I heard that crime in your neck O the woods has gone way up.
Long story, that. Years ago, when Vegas was about 65,000 people, LA would send their gangs here because there was “nothing;” and other cities would send sex offenders and ne’er-do-wells. It was a little town in the middle of a very hot desert, with not an awful lot going on.
For a while, (1975-1985) Vegas and Tucson were about neck and neck with growth. The difference was that Vegas became a Mecca for criminals and wannabe criminals, and vice and crime became something that was pushed under the rug.
Enter 2000. Laws in the state were so lax that people from all over the world began to come and make their bones, then leave.Now, however, Vegas resembles its AKA: Sin City.
And since 2000, there has been a HUGH influx of Chinese, to the point that we have our own, growing, Chinatown.
There are now laws in place to thwart the scam artists, and folks who plan to live here want to make it permanent. But it has such a reputation for “easy laws and no enforcement” that we have the dubious distinction of being the place to come to break the law.
Where I live, the crime is low, and though there may be gangs, the HPD is so strict that criminals would rather be in Vegas. Even those who live in Vegas are wary of HPD. They should be, because HPD does not suffer fools.