Each morning I get up and scan the local and international pages for the news. I like reading autoblog, alpinezone and gizmodo and I usually surf over to wcax, timesargus, 7dvt, and valleyreporter... oh and skimrv. I realize media outlets like to report critical issues and violence, which attracts attention, but as I eat my raisin bran I sit back and wonder if Vermont is any safer to live in as compared to other parts of New England.

It's a modern world out there, we're all grown-ups and rose color glasses are hard to drive in.... So is the perception that Vermont is "safer" like what tourist boards like to promote or do you need your license to carry? Is the MRV that much different?

Lets see, a woman followed from the Tavern then beaten raped and left for dead. A guy shot in the head while stirring the sauce at Flatbread. A woman attacked by a guy with a chainsaw in the Valero parking lot. A couple of heroin deaths. Warren Store broken into twice this week.
I would say it is about the same.

Vermont was once again reported on WCAX a couple of nights ago rated as the healthiest state in the country and it is one of the safest states to live as well.
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20091117/NEWS02/91117019/Report--Vermont-is-healthiest-state-in-country
http://www.walletpop.com/insurance/safest-states

Go Figure wrote:

Lets see, a woman followed from the Tavern then beaten raped and left for dead. A guy shot in the head while stirring the sauce at Flatbread. A woman attacked by a guy with a chainsaw in the Valero parking lot. A couple of heroin deaths. Warren Store broken into twice this week. I would say it is about the same.

Sounds like just about everywhere else. I googled the shooting you mentioned, but did not find anything. Was it recent?

From the web.

http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/67069/

So the Warren Store incident is recent but the Flatbread thing was seven years ago. I don't even remember the other events. I do know that when I travel the frequency and severity of crimes seems much worse (I am a Vermonter) but that's just anecdotal.

I think it's safer, but I do wish they'd catch those bastards who keep breaking into local homes, cars, and businesses.

The rape incident and the shooting were about 10 years apart. The chainsaw attack was on a car, not the girl.

Treehugger wrote:

The rape incident and the shooting were about 10 years apart. The chainsaw attack was on a car, not the girl.

So if you are a guy with a truck who doesn't eat flatbread sandwiches you're totally safe?

You are never totally safe!

I think the point was that altho there are things that happen anywhere, there tend to be fewer, here. And they are more spread out.

I've lived next to Somerville and Lowell, in Mass. There was more crime in a week, there, than happens here in a year.


But, totally safe? You are never totally safe!


Lions and tigers and... moose!