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aww We've cena nuff, I almost thought your name was some sort of Latin joke... turns out it isn't

I think that people are so afraid of certain areas in Toronto is because we have such little crime. There's so little and so little people have experienced them that as soon as there's even the smallest incident in their area, they're scared stiff.
 
There are many reasons, in my opinion:

- An anti-urban bias in Canada that goes back centuries, and leads many to buy into the common myths that cities are always dangerous and dirty and small towns are always safe and pleasant, even when statistics and personal experiences don't always back this up.

- A human instinct to not intuitively understand the concept of population density, which would lead most people to favour a town of 30,000 with 1 murder per year over a city of 3 million with 80 murders per year, even though the latter is statistically much safer.

- Our 24 hour news culture that hypes and repeats at a frantic level every single crime story, magnifying it out proportion to the actual danger, and ignoring the millions of good things that happen every day in our city.

- A subtle an often subconscious biases against the city with its larger non-white and immigrant populations (yes, racism: it does play a part).

- Our own police departments that stand up every few years and make dire pronouncements about the levels of crime in the city and predicting further descent into hell if additional XX million dollars in additional police funding is not provided ASAP. This one really sticks in my craw: public servants should not sow fear in their own communities for personal gain.

- Many people don't like cities for other reasons, and crime is an easy excuse to move to the burbs, buy a big house and a couple SUVs and not feel guilty about it.
 
We've Cena Nuff said:
Why do people think Toronto has a high crime rate? I'm sick of hearing stories of people leaving a area due to one incident.
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Moving due to one incident? Go and live on streets such as Mornelle Court (Morningside & Ellesmere area) and ask those people how many incidents happened over the past 5 months. The thing is you do not hear about every crime that takes place in the city, as not every crime is seen as a 'major media story' or 'ratings booster'. For example, there might have been 1 murder in area for the entire year (which you would definitely hear in the media) but you might not hear about the several drug deals, robberies, domestic assaults, vandalism, etc. that are considered smaller stories.

So when you hear about someone wanting to move out of a neighbourhood, it is usually after several incidents that most of us do not hear about.
 
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Perhaps it's an urban myth though that people think Toronto has a high crime rate. I can find lots of discussion around the net about Regina, Edmonton, even Vancouver having high crime rates. I'm not really seeing much about Toronto.
 
Juan_Lennon416 said:
but you might not hear about the several drug deals, robberies, domestic assaults, vandalism, etc. that are considered smaller stories.
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Compare Toronto as a whole to other big cities. Toronto is one of the safest in the world. It's the media that makes one incident the biggest story of the day. And when people hear that, they want to leave. There is crime in Toronto, but not enough to make me leave a neighborhood.
 
Toronto is a big city, and people tend to stereotype big cities as having high crime rates. The fact that it's the biggest city in the country and disliked by many doesn't help. Media coverage tends to make things look a lot worse than they are too.

There isn't much more to it than that.
 
I would not want to live in a neighbourhood where go overboard with trying to control potential paedophiles. Check out this article from England:

Council bans parents from play areas
Parents have been banned from supervising their children in public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks.


By Tom Whitehead, Home Affairs Editor
Published: 1:04PM GMT 28 Oct 2009

Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence.

The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

It will further fuel concerns over a growing nanny state amid the deepening row over the Government's new national anti-paedophile database.

That will see at least 11 million adults have to be vetted to work with children or vulnerable adults, including parents who give officials lifts to and from social or sports clubs.

Councillors in Watford claim they are only following Government guidelines and cannot allow adults to walk around playgrounds "unchecked".

But Osfted dismissed the ban while parents branded it "a joke".

The rules have been imposed at Harwoods and Harebreaks adventure recreation grounds.

Activities on the half acre sites include a skateboard half-pipe, a zip line, rope swings, den building, arts and crafts, plus a wide range of indoor and outdoor sports activities.

Play rangers currently patrol both parks – which are specifically for children aged five to 15 – and are fully qualified and have been cleared by the Criminal Records Bureau.

Parents already have to 'register' their child on arrival at the free playgrounds so staff have their contact details in the event of an accident.

But now only those who have been CRB vetted by the council can enter the sites, which are surrounded by six foot high steel and wooden fences.

