. Here is a sustainability ranking of the 50 largest US cities w/c considered crisis preparedness, natural disaster risk and quality-of-life indicators like local food availability, tap water quality, walkability, park space and roadway congestion :

www.sustainlane.us/overview.jsp

[suzanne4]

Thanks for posting more on this topic. These are things that you need to be aware of that the agencies in PI are not telling you about. Safety should be your biggest concern and most important, not at the bottom of the list.

[Aquarian]

For those considering other countries, here is another good site:

www.citymayors.com/features/quality_survey.html

Sperling's Best Places, www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/ released very interesting studies like America's Migraine Hot Spots, Worst Cities for Respiratory Infections, Hurricane Hot Spots, Best and Worst Cities for Sleep, Most Challenging Cities to Navigate and Best and Worst Cities for Dating . I hope you enjoy this site.