The New York Times uses Google Maps for a visual display of homicide locations in New York City over the past three years. Figure out the safest places to live in the City. Wow, nothing within a large radius of the block on which I grew up in Queens. Nothing within a mile radius or so of my best friend’s home on the Upper West Side. And nothing within a several-block radius of my brother and his wife’s home in the West Village (although he was attacked twice on his street in the last five years…)

A related article describes other findings of the Times’ analysis of the murder details.