I don't want to downplay anyone else's personal experiences but I have not seen any difference in crime in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, nor while walking around adjacent neighborhoods. The statistics show NYC to be one of the safest cities in the U.S., in fact not even in the top 200 most dangerous cities, and not even in the 500 most dangerous if you count small cities.

COVID has killed a lot of people, tearing families apart, and has exacerbated terrible mental health issues, etc. This means there is more *visible* poverty in the city than before -- and that makes a lot of people very very very uncomfortable. Per capita, there's less crime than other cities -- but we're not all locked into our little metal boxes on the road where we can't see each other. We walk. We take the train. And space is at a premium here. Americans aren't used to that! You're less likely to be the victim of a crime -- but you're more likely to WITNESS a crime.

Also, I feel like some of this is a panic whipped up by the tabloids trying to sell more papers and by the carceral state and for-profit prisons trying to roll back NY's bail reform. And what they're doing is working! People are freaking out and panicking. Observing that does NOT mean I am downplaying anyone's fear, because fear is a REAL, pervasive thing and it can seriously impact your mental health -- but let's be honest about where it's coming from. That said, I am not a woman, nor am I a little person; OTOH I am not an imposing presence and I was targeted by muggers a couple of times when I lived in suburban New Jersey near Newark, and *nothing* like that has happened to me in 8 years in south Brooklyn. But I can't speak for Hell's Kitchen.