Check Neighborhood Safety 2023: Top Full Guide

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When it comes to keeping your family safe, one of the most important things you can do is check neighborhood safety. There are a few key things to look for when you’re evaluating the safety of a safe neighborhood, and by taking the time to do a little research, you can ensure that you’re choosing a safe place to live.

Before You Research, Consider Bias

Safety is a subjective concept. Someone else may not perceive your community to be safe. Some people may opt for a property near a local police agencies station so that aid is always a few minutes away, yet others may find it a frightening neighborhood feature.

Consider how you utilize online neighborhood watch program safety tools while reviewing the neighborhood safety tools in this article. Are you use them to strengthen or divide your community? When you come across a problem, search for answers. Remember that community safety is earned via hard effort.

Also, make sure you’re not spreading misinformation, and avoid racially profiling or stereotyping individuals in your community you don’t know.

Keep in mind that many of these programs utilize crime data by addressing and do not consider many factors that contribute to a safe area, so the results may be deceptive. You don’t receive a comprehensive picture of a neighborhood’s safety. Several factors may contribute to a safe community, including:

Nighttime illumination that is adequate
Sidewalks and bike paths
A neighboring fire station
Fire hydrants located near residences
Excellent educational institutions
Medical treatment is available.
Clean parks

And there are several methods to make an area more secure. Here are some safety suggestions for your area.

Top Rated 9 Best Tools To Check Neighborhood

1. AreaVibes

Free of charge

AreaVibes is a program that calculates livability based on your Zip CodeTM. An algorithm calculates the livability score, which considers amenities, cost of living, crime rates, education, jobs, housing, and weather. It’s very useful for safety, but it’s covered if you’re also interested in housing, schooling, amenities, and education.

You may compare local crime trends and safety concerns to national crime data. The community writes the neighborhood assessments and safety concerns so you can get a sense of the surroundings firsthand. You may also get demographic data such as the male-to-female ratio, spoken languages, and marital status. Another great feature of AreaVibes is the ability to get incident reports for the following:

Burglary grand theft auto
Vehicle thievery
Rape Murder Assault Property crime
Violent offenses
Robbery

2. Reports

Check out Moving.com’s annual updated report for a snapshot of any city, which combines national crime statistics with demographics, school quality information, cost of living estimates, and climate data from all the top sources: the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor, the IRS, the FBI, the NOAA, and local police departments.

… relocating to a new neighborhood

You’ve remembered your new address, and the closing date has been marked three times on your calendar. You most likely already completed your due diligence to ensure the safety of your new house before arriving at this stage. You most likely had it properly verified twice, once by the inspector and once by the appraiser.

If only your new community could be subjected to the same procedure. You should be aware of crime data in your community, just as you should be aware of roof leaks or blocked sewage lines.

Learning about your neighborhood’s safety ratings after you’ve already chosen to relocate does not have to be a passive experience. Protect your house with security equipment in response to the especially high threats in your community, then utilize those devices to film suspicious activity and share videos with neighbors and authorities.

3. NeighborhoodScout

Cost: An annual charge for comprehensive data.

NeighborhoodScout specializes in real estate in a certain area. It creates a neighborhood profile using over 600 parameters.

Its search engine employs patented techniques such as:

Crime statistics
Income ranges
Rental properties vs. owner-occupied properties
Crime risk by nature of the crime
Forecasts and trends in crime

This neighborhood app connects users to the ideal communities for them and their families. By choosing certain lifestyle searches and significant keywords that relate to their database, the user may specify precisely what their ideal neighborhood would entail.

4. SpotCrime

The SpotCrime map may be used to track local crime. This site aggregates information from local law enforcement agencies and journalistic outlets, along with valuable advice, thanks to its anonymous reporting method.

On the Crime Maps, all incidences are plotted with instructive symbols, providing you with safety information at a glance. Sign up for SpotCrime notifications to be delivered to you through your favorite platform: Facebook, Twitter, or email. If you can’t locate your city, keep checking back as new areas are added.

5. Family Watchdog

Except for the registered sex offender report, the service is free.

This website may assist you in locating registered sex offenders in your region. You input an address, and they’ll show you a map of the registered sex offenders’ whereabouts. You may see a photo of the predators, their convictions, and other useful information by clicking on squares.

Family Watchdog allows you to:
Sign up to get notifications when a registered offender moves to your area.
Check out their blog for neighborhood suggestions.
Look for nearby schools, parks, and retail areas.
Filter your search by particular sexual offenses such as sexual violence, rape, and child abuse.

6. The Neighbors App by Ring

Ring, the home security system automation startup purchased by Amazon last year, is behind an app-based neighborhood monitoring program. The ring is well-known for its video doorbell, the best smart doorbell on the market.

When someone in your neighborhood joins Nextdoor, you may get a postcard inviting you to join as well. It looks like spam mail—but it’s not, and you don’t have to wait for an invitation to join. Nextdoor is a private social network using an app and email to connect neighbors on a small, neighborhood-by-neighborhood scale.

You do not need to possess a Ring device to utilize the app, which combines neighbors and local law enforcement agencies to notify you of suspicious activity and crime. The ring is working with increasing police departments to increase communication between residents and authorities.

7. ADT Go

Price: Free for ADT customers; otherwise, there is a monthly cost.

This online and mobile location-based tool lets you see your family members on crime maps and provides notifications when they return home from school or work or arrive at an event. ADT Go also includes an Automatic Crash Detection Service with emergency response, so if one of your family members is in an accident, it immediately informs their emergency contacts.

ADT Go also has the following features:

Rapid reaction to an emergency
GPS position data is available in real-time, and roadside help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Data about nearby crime alerts from the previous year is available.
Sharing a location with your family

8. National Sex Offender Registry

The National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) enables you to browse all state, territory, and tribal registers for sex offenders. You may search this government website by offender name or by location and radius, enabling you to look into the area around not just your house but also other areas your family frequents, such as schools, parks, and shopping malls.

