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Please don't be scared of a gang problem in the Boise area...even Caldwell. I just returned from a trip there two days ago. We travelled all over the place & never saw anything that made us uncomfortable.
I have been on trips to Boise and the surrounding areas every year for the last three years & never saw anything that made me remotely afraid or nervous . I can't say that's true about my current town (portland, or) and even our gang problems are nothing compared to LA. etc.
Also, we met some of the nicest most polite people everywhere we went and the teenagers there are amazingly nice & polite compared to Portland.
After looking a bit more into the numbers I found out that those gang statistics can be a bit misleading.
According to the state's website the over all crime rate is 21% less than the national average, in addition according to the Idaho department of commerce they also rank in the top 10 for quality of life in the country.
I told this to my girl friend and it definitely helped calm her about the situation. I think we were a bit overzealous about the gang problem to begin with. We will continue to look into the research and are planning a trip to Idaho sometime soon, if finances permit. Driving to Idaho from CA and back is at least $380 in gas with the addition of hotel stays, food, entertainment costs, and emergency money we would need about $1000 to have a nice 4-5 day stay in Idaho. As college students that kind of money is not easy to come by.
Calintz333, I see you're located in San Diego. I'm originally from Fresno (which used to have a murder every 3 days), and I have recently moved to Boise from Pittsburgh, CA (East Bay of SF), where someone in our apartment complex was shot & killed, and another time someone else who we suspect was beat up was screaming for help on the road beside us.
You're gonna be fine here. This is no gangland. Seriously.
I also lived for 7 years in Coronado, and safety-wise, Boise feels more like that. In fact, the North End reminds me a lot of Coronado with cute homes, friendly feel, etc.
Sure there's crime and gangs and traffic here, but not to the scale we're used to in California. The other posters are right: take a trip, see how it feels for you. Nowhere's perfect, but for some people this is a good place to live.
I just want to reiterate something I read here that came up in a conversation I had this weekend: friendliness of people.
It's been stated on this board many times, and repeated to me this weekend by some people who moved here from back east, just how "friendly" people are here. But only on the surface. It's much harder to make friends, apparently. In other words, people will be nice to you but that's about it. Getting into a group of friends is much more difficult, simply because people here tend to stick to themselves and their groups.
According to the state's website the over all crime rate is 21% less than the national average, in addition according to the Idaho department of commerce they also rank in the top 10 for quality of life in the country.
And this is exactly how it FEELS to live here. I've lived in Boise pretty much my whole life. If you asked me about our gang problems, I would laugh at you. I can't say there is nowhere in town I would be willing to walk in the dark alone, though. I think a woman who walks alone at night in an isolated area like the greenbelt is not thinking properly. Just because you feel safe doesn't mean its ok to be reckless or not use your brain.
Please don't be scared of a gang problem in the Boise area...even Caldwell. I just returned from a trip there two days ago. We travelled all over the place & never saw anything that made us uncomfortable.
I have been on trips to Boise and the surrounding areas every year for the last three years & never saw anything that made me remotely afraid or nervous . I can't say that's true about my current town (portland, or) and even our gang problems are nothing compared to LA. etc.
Also, we met some of the nicest most polite people everywhere we went and the teenagers there are amazingly nice & polite compared to Portland.
As the title states "An inside look at the Treasure Valley gang problem." You don't live in Boise or Caldwell and you probably don't see the news on a daily basis here. You might want to go back to the begining of this thread and watch the news report. The LE community is simply trying to bring awareness to the community, we are nothing like Portand or L.A. Do some research on gang activity and how they operate now days. It's much more organized than ever.
The only noticeable "gangs" in Boise are the groups of healthy cyclists who ride together. People here feel safe, I see single women jogging or riding the greenbelt often.
I just want to reiterate something I read here that came up in a conversation I had this weekend: friendliness of people.
It's been stated on this board many times, and repeated to me this weekend by some people who moved here from back east, just how "friendly" people are here. But only on the surface. It's much harder to make friends, apparently. In other words, people will be nice to you but that's about it. Getting into a group of friends is much more difficult, simply because people here tend to stick to themselves and their groups.
Just something to keep in mind.
It is all good...I will take friendly on the surface...I actually don't need anymore friends in my life.....here in the south, you cannot even get friendly on the surface!!!!!!
Friendly on the surface is called politeness. I'm a lot more polite to waiters/waitresses/cashiers/strangers than I am my friends, as we don't have to mess with that formality.
To get into a "group of friends" it seems you have to have them in two distinct areas of your life, or so it seems to me. My wife's friends are at our church and also in her Zumba class. But I'm the kind that gets weary of social interactions and have plenty in my life. My family are my friends and others are just work-friends or internet-friends, though not as shallow as Facebook-friends. (I don't do Facebook. I could care less about my high school classmates ugly kids )
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People here feel safe, I see single women jogging or riding the greenbelt often.
...I actually don't need anymore friends in my life
.....here in the south, you cannot even get friendly on the surface!!!!!!
