HERE’s a link to Gila Courier’s analysis of crime stats in Tucson.  They compared Tucson to equally sized Arizona city, Mesa and border city El Paso Texas.  El Paso’s neighbor across the border, Juarez Mexico is one of the drug hot spots the State Department warns tourist about.  El Paso is the safest city over 500k population in the US!

Our politicians like to tout a 30% decrease in crime since 04′. The fact is we had more murders in Tucson last year than any years since the late 80′s. The FBI changed their reporting process and that’s a big contributor to the down tick. Strengthening federal protection of the border and flight out of town of thousands due to a tough job market also contributed to the numbers staying somewhat flat.

The real question to ask is are you safe? Would you let your family visit an inner city park at night? Do you hold tighter to your purse when you are out in public? Do you hide your iPod when you lock the car up? Is gang activity on a up or downward trend?