Crime

Coming from a small town of about 300, it is very rare to see crime. However, when you go to big cities there is always parts of the city, where you are told to never go because it is violent. If you go there you might not come back because of the shootings that happen.

Living in Berlin, the biggest city in Germany, I never once felt like I was in danger. My advisor told us, you should not worry about walking alone in Berlin. He did not advise woman to do that because they are usually targeted more, but if it was unavoidable he assured they would be fine.

Germany has pretty harsh penalties if you commit crimes and you don't get the same rights you would here in the states.

Murders seem like an everyday occurrence in big cities here in the U.S. I heard of one murder happening in Berlin in my four months there. As I recall, it was between drunk men and they beat the one guy until they killed him.

German Police (Polizei) van in the middle of Berlin. It is illegal to take a picture of a police officer in uniform, but not their vehicles.

Even in what outsiders to Berlin call, "rough neighborhoods," I believe that these areas are just poorer and not "rough" as a non-native would think. In fact, several nights I came back at 5-6 in the morning in the area with the highest crime rate in Berlin, called Kreuzburg and I felt just like I did in every other part of the city, safe.

In other European cities, I can not say the same as I do in Berlin. In fact in Paris we were approached by a Police officer and he told us we should leave the area we were in because it is quite a violent place to be. We took his advice and left. Even so, Paris doesn't have a lot of murders, but more thefts and acts of that nature.