Helsinki ranked as world’s second-safest city

[sinikettu]

Not a big surprise...
Ranked above Helsinki..Luxembourg ..
Bern, Geneva, Helsinki and Zurich, are all equally placed .
Does safety = boring?

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsin ... 5237081328

If you study the link given in the article.
Links:
Quality of Living global city rankings – Mercer survey
You will find that Helsinki is also well rated in "Quality of Living" and would probably have been rated even higher if it was not for..Natural environment (climate,) TALVI

Another interesting aspect is to compare this year with last year.
Several of the "Eastern Europe" cites have made significant up ward movements.

[EP]

Does safety = boring?

If somebody´s idea of "not boring" is having to look over your shoulder all the time or being afraid to walk alone in the evening, then Helsinki is boring. In my opinion only boring people get bored. There are enough theatres, movies, concerts, exhibitions, restaurants, pubs and clubs for those who are interested. And enough gyms, sports fields and nature for those who want those. So safety does not equal boring.

[luckykitty]

It is really safe yeah. You don't feel scared walking at night, cos there's not many people around, except for drunks and bums .
But a bum did start pulling my hair once, when I refused to give him money . That made me kinda scared. And it was years ago, in the world trade centre, of all places. Didn't they have security back then :/.

I don't know how they do this survey, but:
http://www.mercer.com/pressrelease/deta ... nt=1307990

At the bottom of the page it mentioned Auckland with the best quality of living in Asia pacific, and I don't really agree (having lived there for a long time), unless they mean people can go to the beach and travel the rest of New Zealand and still live in a populated location. I've met a student living in a closet in some restaurant/turned apartment building for the rent 25euros a week, and broken down flats that are rented out to students, with wallpaper or paint peeling off. Then the earnings are quite low, and most people move to london or somewhere where they can earn money to pay off their student loans (education is not free there). Part-time work, like in a fast food joint is paid really meagerly, when you're under 16 or something i think it was 3 or 4 euros an hour, and then maybe 5 euros when u turn 18 or somethng like that. This was a few years back, but I think the 'quality of life' survey didn't cover the youth demographic. I mean, its not totally bad. Music/clubbing scene is ok, food is cheap in New Zealand, as is restaurant dining, so if you have a well-paid, i think the quality of living can be really good there. Also I think Japan can have a pretty good quality of living depending on where you live, and depending on what you consider a good quality of living. In the central city the apartments are really small like in Tokyo, but there's alot of things you can do at least-

But I agree with the rest though, Helsinki and Zurich feels safe. And Singapore too, I guess because its so orderly and clean. And probably because they have hidden cameras or something to pick up even small crimes like, littering, and chewing gum etc, so obviously bigger crime would be spotted even more easily .

[oziS]

Someone broke into my car a couple of weeks ago, and took a few things that where inside (not in Finland).
Wasn´t fun at all.
I rather be safely bored.

[Flossy1978]

I like boring, I'd rather be bored than be unsafe.

I've just moved into my own home (omakotitalo) and we never even remember to lock the front door at night LOL. I'd never do that in my own country. Oh maybe it helps that I live out in the sticks just outside of Vantaa and the only intruder I think that might come would be the horses that live across the road or the goats down the street LOL.

[Kupcake]

i'm sure that for the most part Helsinki is a safe city, but don't be fooled into thinking that nothing will ever happen to you here. We have been the victims of a robbery at our home, and our son was beaten unconscious by a group of 5 young Finnish men last year, who stole his very expensive Nokia phone and took the contents of his wallet. He has been involved in countless more minor altercations, but they mainly occur between the hours of 10pm and 1am on a weekend in Helsinki near bars or nightclubs. He's had a few drunkards lunge at him at bus stops, and has saved the lives of several drunkards who were otherwise occupied lunging at oncoming traffic. I must admit that the world our teens experience at the later hours, and the world the rest of us experience are very different - i guess it depends on where you hang out, who you hang out with, and the time of day (or night) you are hanging out

[ajdias]

Someone broke into my car a couple of weeks ago, and took a few things that where inside (not in Finland).
Wasn´t fun at all.

Someone broke overnight into my car, as well, some weeks ago. Inside "they" left a 25 kilo stone, the window glasses and a broken "driving's wheel lock"... This in a parking space not far from Helsinki's center.
Perhaps the Romanian family that lives 20 meters away saw something but I could not be bothered to go and ask.

[sinikettu]

He has been involved in countless more minor altercations, but they mainly occur between the hours of 10pm and 1am on a weekend in Helsinki near bars or nightclubs. .....- i guess it depends on where you hang out, who you hang out with, and the time of day (or night) you are hanging out

The reason that Helsinki rates as relatively safe could be that..
The places where potential trouble lurks are fewer than in other cities, and then only at high risk times.
Those places are best avoided ...at high risk times.

Seems like your son finds it difficult to avoid these places at high risk times, if he has been involved in "countless altercations" ...


But it is all "relative"...Helsinki v London..or where ever.
I can remember when London was "relatively safe"...compared to Chicago..
Which part of London and which part of Chicago and at what time of night?

