What is up Members of the Barrio
It's Jon coming to you from New York
And today we're going to dive into a pretty serious topic.
How safe is New York City?
I have been asked this question frequently by viewers
Almost as much as I've been asked
How safe is Mexico?
And if you've never visited here before
I imagine you're a bit curious
Well what are we doing sitting here.. I think we've got to get outside
On the streets of Manhattan to
Talk more about this topic.
We are ready to go
To answer that question simply..
Is New York City safe
I would say.. yes
New York City is considered in my opinion
Quite..a safe city
But
Crime does occur here
I am not going to paint this idealistic of New York City as a spot where you will go to
And nothing bad will ever happen
To you
Because their is a chance that it could
And I could pull up some statistics to show you..
How unlikely that is
According to the daily news in 2017 their were 290 investigated homicides in the entire city of New York
To give you some perspective.. in 1990 that number was over 2,000
The crime rate in New York City has been going down for decades
That is a fact
And I'll give you another statistic
In 2017 in Manhattan-South
We're going to say midtown Manhattan to the bottom of Manhattan
Where most tourists are going to be spending the majority of their time
Their were 200 robberies reported
200 robberies that is less than 1 per day
The absolute best advice I could ever give anybody visiting New York
Or any big city for that matter
It's 5 words
Be Aware of your surroundings
And that advice actually saved my life once
I was a victim of a crime in New York CIty
On January 25th, 2013
I was in a very rough area of the Bronx
Which you will likely never go to
You probably would have no reason to go there
And.. I covered this in another video
I'm going to put a card above
If you want the full story
But.. I was walking in the street
And it was at night
I was heading to the subway
I was fully aware of what was going on
I saw commotion ahead of me
Somebody pulled a gun
Tried shooting someone else
I was in the wrong place
At the wrong time
And I got hit.. over my left knee cap
I am fine
It was not a bad wound at all
It sounds scary
I'm not trying to scare you guys
But I am saying I was aware of what was going on
I dove for cover after
If I had headphones on
And I wasn't paying attention
I might have walked right into a shooting
Right there at point blank range
This is an extreme situation
I don't think any of you will ever have to face something like this in your life
But it just goes to show you that..
Awareness can help you
See what's going on
And have time to react
If a crime was to occur
But this is a remote possibility
I will tell you that almost everyone I know in New York City
Has never had any issue with crime
But now I'm actually going to provide you with
Some tips
From someone who's lived in New York for more than 6 years
That I think will reduce your chances
Of running into a problem
When you do visit this fine city.
Tip number one if you are a single woman..
After mdnight I probably wouldn't take the subway
Here's why
The subways in New York City run 24 hours
a day
7 days a week
But at night. They run slower
People have a higher chance of being intoxicated
Also there's less people in the subway station
You have the opportunity to be waiting for a train 30 minutes
At 2 in the morning
There's a lot of things that could go wrong
I would advise any of my female friends
Coming to New York
If it's after midnight
I'd probably just take an uber or a taxi
Personally I usually take taxis after midnight
If you did have to take a subway
Late at night
Go where other people are
Go into a crowded subway car
Don't isolate yourself
Tip number 2
Be aware of what is going on.. when are you taking a subway
Let's say during the day
If the train is really crowded
Know where your backup is
Make sure nobody is meddling with it
Know where your wallet is
For extra safety
When a train is approaching
I don't like to stand very close to the platform
In case you slip
In case somebody bumps into you
Or god forbid in case somebody would shove you
Which is extremely rare
But it has happened
In New York..
It's always one of those things for me
I don't like to stand right up against the tracks
Against the platform
When the train is approaching
If you are young.. and you are out in certain areas of New York
The big party districts
People may come up to you and offer you drugs
On the street
Just ignore them
Walk away
They will not follow you
Trust me
Another thing you'll notice in New York is that panhandlers
May come up to you.. asking you for money
You might walk past people asking you for money
My best advice
Avoid eye contact
Or politely say no
If you do want to donate to homeless people
To try to help them out
Their are many organizations where you could do that
And know the money is going to an important cause
Do not be careless with your belongings
Let's say you're at a bar.. you're at a cafe
Don't leave your cellphone unattended and go to the bathroom
Don't leave your laptop unattended and go to the bathroom
Always know where your things are
If you're going to make yourself an easy victim
People might take advantage of you
If you don't know the city well
You've got to be extra careful
And I would say
Don't wear headphones at night..
Walking in places you don't know well
Or places you think might be a little bit..
Unsavory
I have a friend of a friend
Who was leaving a subway at 11 PM
Had headphones on
Somebody approached him. Punched him.
Freak assault
But.. if he wasn't wearing his headphones
He may have been a tougher target
And that bad thing wouldn't have happened to him
Again this is not to scare you..
But if you don't know New York to well
And you're walking around at night
I don't recommend you have headphones on.
And be in your own world.
This is a very nice street by the way
Love the west village
Great place to stroll around and vlog
For people visiting the city for the first time
And arriving at one of the area airports
A good tip
Do not accept rides.. from unmarked taxis
I even saw when I arrived at JFK last time
Somebody was holding an uber sign
An uber decal
I've never seen that before
I don't know if that's a scam or not
But either call an uber officially
When you get outside
Or go to one of the marked taxi pick up spots.
Take somebody who's licensed
I don't care how much money they say they're going to save you
You're definitley taking a risk doing something like that.
One final word of caution to my younger viewers
If you do like to go out at night
You want to party
Just be extra careful..
I think there's always chances for fights late at night
For things to happen
For tension
For arguements to occur
Steer clear of that
And always be aware
Of what's going on
The goal of this video
Was not to scare anybody
In fact.. it's to encourage people to visit New York city
Because it is one of the safest big cities
In the entire world
I have met so many folks.
Who have visited here
With 0 incident
They loved it
They loved the people
They loved the vibe
But you've got to keep some of the things
That I talked about
In mind
Just to lower your risk of running into any trouble
If you're from New York
Or you've visited New york
Or you've got questions
Tell me in the comments
Any other safety tips?
Is their anything I missed?
What were your experiences.. in New York City like
I'm very curious
Alrigt guys make sure to subscribe
If you are new to this channel
We're going to be exploring New York more
Over the course of the next month
I'm going to try to uncover..
Some things that..
I have never filmed before on this channel
We're going to keep it exciting
Thank you so much for watching
Until next time