Talk of the Town - Safe house November 18 2000

Looking for evidence of crime

We’ve been awakened by strange noises at 4 a.m. only to see our car’s taillights disappearing into the Atlanta darkness. And once, enterprising thieves climbed between the ceiling and roof of our apartment (three stories off the ground) and kicked through the plaster ceiling to get in.
Crime in a metropolitan area is a fact of life, and there is no place you can go to escape it. But, with a little investigative work, you can steer clear of the most high-risk areas.
A useful place to begin is a private service that both collects and analyzes crime statistics. Visit www.ehome.com, click on “check out the neighborhood” and enter your zip code. You’ll get an overall index number (between 1 and 10, with 1 being the lowest), plus ratings for several categories of crimes (from auto thefts to murder). Or visit www.apbnews.com and click on “Resource Center” to view detailed information about crime on national college campuses, at shopping malls and ballparks. Crime maps reveal crime patterns and trends in a particular state and the site’s safety tips give residents advice on home security.
Crime ratings are provided by CAP Index, which looks at elements of “social disorder” (population, housing, economic, education and population mobility) and crime information (police reports, FBI reports, loss reports, offender surveys and victim surveys) to determine a location’s risk of crime. CAP Index is coming out with a service for homeowners within the next few months that will provide data that is more precise than that based on ZIP code districts for less than $25. Those who can’t wait for this specific information can purchase a CAP Index Crime Vulnerability Assessment for commercial clients, priced at $150 per report at www.capindex.com.
But statistics and ratings are just the beginning. Your area may rate poorly because of crimes occurring on the distant boundaries of your ZIP code. To investigate further, visit the neighborhood at different times of the day and night. Talk to residents. Are they the kind of people you want for neighbors? Do most houses have security bars on the windows? That’s a sure sign that the people who already live there and know the neighborhood are worried about their safety.
Graffiti can be a sign that crime is a problem. Even though taggers can strike anywhere, residents in low-crime areas usually remove the graffiti quickly. In high-crime areas people may be afraid to remove the graffiti or have just given up. Keep an eye out for loiterers and stores with guards and an abundance of surveillance or protective equipment.
Read the community’s newspapers. Some print crime blotters, listing recent crimes and where they happened. If your prospective neighborhood is making headlines for all the wrong reasons, reconsider your move.
Finally, look for communities with neighborhood crime prevention programs. People watching out for their neighbors is one of the best signs of all.