Mother-of-five Marcella Bergin, 35, has been visiting with her three eldest children, Christy, 15, Seamus, 12, and Chloe, 11, for many years without any problems.

She said: "It's like they are branding all parents potential paedophiles which is disgraceful – 99 per cent of people are great parents and certainly not child abusers.

"The whole thing is just a joke and I will certainly not be adhering to the new rules which frankly are crazy."

Mo Mills, 62, a retired youth worker who has six grandchildren, added: "This is typical of the nanny state and I am furious – the council should hang their head in shame at this political correctness gone mad."

Mum-of-eight Jenny Abbasi, 41, said: "I find it insulting that the council are essentially branding everyone paedophiles and telling us we cannot be trusted with our own kids – it's a disgrace."

Claude Knights, the founder of children's charity Kidscape, said the council were "using a sledgehammer to crack nuts".

"They are encouraging a climate where parents and children are rendered suspicious without any proof of wrong doing or guilt," she said.

"Caring parents should not be viewed as a threat and if you are a bona fide parent or carer you are in a better position to look after your children than council staff."

A council notice to parents explains that: "Safeguarding the children and young people who use the site is one of our top priorities.

"Due to Ofsted regulations we have a responsibility to ensure that every authorised adult who enters our site is properly vetted and given a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check by Watford Borough Council."

Council Mayor Dorothy Thornhill argued they are merely enforcing government policy at the play areas, in Vicarage Road and Leggatts Way.

She said: "Sadly, in today's climate, you can't have adults walking around unchecked in a children's playground and the adventure playground is not a meeting place for adults.

"We have reviewed our procedures, so although previously some parents have stayed with their children at the discretion of our play workers, this is not something we can continue to do.

"There are other places in the town for parents with small children to go."

But a spokeswoman for Ofsted said: "Ofsted would never seek to prevent parents and carers having access to their own children.

"We would not insist that each parent must have a member of staff with them all times.

"Many settings operate very well with parents and carers present, and indeed this can be an important part of young children settling somewhere new."

The Daily Telegraph disclosed on Tuesday how employers will come under pressure to register staff with the Government's anti-paedophile database even if they have little contact with children

Sir Roger Singleton, the chairman of the Independent Safeguarding Authority, said the scope of the planned database could increase significantly because companies would fear losing business if they did not have their employees vetted.

Last month, he was asked by the Government to look again at the complex definitions of "frequent" and "intensive" contact following concerns that the scheme would lead to state supervision of all relationships between adults and children.
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^^ Haha, with the crap that comes out of England's news, sometimes I think they're just playing a prank on the rest of the world.

As for Toronto, the urban area contains more than 20% of Canada's population, so by default it will have the highest overall number of crimes. But most people fail to understand the difference between crime count and crime rate, and that's where the problem is.
 
The English seem totally out of control with they way they treat children ... it's a wonder that they don't all grow up to be out-of-control hooligans and alcoholics they way they are controlled so rigidly from when they are forced to start school at the age of 4 ...

That being said though ... the strange way parents interact with children in playgrounds here, particularly on weekends. Toddlers I can understand ... but following 6-year olds around on playground equipment to play with them, and protect them from injury ... that seems kind of weird ...
 
The "CNN Factor", is a big problem. And that term was coined before the creation of Fox news, and the thirty-seven 24 hour channels in Toronto alone(or so it seems). They have to cover something, and crime is allways a juicy story.

How do we counter this attitude? I have no idea. Every time I have the "Toronto is probably safer than your city" argument with someone, they think im crazy. Ive sort of stoped worrying about what non-Torontonians think of the, it leads to stress!
 
We've Cena Nuff said:
Why do people think Toronto has a high crime rate? I'm sick of hearing stories of people leaving a area due to one incident.
Click to expand...
I’ve lived at Gerrard and Sumach for 20 years. I’ve never thought crime was high. The only time crime has touched me is when we left the diaper bag in the car about 14 years ago and some junkie broke the glass to fetch it. I’ve seen shootings on Gerrard every couple of years, but that’s usually the right people getting shot, gangstas, junkies and their suppliers. Other than that, I’ve experienced zero crime in Toronto.
 
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