Re: Criminality of Immigrants. In my neighborhood (Oceanview, California, part of Berkeley), we have a community of Guatemalan refugees, mostly young men, who stand on the street corners hoping for work. Since they moved in, the incidence of petty crime, such as smashed car windows and theft, purse snatching, mugging, even aggressive panhandling, has gone way down. It is almost non-existent. Women do not get harrassed on the streets. The immigrants do not seem to talk to the police, or vice versa, but just having all those eyes on street activities leads opportunistic criminals to move to a different neighborhood. It is so great to know that we will not have to worry about our parked car, or our accidentally unlocked door or window, much less our teenagers returning late from an activity, being the victim of criminal activity. If you want your neighborhood to become low crime without a massive police presence, encourage immigrants to look for work on the streets.
Re: Criminality of Immigrants. In my neighborhood (Oceanview, California, part of Berkeley), we have a community of Guatemalan refugees, mostly young men, who stand on the street corners hoping for work. Since they moved in, the incidence of petty crime, such as smashed car windows and theft, purse snatching, mugging, even aggressive panhandling, has gone way down. It is almost non-existent. Women do not get harrassed on the streets. The immigrants do not seem to talk to the police, or vice versa, but just having all those eyes on street activities leads opportunistic criminals to move to a different neighborhood. It is so great to know that we will not have to worry about our parked car, or our accidentally unlocked door or window, much less our teenagers returning late from an activity, being the victim of criminal activity. If you want your neighborhood to become low crime without a massive police presence, encourage immigrants to look for work on the streets.