[Kupcake]

Seems like your son finds it difficult to avoid these places at high risk times, if he has been involved in "countless altercations" ...

Do you have teenagers?

It is true - he does find it difficult to avoid these places at high risk times. He likes going out with his mates and "chilling" while watching a hockey game, playing pool, going to a nightclub, etc. It's what the young people do for socialising, and when you get a group of younguns together with all their extra energy and all those hormones, altercations can happen easily. Although most of those altercations were involving extremely drunk people, and he was unable to get out of their way quick enough.

I think any city is dangerous at those times of the night - it really is a different world during that time.

[timpal]

Already in the 1980s I found it to be almost like Clockwork Orange, in the centre anyway. Crossing Kaisaniemenkatu and that bridge was as if crossing over into Prole territory. Guaranteed ruffians. South centre, Eira and the Kaivopuisto Park where relatively quiet in those days. I hear differently now?

[sinikettu]

Seems like your son finds it difficult to avoid these places at high risk times, if he has been involved in "countless altercations" ...

Do you have teenagers?

Not anymore, both my sons are married with their own kids.
I guess I was lucky when they were teenagers they took my fatherly advice on where to go, and what to do, and who to hang out with.. teenagers visiting Night Clubs or places frequented by drunks was a definite no go.

But back to this thread...When I was a teenager I can remember wandering around alone exploring the back streets of parts of London that today I would want an armed escort to enter.
It is all relative...Helsinki is not perfect just better than most other places.
As timpal say above...it is not getting any better...but not degrading as fast as some places.

The World is a mess....

[Kupcake]

I guess I was lucky when they were teenagers they took my fatherly advice on where to go, and what to do, and who to hang out with.. teenagers visiting Night Clubs or places frequented by drunks was a definite no go.

Two of our three boys are like your sons - but our middle is more adventurous (my way of making it sound better) and has learned the hard way.

As timpal say above...it is not getting any better...but not degrading as fast as some places.

Yes, i agree. And i feel very lucky that our middle is here rather than Sydney or London (no offence meant to anybody, just examples) where it is likely more difficult to keep these types of teenagers alive. Finland (generally speaking) is a very orderly place and perhaps this contributes to the lower crime rate.

[annekmc]

Well this kind of story is certainly not common in Finland http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 12,00.html
Yet I hardly blink anymore reading about this type of think in the UK news

[otyikondo]

Well this kind of story is certainly not common in Finland http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,, ... 12,00.html
Yet I hardly blink anymore reading about this type of think in the UK news

Not common, no, but by no means impossible, I'd say. Basically only "aggravated assault" gone bad. The perp (and of course the victim) got unlucky with the way the guy fell, or we wouldn't be reading about this on ScumNews.

And "aggravated assault gone bad" is the classic Finnish homicide. Whilst I'm out on a limb here without statistical back-up, I'd wager the number of premeditated murders in a year is barely 10% of the total in the country.

Interestingly enough, I received an e-mail on just this subject (Helsinki wins safety beauty pageant) yesterday that was of such stunning sillyness that I had to reply.

It dragged out the old one about more murders in Helsinki than in [insert "violent" place here], based on going to Wikipedia or wherever and pulling out bleeding chunks of statistics.

In this case it was The Netherlands that was being compared, and the aggrieved writer wanted to know why - with 137 "murders" last year in Finland and only 148 in The Netherlands, Helsinki was all of a sudden regarded as so "safe". Particularly (they really can't resist this one, can they?) since the suicide figures for Inflandia were 32% higher than in Holland.

I pointed out three things: one, the Mercer study is aimed at companies planning to set up offices abroad and wondering how to coax staff to work there as ex-pats. Two, that the chances of one getting involved in a homicide in Helsinki are directly proportional to one's running with alcoholics or being married to one. Around 80% of all Finnish homicides are "in the family", either literally, or within a coterie of drinkers arguing over a woman or the dregs of a bottle of Sorbus. And three, that oddly enough not many people regard somebody else committing suicide as a threat to their personal safety - personal convenience, yes, especially if the poor soul jumps in front of your train.

The chances of some middle-management chappie on a 3-year assignment getting randomly whacked by a junkie on heat in a quiet Helsinki suburb or getting caught in the crossfire as gangs sort out their differences are minimal, and so the PERCEPTION OF SAFETY is high. Hence the 2nd place ranking.

Finns on the whole take an almost Darwinian view of homicide - it is something that happens to the marginalised and flunked, and not to THEM. This compares with the considerable degree of paranoia one finds in some other not-to-be-mentioned countries (with possibly LOWER homicide rates per 1 million inhabitants), where there is a sense that you or more particularly your children can and will be raped and strangled on the way back from bingo or primary school.

It's all about perception. Like the corruption.

[Karhunkoski]

Finns on the whole take an almost Darwinian view of homicide - it is something that happens to the marginalised and flunked, and not to THEM.

And with theft, I always hear the fatalist, "he must have needed it more than me", statement. So that makes it alright then, we can all get on with life.