Fun Fact from the Memphis Show

2ndCharter

This is a bit off-topic as it really belongs in the category of "Learn Something New Everyday". Every year at the Memphis show, I walk a few blocks to a convenience store to buy a couple of Diet Pepsi's as the Hotel and Convention Center are Coke-only.

To get to the store, I have to walk past the Shelby County Jail and the block-long stretch of bail bond offices. Painted on the window of one of the bail bond offices is the slogan "Get Out Before You Dress Out!". Well, being an old white guy from the suburbs, I had no idea what that meant. So, when I spotted a local police officer, I asked him about it and now I know.

Anyone care to take a guess?

DepressionscripGuy

My dad use to work in the prison system many years ago for a short time. His says dress out refers to civilian clothes instead of prison clothes. So I would guess the saying means get out of jail before you even have to change into a prison jump suit / clothes. Once you are in prison clothes, you have to "dress-out" - change back to civilian clothes once you do your time and get out of jail / prison.

2ndCharter

Very good - that's exactly what the policeman told me (after he finished smirking at the dumb guy asking him the question).

scott101

that is when they take you out of your clothes and dress you out in orange jail clothes

scott


never been in jail but i work in one

beryl

All this crime information led me to look up Memphis crime rates:

With a crime rate of 78 per one thousand residents, Memphis has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes - from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One's chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 13. Within Tennessee, more than 98% of the communities have a lower crime rate than Memphis.In fact, after researching dangerous places to live, NeighborhoodScout found Memphis to be one of the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S.A.

Separately, it is always interesting and important to compare a city's crime rate with those of similarly sized communities - a fair comparison as larger cities tend to have more crime. NeighborhoodScout has done just that. With a population of 656,861, Memphis has a combined rate of violent and property crime that is very high compared to other places of similar population size. Regardless of whether Memphis does well or poorly compared to all other cities and towns in the US of all sizes, compared to places with a similar population, it fares badly. Few other communities of this size have a crime rate as high as Memphis.

The crime data that NeighborhoodScout used for this analysis are the seven offenses from the uniform crime reports, collected by the FBI from 18,000 local law enforcement agencies, and include both violent and property crimes, combined.

Now let us turn to take a look at how Memphis does for violent crimes specifically, and then how it does for property crimes. This is important because the overall crime rate can be further illuminated by understanding if violent crime or property crimes (or both) are the major contributors to the general rate of crime in Memphis.

For Memphis, we found that the violent crime rate is one of the highest in the nation, across communities of all sizes (both large and small). Violent offenses tracked included rape, murder and non-negligent manslaughter, armed robbery, and aggravated assault, including assault with a deadly weapon. According to NeighborhoodScout's analysis of FBI reported crime data, your chance of becoming a victim of one of these crimes in Memphis is one in 58.

Significantly, based on the number of murders reported by the FBI and the number of residents living in the city, NeighborhoodScout's analysis shows that Memphis experiences one of the higher murder rates in the nation when compared with cities and towns for all sizes of population, from the largest to the smallest.

In addition, NeighborhoodScout found that a lot of the crime that takes place in Memphis is property crime. Property crimes that are tracked for this analysis are burglary, larceny over fifty dollars, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In Memphis, your chance of becoming a victim of a property crime is one in 17, which is a rate of 60 per one thousand population.

Importantly, we found that Memphis has one of the highest rates of motor vehicle theft in the nation according to our analysis of FBI crime data. This is compared to communities of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest. In fact, your chance of getting your car stolen if you live in Memphis is one in 220.

Maxcrusha

how is the crime in KC ? we should compare

STLNATS

Originally posted by: Maxcrusha

how is the crime in KC ? we should compare

A bit older data, but was easy to grab and ought to be roughly comparable. 100 cities with the highest violent crime per 100k population



#4 St Louis City 1776

#5 Memphis 1750

#17 Kansas City, MO 1263

#110 Kansas City, KS 596



The KS part is the "better" part of the two KCs but is only about a third the size of the MO portion. Adding the pieces together gives a rate of something like 1100 which would rank around 26th. Flint and Detriot led the pack with 2729 and 2123 respectively.



