Q:
A: Yes, unfortunately there is a lot of street crime in Vancouver and its suburbs. There are a lot of "hot spots" like East Vancouver, Kitsilano, Newton, etc. The neighbourhoods do not have to be necessarily poor to have a high crime rate - like Kits for instance. Or places like skytrain and bus stations which can attract hoodlums at night. Vancouver has a lot of homeless people as well as drug addicts. They need money and most are on the look out for easy cash - which may be loose change in somebody's parked car, or electronics in someone's house, or the purse of a woman walking late at night, or the ipod the schoolkid is listening to while walking home. My brother is a police officer and tells me that robbery keeps him and his coworkers very busy indeed. Of course, besides robbery you also have violence. This can happen after nightclubs and bars close and the drunks end up on the streets. This leads to fights which can become deadly. But, gang violence can also happen during the day, like after school. Just over a week ago there was a group of kids that clashed near Science World and a 13 year old boy was stabbed to death. Very sad. Cheers, Petra M, Vancouver