The NSOPW offers parents safety guidelines and information about predators, making it a useful resource. If you want to be notified when registered sex offenders move into or out of your community, use Family Watchdog, which sends notifications to your chosen places.

9. Crime and Place

The cost is a one-time charge plus an in-app purchase.

This map-based tool allows you to assess your surroundings in a given location swiftly. You may search for sites of interest or addresses, and a heat map with high and low crime rates is shown. When you place a pin on the map, it alerts you if you are about to enter a potentially risky region.

The felonious offenses mainly consist of major crimes, such as homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, larceny, arson, grand theft auto, and forcible rape.

Additional crime alerts and Location elements include:

Set up alerts for when you enter high-crime zones.
Consider the many sorts of crime data in a certain place.
You will be notified when you are outside your comfort zone.

Tips For Finding A Safe Neighborhood

If you’ve gone through our list of neighborhood applications and you’re still wondering, “How safe is my area?” Here are some additional hints to help you locate the answer:

Talk to local shops

Perform a neighborhood check. Local businesses will thrive in a vibrant community. If you find thriving restaurants, bookshops, coffee shops, and even clothes stores, it is likely that people are content in their area and support their local small businesses. Go ahead and visit businesses and chat with company owners! Obtaining information from possible neighbors is usually a plus.

Check if there’s a neighborhood watch.

Neighborhood watch is one of the country’s oldest crime prevention initiatives. More than 40% of Americans reside in regions served by one. If your community has one, the residents have an excellent connection with local law enforcement agency and will report any questionable activity or conduct.

Talk to community youth groups.

If you’re looking for a secure refuge for your children, looking into youth organizations is a good place to start. Perhaps your family can engage in a local dancing club, after-school program, religious organization, or volunteer group. Find out what family resources are available by asking around.

Attend community events

If a neighborhood hosts community activities to honor its community, that’s always a good indicator. Whether it’s a farmer’s market, a charity event, or the launch of a new local authorities company, it’s a fantastic way to get to know the people and surroundings you’ll be living in shortly.

Look for well-lit streets.

Take a nighttime drive of the neighborhood and do a safety check. Keep an eye out for operational street lights and signage. It should feel comfortable to wander around your area. If there isn’t enough light, you’re unlikely to see many of your neighbors out and about.

Determine your closeness to nearby schools, parks, and walking routes.
If the area you want to live in has a lot of local schools and well-kept parks, that’s usually a positive indicator since you’ll be able to meet families and learn about community events.

Check its walkability score.

Use Google’s simple Walk Score tool to determine how pedestrian-friendly the location is. Input the city’s name to obtain information on auto dependence, transportation availability, and bikeability. Although it may not always detect crime, it does help you to determine if your nightly strolls are secure.

Things To Watch Out For

While these indications do not ensure that a neighborhood is hazardous, you should be aware of them while deciding whether or not to live there. An excellent technique to assess the safety of the area for yourself is to drive through it many times and look for:

Abandoned storefronts

According to a 2017 Harvard Business Review analysis, there is a link between retail shops and crime rates – as stores and restaurants disappear, crime rises. According to the theory, retailers serve as a type of protection, and when an area is left uncontrolled, property crime and car property theft grow. If you see a lot of abandoned buildings in an area you’re considering relocating to, you should check into its crime statistics.

High crime rates

While this may seem simple, it is critical not to generalize a whole city. In reality, violent crimes are often concentrated in narrow geographic regions. According to one research, approximately half of all criminal reports and gun violence occurred on 5% of street segments. You may search crime statistics for your neighborhood to understand better which places are risky.

Unkempt landscaping

A well-kept front yard is not just physically pleasing; it has also been linked to lower crime rates. In a 2015 research of over 1,000 Baltimore City residences, trees, garden hoses, sprinklers, and well-kept lawns were inversely related to crime, whereas trash, overgrown lawns, and tiny trees were positively associated with crime.

Some relevant posts:

Limited green space

In many cities, the more green space there is the less criminal activity. However, just having a park in your neighborhood is insufficient. “Parks that are intended for safety, highly scheduled on an ongoing basis, and properly maintained tend to attract inhabitants whose presence acts as a crime deterrent,” according to North Carolina University. The park must promote pleasant activities, foster community, and be adequately funded for maintenance.

FAQ

How do I find out about crime in my area?

Investigate Crime in Your Neighborhood

SpotCrime is a crime map and crime warning service accessible to the general public. With SpotCrime, it’s simpler than ever to keep track of crime in the United States and many other nations around the globe. Our purpose is to offer the public the most up-to-date and accurate crime information possible.

How Does CrimeMapping Work? Where Does the Data Come From?

We extract data from the existing records system at each participating law enforcement agency through an automated import process. The data we display will always be the most current available.

How much does the Citizen app cost?

$19.99/month

Citizen Protect, a crowdsourced public safety software, was launched on Tuesday. The $19.99/month program provides customers with access to an on-demand Protect Agent, whom they may contact if they believe they need — or may require — emergency help.

What is the safest city in the US?

In 2023, Wayland, Massachusetts, will be the safest city in the United States. The town of little under 14,000 inhabitants, situated 30 minutes west of Boston, is described as a tranquil, pleasant village, and it has by far the lowest total crime rate in the country, at 7.22 per 100,000 people.

Conclusion

When moving to a new neighborhood, it is important to research the area for safety. The best way to do this is to speak with the local police department and ask about recent crime reports. Additionally, you can look up the crime rate statistics for the area online. Finally, it is always a good idea to walk around the neighborhood to get a feel for the area.