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http://www.the-sun.co.uk/life/11081500
IS UK MORE VIOLENT THAN USA?
A personal view by
Sun’s New York Correspondent
PAUL THOMPSON
TO live in America is to live on the edge.
The report on a top U.S. news show that Britain is more violent than the States is a JOKE.
Every day, newspapers here are filled with horrific stories of murders, shootings and stabbings.
Around 600 Americans die every week from gunshot wounds. There are two murders every day in New York alone. That compares to one every two days in London, which also has a population of around seven million.
Hundreds of people get mugged EVERY DAY in New York alone - the crime is so common that is rarely reported.
There are 500 robberies in New York every day - compared to just 118 in London.
Admittedly, there is more burglary in the UK than the U.S. But even in a safe area such as Manhattan, you are only a five-minute taxi ride away from danger.
For in parts of the Big Apple, fear lurks on every street corner. During my six months in New York, I have felt terrified on some streets. In Britain I felt pefectly safe in almost every town and city I visited.
The same cannot be said for America.
In New York you never know if the person standing next to you on a subway train will suddenly pull a gun.
Or if the surly youth who asks for spare change will produce a knife and turn violent.
Never flash your headlights at another motorist - in case they get an attack of road rage and pull a gun.
Once, while on an assignment in Harlem, I was approached by three youths after I got out of a taxi at the wrong address.
As they stood menacingly on the pavement you could sense they were looking at me as a potential target. They were dressed in the U.S. teenager’s uniform of baggy jeans, sweatshirt and back-to-front baseball cap.
It might have been the suit and tie that offended them or perhaps they thought I was a police detective.
Maybe they were just angry that I had dared to set foot on their turf. The fact I was tightly holding a leather bag containing a £2,000 laptop computer must also have attracted their attention.
For the first time since I had arrived in America, I felt threatened. I did not hang around to become just another crime statistic.
In New York, and most American cities, you simply don’t take chances.
I had only been in the States two months when I witnessed a youth snatching a handful of cash from a store’s till. Scratch the surface of any major U.S. city and you will find similar shocking statistics to those of New York.
The country is notorious for its gun culture. Parts of MIAMI, a popular destination for British tourists, are a virtual “no-go area” for tourists.
This year there have been more than 200 murders in Miami - many of them drug related.
In WASHINGTON earlier this year the world famous national zoo was the scene of a gun battle between rival gangs.
Only a handful of the violent U.S. crimes are reported in the British Press and TV.
The recent “wilding” attack on a British tourist in New York’s Central Park grabbed media attention.
Shooting sprees like that at Columbine High School, Colorado, last year and the shooting of a six-year-old girl by a boy the same age in Michigan in February made headlines around the world.
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani boasts that his city has become one of the safest in the world thanks to his policy of zero tolerance on crime.
But the statistics show much of the city is still a dangerous place to be.
One thing we do suffer more in the UK is the “yob culture” that blights so many towns and cities at night.
Ask any Chief Constable when his men are busiest - it’s is chucking-out time on a Saturday night.
In America licensing laws are far tougher.
Only over 21s can legally get a drink and bar owners are likely to lose their licence if they serve anyone who looks drunk.
America might be a safe place to live if you are lucky enough to have a home in the right place.
But if you’re an ordinary American forced to live in one of the inner cities or any other depressed area, the CBS News claim is simply ridiculous.
London’s safer
than LA
The West Coast view
from VICTORIA NEWTON
in Los Angeles
GUN-CRAZY Americans may be shocked by British football violence - but sporting hooliganism has now joined their long list of crimes.
Basketball fans rioted in Los Angeles last week when the L.A. Lakers beat the Indiana Pacers.
They torched police cars and lit bonfires around the stadium - trapping players, fans and celebrities inside. A dozen people were hurt.
But in America violence isn’t just for special occasions - it’s an everyday event. And the biggest thing that frightens you is guns.
In the past 18 months I’ve reported on two school shootings, one in a church, another in a photocopying shop plus the guy who had a bad day on the stock exchange and blasted workers in his office.
The moment I arrived in “safe” Santa Monica, I was warned NEVER to walk on the beach at night because I’d be attacked, mugged or shot. In daylight the beaches are packed with people sun-bathing, jogging and roller-blading.
But three months ago five people were shot on Santa Monica Pier after a pub argument turned nasty.
If you get involved in a traffic dispute you NEVER get out. Odds are the other driver will have a gun.
At night there are no-go areas even in affluent parts of town - make one wrong turn and you could face a violent armed gang.
There are many great things about America. Gun control is not one of them and I feel a whole lot safer wandering around London.