manstein58

I have been travelling to Germany 2-3 times a year for the last 25 years. Although Germany is very safe by US standards, I have been troubled by things I have seen in FRA and HAM the last few years. Lots of vagrants hanging out, smoking and drinking around train stations, pot smoking, littering, public urination. Noticeable in FRA Flughafen train station, FRA, and HAM, Cologne.

jeff191

I live in Atlanta and it's much more dangerous than most places in Europe. The murder rate is well above national average - 20 per 100,000 (we're top 25 in the US, yay!). That puts us in contention with Mexico City which also has a murder rate of 20 per 100,000. Violent crimes are ~1,400 per 100,000.

The vast majority of Atlanta is safe just like the vast majority of Chicago (which is always in the news for shootings) is safe but there are certain neighborhoods to avoid. I'm sure that's the case in Frankfurt but I'd much rather be caught in a rough European neighborhood than a rough Atlanta neighborhood.

I live in the most affluent area of Atlanta but 2 years ago one of my neighbors was robbed at gunpoint walking her dog in front of our building (30 ft. from the front door) and there are carjackings every few months within a 3-4 mile radius. So for someone in Atlanta to point to Europe as being dangerous is laughable.

I would suspect that the same comments wouldn't have been made several years ago before the migrant crisis in Germany. I've noticed that among certain groups of my acquaintances, they believe that the refugees have made Europe a violent and dangerous cesspool where you can't walk alone. Of course the vast majority have never actually traveled there, but that's what they hear...

Flying Lawyer

This is nothing but cheap Trump propaganda. The US has 12 million illegal immigrants. California, a state nearly as big as Germany has three million illegal immigrants and I do not feel uncomfortable there. Vice versa: probably half of the gardens in California would be deserts without the help of Mexican gardeners....

Flying Lawyer

Probably quite a few of these people would be in a US jail for disturbance of the public order or under three-strikes laws. This might explain why the US has an incarceration rate ten times as high as Germany.

Another figure: Close to seven million people in the land of the free are under correctional supervision. Again more than factor 10 compared to Germenay. In Germany we consider certain behaviour as disturbing but not as criminal.

Considering that the captital crime rate in the US is five times a high as in Germany one might well raise the question which society works better....

LondonElite

it doesn't sell many newspapers when you report:

"Not much happened today, everyone got home safely, as usual."

fppmongo

There was a very high profile case. On New Year's Eve 2015/16, there were reports of mass sexual assaults in multiple cities including Cologne. As these assaults occured at huge celebrations and gatherings, there have been difficulties in identifying the perpetrators. In many cases, the suspects were described as being of Arab or North African descent. (See Wikipedia for more details.)

While these are certainly serious issues, I believe violence against women in Germany isn't higher than in other Western countries when looking at aggregate data.

manstein58

OK but my point is that, from my perspective, atmosphere has definitely gotten edgier and quality of life- type of misdemeanors/felonies seem to be on the rise

Ber2dca

Things have gotten worse overall, but not to the point where you'd say the risk of sexual assault is especially high in Germany compared to its neighboring countries or the U.S.

There's certain common sense rules you can follow to minimize the risk of falling victim to a crime. Like avoiding certain areas, showing situational awareness etc. If you do that in Frankfurt, you're at no higher risk than you would be in American cities like Atlanta or London or Paris for that matter.

Chinatrvl

Statistics strongly disagree with your first statement. Germany is safer than 10 years ago.

Furthermore, Germany and Frankfurt are significantly safer than the US.

But maybe there are secret alternate facts.

Flying Lawyer

Without intending to play the issue down: The figure reported on Wikipedia has no real source and the correct description of 95 to 99% of the offences would be "sexual molestation". True, however, is that most if not all of the suspects had a northern African, Syrian or Afghan background which is disturbing enough and resulted in massive police presence this year (with some people complaining about racial screening). If you eliminate these issues from the statistics, the figures are extremely low in Germany

offerendum

Wow, some things go to the wrong direction.....

All true. This was a real issue. At bis events (concerts, Karneval) we will always have problems with some people. Of course this was a exceptional case and it´s still unclear what really happened. Nothing what´s relevant in daily life.

Very true. Funny enough they did a survey which people found the highest level of danger. The City with the highest crime rate had the lowest Level, the one with the lowest crime-rates the highest. It´s significant the people most fear immigrants in regions which have the lowest Immigrant-rates- You fear what you don´t know.

It didn´t get worse. We had riff-raff at all times, many things got better. Also we always hear about safety-issues in Munich. In fact Munich is the savest major city in Germany.

Again very true.

NYTA

Probably a result of this incident a little over a year ago in Cologne, but one incident doesn't make a trend. Certainly hasn't helped views on immigration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Ye...lts_in_Germany

LondonElite

flwrlover1, after the whole eggs/griddle in Dublin thread, I have to ask, how ready are you for a move to Europe? I find it hard to believe that someone would offer a job in Frankfurt out of the blue to someone who has no context for what you are asking. Are you really contemplating a move there?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-i...heese-etc.html

Flying Lawyer

I read this and it made my day. Probably certain chains are in need for somebody experienced in operating such griddle. Besides that the approach appears to be so naïve that you can well have doubts whether or not it is meant seriously.

JBord

I really think it's just naïve, as you suggest. There are a lot of Americans that have incorrect assumptions about Europe, and the reverse is true as well. Best just to provide facts and advice, rather than insults and political views. Germany is a safe country, the OP has no greater chance of being assaulted there than in Atlanta, maybe less. It doesn't seem to me that this should be the primary issue for someone considering a job offer, but everyone is different.