This is an issue in every city. Heck, the police issued warnings for late night diners when I was in Reykjavik.

Is it more of an issue in Baltimore than other US cities? I don't know. I'm from Detroit, so I actually feel like I have a lot more freedom to wander here, even without a car.

Having said that, I am incredibly grateful to my usual dining companion that she drives me home afterwards.

Buz is great. He can usually be counted on for reason and good information on his blog and the Baltimore Crime Blog.

As someone who has been all over the world and to Reykjavik, I find the crime in Baltimore is more predatory, therefore more frightening, than obligatory warnings to stay away from drunk Scandanavian locals late at night. Baltimore crime reminds me of crime in places where there are the upper classes and lower classes, no middle class between.

There are tens of thousands of people who live in those neighbourhoods where we fear to tread. I'm more concerned with the safety of those folks than of people wandering through. There are more of them, and living in fear breeds anger and a nasty sense of entitlement.

I'd rather deal with the guys on the corner than drunken groups of young men. In my experience, the latter is far more random and unpredictable. And, often, stinky.