My German 'Threat-Index'?

 When I retired in 2013, and settled into the wife's Wiesbaden family home....if you'd asked me about threat potential in the local area and Wiesbaden....it would have been hear zero (not absolute zero, but near zero).

So as time passed....things occurred.

Over a one-year period 2016/2017....11 cars in the village (4,000 residents) were stolen.  One of them was a 10-year old Audi A3....probably worth no more than 4,000 Euro.....belonging to the renter-lady in our house (parked out on the street).

Around 2021...the village post office was robbed right before closing.....the guy had a pistol.

Around 2022....the bank in the village had the ATM blown up and robbed in the early morning hours.

Also in 2022.....some older lady got up early one work-day to catch the 5:30 AM bus....with some idiot juvenile attempting to steal her purse out on the dark street (he failed).

If you asked me about drug trafficking....like you wanted some crack, meth, or stuff....I'd refer you to the city park in front of the train station....where there's five to eight guys 'dealing'.  

Assaults in town....via the police blotter, you see at least five report a week on some type of robbery/assault.  Pick-pocketing?  That's a daily thing you need to think about in the city.

If I ventured into Frankfurt and went walking around junkie-mile (the neighborhood directly in front of the train station)?  Day or night, it wouldn't matter.....you need to avoid the area.

So I have this odd index.  I feel my safe-index in the village is a '2' (out of 1-to-10).  In the city of Wiesbaden?  My safe-index for day-time visits is probably a '3'. And at 10 PM or later....I'd say it's closer to a '6'.  

To sum it up....you end up being vigilant and observing people around you.  It's still a 1,000 percent safer than in SF, or NY City, or Atlanta.  My 1,000 Euro watch?  It's rare that I wear it in public.....preferring my $29 Timex (now 16 years old).  

Germany going to 'defund-the-police' route?  NO.....that hasn't happened....we've actually added 10,000 billets over the past decade to state and city police across the nation.

You just need to pay attention and not get stupid walking in a chaotic zone.