by Tom Blair
Columnist

At my mobile home in Mesa, Arizona, I leave my TV out on the patio all the time, plus a nice radio, and a couple of remote-control helicopters and a few other toys, and I haven’t lost anything in the last six years. A couple of my neighbors have lost bicycles down there. Someone cut the locks and away they went. I don’t even lock mine. Of course, it helps that my bikes are hand-painted yellow and have fake sheepskin seats.

At the trailer park I stay at in Fargo, you can’t even leave a gas can out overnight or it gets ripped off. Chain up the ladder and don’t lock up your car, or they might break the windows to get in to rummage through it.

After returning from my winter in Arizona, I have to beef up security a little around the place. Now that may sound strange to some of you who view Arizona as a “high crime” state, but it really isn’t. There are cities in Arizona that make it appear that way.

Phoenix-Mesa has more stolen vehicles than any city in the U.S., while Scottsdale (next door) is in the top 10 lowest-crime cities of size in the U.S. The number of violent crimes in Scottsdale is 61% less than the Arizona average and almost 50% less than the national average. One statistic shows that Arizona has only 74 registered sex offenders per 100,000 people, compared to the national average of 192.

The problem with large cities is that by nature, they have more crime than most smaller cities. Having said that, there are a few large cities that boast crime rates that are surprisingly low.

Fargo, ND is 25.3% less dangerous to live in than Mesa, Arizona. In Fargo, ND, as compared to Mesa, AZ you are: 60.8% less likely to get robbed, 77.0% less likely to get murdered, and 43.6% less likely to get your car stolen.

However, I have found that in Fargo you’re more likely to lose gas cans, bikes and tools left out. In Arizona, I have never had my car rummaged through, but it sure happens in the Fargo/Moorhead area.

In Arizona, anyone can carry a gun, concealed or in the open, and there are sure a lot of people carrying them. The result? People are a little less apt to start shooting in public places.

The Phoenix area was the kidnapping capitol of the U.S. a couple of years ago, but what the press wasn’t saying was that these crimes were drug dealers kidnapping other drug dealers.

There are a LOT of drug-related crimes (robbery, burglary and theft), but if you think about it, where do a lot of drugs come into the country? Arizona…from Mexico. And many illegal immigrants who are broke and unemployed and need money must resort to crime to survive. Now that plays a big part in crime in the area.

Air conditioners are stolen off of churches and schools, plumbing is stolen off of businesses and state buildings, and there have been electrical transformers stolen and people electrocuted while doing it. (They were not local citizens.)

Guess you can’t avoid crime; it’s here and it isn’t going to get any better.

Tom “Road” Blair

Website: www.tomroadblair.com