[Saints News] Is San Andreas Safe?

[borhoi]

 

 

Is San Andreas Safe?
 

Ryan D. Price

 

Do you feel safe living in San Andreas? I posed this question openly, along with a few others, via an online poll yesterday. Now, by no means am I claiming this simple poll is a scientific public opinion study. However, I think it's a good barometer for getting an idea of how people feel about living in this state.
Unsurprisingly, to me at least, the vast majority of those who responded to the poll did not feel particularly safe living in San Andreas. Over 83% of responders scored their feeling of safety as a three or lower on a scale of one to five (one labeled "Not Safe at All" and five labeled "Completely Safe"). 54% rated a two or one. Just a bit over 16% of San Andreans scored their sense of security here as a four or five. So what's the problem?

I asked a few more questions. The next pertained to how good of a job LSPD does at keeping San Andreas safe (the whole state falls under their jurisdiction). 54% of responders graded their work as a two or one (One being "Terrible" and five being "Perfect") while 21% gave them an average three and just 25% gave them a four or five.

Those numbers correlate strongly with the numbers from the first question. Out of those who responded, 54% feel unsafe living in San Andreas and 54% feel the LSPD does a bad job keeping them safe. This is a problem when you look at the next set of numbers.

Out of those who responded, 75% had been the victim of a violent crime. An overwhelming 92% had witnessed a violent crime or known a victim.
The last two questions yielded similarly bleak numbers. When asked if they had been witness to or the victim of extortion in their workplace, 75% of responders said they had. The final question, "Do you feel LSPD could do a better job at combating gangs and organized crime?", had a resounding response of 80% of those questioned answering "Yes".

By breaking down these numbers we at least get a glimpse into just why so many of San Andreas' residents feel unsafe here. Perceived incompetence in the police force. An extremely high incidence of violent crime that's virtually unavoidable. Extortion attempts plaguing business owners. All these things, easily, would detract from anybody's feeling of security. The bigger issue here is that this is about residents' perceived safety at home.

I sat down with Akari, the owner of Sakana Sushi, to talk about an incident at her business involving two (presumed) gang members that turned violent.

"So I was hanging behind the bar with my bartender, and these three walked in. One of them was a proper skinhead. Shaved, tattoos. The guy had a fucking eighty-eight on his arm, for Christ's sake. I wasn't having any of that, so I tried to get a hold of a friend I have in LSPD. I didn't realize she left before they came, so my sister texted her. In the meantime, the three had come up here [to the second level of the restaurant], over to that sofa."

As the group settled on the sofa, one of Akari's employees was cleaning off a table nearby. Akari asked them to leave. She didn't want to serve neo-Nazis.

"I wasn't necessarily polite. But you know, my property."

One of the two proceeded to verbally harass Akari.

"He told me that I 'looked like I wanted my throat fucked.'. So I told [the employee] to get downstairs, and told them to get the fuck out. Then one rushed me. I took a step back, tried to get out of the way, but he rammed me down the stairs."

The group didn't stop there.

"They grabbed [the employee] by the fucking hair and tossed her down. Split her head open, broke an ankle. She didn't even do anything."

This all seems so senseless, right? I've witnessed plenty of idiots getting thrown out of places for a myriad of reasons in many cities. Of course, some get more irritated than others. But to respond immediately with that level of violence? To grab a girl who hadn't done so much as say a word by the hair and throw her down a staircase, causing her to crack her head and break an ankle?

When asked if she believed the response was racially motivated, or if these individuals are simply just another gang Akari said,

"Honestly? I haven't personally seen them do anything outwardly racially motivated. I can't really speak for other people, but they never said anything to me or any of my staff. I think they're just using it as an excuse to be aggressive and antisocial towards everyone."

For reference, Akari is a Japanese woman.

Akari's is just one story of many regarding the shadow that violent crime casts on this city. I've personally witnessed similar events at other venues and I've only lived in LS for a bit over two weeks. Whether it be gang violence, random violence, extortion, robbery, or whatever else, there's no avoiding the violence in Los Santos and if the poll I ran is any indication, the people here know it.

Later this week Saints will be sitting down with newly appointed District Attorney, Lucas Lowe. The perceived lack of safety among residents and the perceived incompetence of law enforcement will be among many things we talk to him about. Stay tuned for the interview in the coming days.
 

 

 

 

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[KFN]

Name: Valid News Source

Comment: Is Saints News Retord? p.s interviewing the same people over and over again is like stale as.

[Raindance]

Name: mtq

Comment: 

Edited October 8, 2019 by Raindance

[A_Acko]

Name: alboEagle

Comment:  fake&gay