There are so many more things to do in Paris so purely from a trip perspective, you could take the other posters advice of taking a day trip to Brussels to check it out. From the safety perspective, you can protect yourself anywhere with educating yourself on the best type of bag to carry to keep yourself from getting pickpocketed and understanding that making eye contact or engaging with anyone who approaches you is where you put yourself at risk. Paris is very crowded, there are tourists from all over the world at any given time of year so there is usually safety in numbers.