Here are some Crime stats I found interesting. People fear Philly in some ways because many areas just look unsafe. Is it True? Well, it looks liek there is some truth to it. Again, this doesn;t account for the distribution of crimes. For example, crimes committed in center city vs. North Philly.
Crime

Manhattan's annual crime rates per 100,000 people (2002) (Manhattan
only, excluding all other boroughs of New York City):

Number of robberies: 508
Number of rapes: 17
Number of homicides: 9
Number of aggravated assaults: 519
Number of motor-vehicle thefts: 294
Manhattan has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 180, which is a higher
crime rate than the national average

CrimePhiladelphia's average annual crime rate per 100,000 people
(2002):· Number of robberies: 687 · Number of rapes: 67 · Number of
homicides: 21 · Number of aggravated assaults: 728 · Number of motor-vehicle
thefts: 1064 · Philadelphia has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 336, which
is a higher crime rate than the national average

Chicago's annual crime rates per 100,000 people (2002):

Number of robberies: 707
Number of rapes: 79
Number of homicides: 22
Number of aggravated assaults: 1133
Number of motor-vehicle thefts: 1089
Chicago has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 384, which is a higher
crime rate than the national average

San Antonio's annual crime rates per 100,000 people (2002):

Number of robberies: 148
Number of rapes: 40
Number of homicides: 7
Number of aggravated assaults: 495
Number of motor-vehicle thefts: 513
San Antonio has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 136, which is close to
the national average
[The Relocation Crime Lab Index gives the city's

The District of Columbia's annual crime rates per 100,000 people
(2002):

Number of robberies: 621
Number of rapes: 44
Number of homicides: 42
Number of aggravated assaults: 801
Number of motor-vehicle thefts: 1154
Washington, D.C., has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 439, which is a
significantly higher crime rate than the national average

Atlanta's annual crime rates per 100,000 people (2000):

Number of robberies: 1038
Number of rapes: 67
Number of homicides: 32
Number of aggravated assaults: 1645
Number of motor-vehicle thefts: 1765
Atlanta has a Relocation Crime Lab Index of 532, which is a higher
crime rate than the national average

Unfortunately, comparing city statistics against each other is often like comparing apples to oranges. Taking the stats from Manhattan and comparing them to the entire city of Philadelphia isn't particularly useful, if you were to take the averages of all 5 boroughs of NYC and compare them to Philadelphia you'd have a clearer picture of what's going on. As you mentioned you could compare different neigborhoods that are similar in the two cities against each other. Center City to Manhattan East/West, Olde City to Soho etc.

Probably the best comparison here on such a high level is Philadelphia against Chicago, which shows similar levels of crime, although I'm not sure of the population of Chicago (3rd largest in the country maybe?). You also have to take into account relative age of the city. It seems the older cities get, the more urban blight is likely to be encountered which sort of discounts San Antonio as I believe (could very well be wrong here) that it's not at the same development age.

Anyways, I still like to look at statistics but I never put too much faith in them IMHO.

I must say I feel very safe in the city. I probably stay in very safe sections, but the sections where most tourists would go are very safe too.

I have yet to have an experience where I felt threatened. I guess this changes from person to person depending on their tolerance level. Some people get spooked when a homeless person asks them for change, and feel that they are unsafe. I don't really..

Do you think that Mayor Street's Safe Streetsprogram has had an major impact on crime and people's perceptions of how safe the city is?

I've heard so many conflicting reports. I did hear that violent crime was up. But safe streets from a PR perspective was genius, they've created the perception that things are more safe, so people believe it.

At the same time, marders are supposed to be up over the last year.

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Crime rates usually rise when the economy is not doing well and the unemployment rate rises. How much of any increase would you blame the Mayor's office for?

i think it also helps that last year murders and crime were down in general. it's only starting to make news that it seems to be going back up this year. this year all i seem to hear about is violent crime. brick bashing in nolibs, kids killing each other in fishtown, guys being tortured in the back of their van, murders in west philly. multiple slaying days.

Don't forget about cops shooting drug dealers in Pennsport. Gotta love it.

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"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

"The streets are safe in Philadelphia -- it's only the people who make them unsafe." -- Frank Rizzo, ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia.

That sounds a lot like the whole "Guns don't kill people..." rhetoric.