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Prime for crime?

What's the percentage of non-whites living in Kaysville, Utah? Probably pretty low. I think I saw one black person in Kaysville, but he was only passing through on his way to Layton.

I think that the people of Kaysville are to blame as well. If they would not pass through to Layton, none of this article would be necessary to post!

The story while informative has serious gaps in the "why" information - if the instructor/researcher (not sure a previous job as a police provides the proper credentials of a researcher) controls for the factors of drugs use and illgal immigrants (of all races) perps you would find the crimes rates are in fact pretty low. You have a city like St. George scoring high because 1. the is a construction boom and illegal workers have flocked there and 2. it is on a major interstate highway that provides easy access for drug distrubition on the way to from Southern borders.

As the article mentioned briefly, it is all about social conditioning. Those without hope are more likely to commit crime. Jon Huntsman's statement is right but on the wrong track. He would understand if he was "non-white". My ancestors were the original founders of Kaysville. While Kaysville may have a low crime rate it has a very high rate of cognitive dissonance. I am not sure which is worse.

What's worse than being anonymous...using an elected official's name.

It seems South Salt Lake and Salt Lake are using the daytime population as an excuse. It would be nice to see how many crimes are committed at night compared to daytime. I would feel more save in these cities in the daytime than night.

I lived 9 years in Utah about 30 years ago. The growth in crime in Utah amazes me! What has happened to the beautiful, peaceful Utah that I remember?
When I lived in Utah, most citizens appeared to be at least nominally Mormon. It is the fashion to decry the influence of the Mormon church in Utah, but as the number of non-Mormons has grown by leaps and bounds, so, apparently, has the crime rate.
And it seems that the MORE social programs we have, at least here in our state, the worse things become.
Somehow, we must find a solution to this issue. If it is fathers in the home, education, etc. how do we address the fact that many "fathers" don't want to be in the home, that many young women don't object to having children without the support of the children's fathers, and many young people don't want to become educated?
There is a whole culture in America today that decries the idea of working for a living, feels no loyalty it the community, and that seems totally bent on filling immediate physical wants and needs. Since we must be value-neutral in all our education and programs, how do we address that?

I am a former resident of South Salt Lake. The resident population (those who live in homes) make the difference as to how well the community is run. Those of their transient population ie apartment dwellers (and South Salt Lake is full of them)make the crime stats what they are. Until South Salt Lake starts either removing their large apartment complexes, or owners of these complexes start screening their renters, life in the city will never change. Also, The schools in the area are a joke. Most of those who own homes in the area don't sent their children to local schools, because of their poor track record. None of these statistics from crime to gang activity to poor choices in schools make residents with children have the desire to stay. This is quite unfortunate because there are so many genuine, wonderful people who continue to live in South Salt Lake despite the problems. (As a family, we decided to move due to the problems mentioned above.)
It is unfortunate that city leaders continue to not pass laws that could strenthen their city by putting stricter rules on renters. Until this happens,South Salt Lake will continue to have problems. (This is so unfortunate given the fact that South Salt Lake is so close to everything, and has such affordable housing.)

I'm non-Mormon and I agree with 'Former Utah Resident' that the increase of non-Mormons may increase crime--but lets make one thing clear--its not about religion. Its about what another commenter said about a person with no hope being more likely to commit a crime. Hope doesn't have to come from being Mormon--but I'm guessing it helps. My hope comes from being a father but also respecting the Mormon religion makes me a better citizen. This should go both ways. And 9 out of 10 times it does. I'm not sure what you do in this situation aside from becoming a police state because you can't make people hope.

I'd like to know more about this "cognitive dissonance" problem in Kaysville. It sounds like something that could interfere with instrument readings on flights out of SLC International.

This article and most of the posts really miss the point. #1 Crime rates were actually lower during the great depression. So how plausible is the premise that misery breeds crime? In reality, the causal relationship is weak. Crime is committed for reasons of one of the 7 dealy sins - greed, envy, covet, pride. Economics may grease the skids somewhat but the undrlying reasons are always the same and rarely is it an altruistic need to provide for ones self and/or family.

Point #2: SSL, like SLC has a large increase in its daily population from workers and customers within its borders. Controlling for this might paint a very different picture of crime there, or anywhere. Using residents as the only criteria necessarily skews the data which leads, as in this case, to erroneous conclusions about what the data says.

Murray has a very similar problem to South Salt Lake. It's geographically centered in the Salt Lake Valley, its daytime population balloons, it has 3 Trax stops, and it has 2 major freeways that intersect (I-15 and I-215) within its city boundaries. My neighbor who recently retired from the Murray Police said most property crimes happen at Murray's many retail areas (chief among them being Fashion Place mall). Its violent crimes also typically happen with people who live outside their city. Take the recent shooting at one of Murray's (more than any neighboring city) parks on Aug. 7th. Both by residents of West Valley City. Conversely, Provo has the exact opposite problem. Most of its residents work in Salt Lake County (except Novell employees) and the only time its population balloons is during one of those football games with all of its "roudy" fans (yah, that was sarcasm). I for one would welcome a day-time population comparison recommended by the South Salt Lake chief of police rather than a night population that artificially inflates these rankings for cities where people go (work purposes for South Salt Lake's industrial area, and Murray for its shopping and recreation).

Most law enforcement resources are used to prosecute the War on People Who Use Certain Drugs.

The drug war diverts those resources from protecting citizens against those who commit crimes against persons and property.

We need more unemployed crackheads "shopping" in our mini-markets at 3 AM. Let's see how that turns out.

It appears the reporters used old population data.
Try using the 2006 U.S. Census Bureau population estimates.
The figures will come out much differently.

I'd like to see a day time/night time comparison too. Who doesn't think more cars are broken into in SLC or accidents, or who knows what happens a lot more in the day in the city than the suburbs? There are more people and cars to rob in the city during the day than at night.

I'd also like to see the reporter put out a larger list so i can see other towns that didn't fall in the top 10 and see where the divide starts.

If I lived in Bountiful and robbed a bank in Tooele, isn't that another VERY IMPORTANT and relative statistic down the drain?

Being econimically destitute doesn't make you more prone to stealing. Your personal morals do. Stronger values make a big difference, regardless of race, gender, educational background or any other reason given.

A lot of cyber-ink spilled over relaqtive crime rates in Utah's more crowded communities and not a word about the thousands of illegal immigrants causing this problem.

Ignoring the issue won't make it go away and won't make our streets any safer.

and yet, the arrest rates aren't exactly proving your point.
Whatever.