Being a St Louisan, I need to add that the STL City numbers do not include the surrounding St Louis County which has over 3x the population of the City, has been a separate politic entity since the 1800s and which has a substantially lower crime rate overall (altho there are "bad" pockets). The separation has effectively landlocked the City and prevented it from expanding into neighboring suburbs and urban areas. I think Baltimore (#9 at 1405) is the only other place in the US which currently has this arrangement.

larry510

Memphis @ #5. Wow.

beryl

Memphis positives (in addition to the currency show):
(1) BBQ of course.
(2) Wonderful place to stay (River Inn at Harbortown) so that your spouse will be pleased.
(3) National Civil Rights museum is fascinating.
(4) Cotton museum is interesting
(5) Graceland - if you like Elvis and Sun Studios. It is a a music town

Others?
Kansas City positives?

DepressionscripGuy

From some of the things I did when I lived in Kansas...



Sea Life Aquarium - very cool - and close to the Sheraton Crown Center

McCormick - Holladay Distillery - Very cool countryside - and for a $10 tour you also get a taste of old style Bourbon

The Arabia Steamboat - very cool history. A steamboat fully loaded with supplies and sank very shortly after setting sail. It was completely buried in the mud and then the river moved on. When it was found in a farmers field x number of feet below ground, it was I think a mile from the current river. It was a big deal back in the late 80's and early 90's. Very cool museum if you like late 1800's history.

Worlds of fun Amusement park

Schlitterbahn waterpark - one of the top waterparks in the USA

Amelia Earhart birthplace museum

Harry Truman library and museum

Kansas City Zoo - a big and great place to spend a family afternoon.

There is a ton of history around Kansas City just like any major city.



As for barbeque...where to begin. Kansas City is one of those regional hubs for barbeque like Memphis. There are all kinds of great places to go but some of the more famous ones are Gates Bar-B-Q (yes, that's how they like to spell it), Arthur Bryant's, and best I think is Joe's Barbeque. Their original location is in an old re-purposed gas station. If you ever get to Joe's, you have to get a Z-Man sandwich. My mouth is watering already. Jack Stack barbeque is another top notch place. They have several locations. If you like barbeque, you will have no trouble finding a place in Kansas City.



And of course if you like Baseball, there is the Kansas City Royals. You could go to a game if you like the Royals or who they are playing. Lots of things to do around Kansas City.

STLNATS

WWI museum also opened a couple of years ago in KC.

2ndCharter

I tend to take all of those crime statistics with a big grain of salt. For example, I live a bit outside a small city in South Carolina. According to the crime stats, it has one of the higher crime rates of any of the small cities in South Carolina. However, if exclude a couple of neighborhoods of a (ahem) certain demographic persuasion and a couple of other areas known for a concentration of trailer trash meth heads, the crime rate drops to near zero. The same thing applies to larger cities like Memphis and KC.

For the past 30 years while at the Memphis show, I have made that walk past the Shelby County Jail and bail bond offices to get my daily Diet Pepsi fix and never had a problem. Granted, I usually made that walk around 7:00 am when the troublemakers were sleeping it off but I did see my share of people passed out on the sidewalk and there was always a crowd going in and out of the jail and/or bail bond offices yet again never a problem for me.

From what I have researched, the proposed KC site is in a much better part of town and I'm looking forward to it.

TigerTrader

Originally posted by: 2ndCharter

From what I have researched, the proposed KC site is in a much better part of town and I'm looking forward to it.

Without question. it is in a better area... It will be immediately evident to all once there...







I am looking forward to it and if you are missing the BBQ go to Arthur Bryant's and you will enjoy yourself...