Omaha, Nebraska - Crime

Crime

Main article: Crime in Omaha, Nebraska Further information: Gambling in Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha's rate of violent crimes per 100,000 residents has been lower than the average rates of three dozen United States cities of similar size. Unlike in Omaha, violent crime overall for those cities has trended upward since 2003. Rates for property crime have decreased for both Omaha and its peer cities during the same time period. In 2006, Omaha was ranked for homicides as 46th out of the 72 cities in the United States of more than 250,000 in population.

As a major industrial city into the mid-20th century, Omaha shared in social tensions of larger cities that accompanied rapid growth and many new immigrants and migrants. By the 1950s, Omaha was a center for illegal gambling, while experiencing dramatic job losses and unemployment because of dramatic restructuring of the railroads and the meatpacking industry, as well as other sectors. Persistent poverty resulting from racial discrimination and job losses generated different crimes in the late 20th century, with drug trade and drug abuse becoming associated with violent crime rates, which climbed after 1986 as Los Angeles gangs made affiliates in the city. Gambling in Omaha has been significant throughout the city's history. From its founding in the 1850s through the 1930s, the city was known as a "wide-open" town, meaning that gambling of all sorts was accepted either openly or in closed quarters. By the mid-20th century, Omaha reportedly had more illicit gambling per capita than any other city in the nation. From the 1930s through the 1970s the city's gambling was controlled by an Italian criminal element. Today, gambling in Omaha is limited to keno, lotteries, and parimutuel betting, leaving Omahans to drive across the Missouri River to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where casinos are legal and there are numerous businesses operating currently. Recently a controversial proposal by the Ponca tribe of Nebraska was approved by the National Indian Gaming Commission. It will allow the tribe to build a casino in Carter Lake, Iowa, which sits geographically on the west side of the Missouri River, adjacent to Omaha, where casinos are illegal.