I live in Washington, a small town 10 miles away. Peoria has high stats and high crime areas, but it's 95% one bad part of town (the southwest side, where Richard Pryor was raised, down by the projects if you must know). The rest of it is pretty decent. And I have been around. I have been in this area for 9 years. Never had a crime done to me, seen a crime or heard about anyone I know suffering from any sort of crime.
I have been acting this way my whole life, I got it from my dad, who always took his keys out of the ignition and dropped them on the floor and walked away with the car unlocked. Bear in mind, I don't do this everywhere.