Sacramento is, in my opinion, one of the best cities in the United States. It has the potential to become so much greater. I have lived in Sacramento for almost 17 years, and no matter where I travel to, no place that I go makes me feel the way this city does. From late-night trips to Gunther’s with my aunt and uncle, walks around Tahoe Park, and cheering at Kings games back at Sleep Train Arena, and now Golden 1 Center, to catching shows at venues like Ace of Spades, Goldfield Trading Post or the new Channel 24 (which I visited for the first time recently), I always enjoy my time most when I am in my city.
There is one unfortunate problem I have been noticing about the city I love so much recently, especially in the last five years since the pandemic: crime. Sacramento, like any major city, has had its issues with crime over time. Still, they have always been able to overcome the problems, lowering crime rates by a noticeable amount, especially from the 1990s and 2000s, when we were seeing crime rates like over 1,200 per 100,000 population, according to CityRating.com. Despite this, in recent years, it feels like safety in Sacramento has gone downhill.
In areas like DOCO and Old Sacramento, the Sacramento Police Department often claims that these areas are improving when it comes to safety, mainly due to increasing patrols and general police presence. But many students, including myself, feel and believe otherwise. If you happen to be in these areas on most Friday, Saturday, or Sunday nights, you will likely be safe, especially when staying within the populated and well-lit areas.
Most City College students that I spoke to agreed, but when discussing the safety during weekday evenings, especially when no events are going on, many students said they did not feel safe walking around downtown Sasha Popova, a student that I spoke to, stated, “As a young woman, I feel that Sacramento is quite unsafe, and even disturbing in several areas,” also stating that “homelessness and crime in general have become quite prominent”.
Six students that I spoke to stated plainly that they will not go to most areas of the city at night, including most of North Sacramento, most of South Sacramento, DOCO, Old Sacramento, Downtown Sacramento, and even some parts of Midtown. This should not be the case, as students and citizens of Sacramento should be able to explore their city and walk around freely without their safety being threatened, especially in the areas with the most to do…