Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Safer In the Oil Patch?

Link here to InsideClimate News/Dickinson Press.com:

North Dakota attorney general says crime in oil patch is no worse than rest of North Dakota, maybe safer.

Three things I keep coming back to:
1) if you aren't working in the oil patch, you probably aren't sticking around (no housing, tough winters)
2) if you are working, you don't have a lot of time to get into trouble
3) if you are working, odds are you value your job and don't want to risk losing it
4) if you are working, odds are your boss values his company and mandates drug testing
5) if you are working, odds are you can pretty much buy what you need/want in North Dakota
Okay, five, but I was going to lump some of those together.

2 comments:

  1. I have to disagree with the attorney general. I am from Minot, born and raised. The crime has increased significantly from a subjective point of view. I was able to get a "then" and "now" perspective. I left in 2004 and returned in 2010, and 2012. Obviously things have changed but Minot used to be a community where it wasn't unusual to leave your car running when going into the grocery store or leaving your car and house unlocked at nighttime. You cannot do this now. I am not saying that the oil boom is a bad thing by any means. But with growth of a community and influx of people from all over the world, there are going to be growing pains and crime is one of the side-effects if you will. We have to admit to this, continue to grow and not let this set us back!

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    Replies
    1. You are correct. I think the attorney general said that: raw data shows increase in crime; statistically based on population and opportunity, the crime rate is about as expected.

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