making me glad i moved out

[PepperElf]

So the past few nights I've been falling asleep listening to the police scanner on my iPod, set to my hometown.

It sparked my interest when I heard them mention the street my old apartment was on. So I looked up on google to see what's been going on since I left. And ... I'm left feeling glad I moved.



May 3, 2011 - Burglary. No real details other than a map showing it happening near the other end of the complex

May 31, 2011 - Burglary. No real details other than a map showing it happening near MY end of the complex

July 17, 2011 - Theft. Midway to the other end of the complex

September 27, 2011 - suicide. I already knew from ApartmentRatings that someone shot themselves in the head there back in October of last year and that the body was "out there for hours". Fucking creepy. Although I know it's not the apartment manager's fault. They can't just send maintenance with a body bag for crying out loud. They have to let the emergency personnel do their jobs. Most they can do is put a sheet over the body really. (So I do feel the guy "reviewing" it is a bit of an EW. Someone killed themselves and you're more worried about the body not being cleaned up? WTF dude)

October 12, 2011 - armed robbers live there. YAY . Two men went to rob an apartment one street over kinda (almost right next to the sheriff's department too... ) and then went back to my old complex to chill out with their buddies in an apartment full of stolen shit and drugs. And according to the news about the trial, they tried lying to the cops to hide the drugs they had or something like that.

October 25, 2011 - theft. My end of the complex again on the map.

January 18, 2012 - Theft, other end of the complex


I'm not including the domestic disturbances. Those we had before I moved out, although nowhere near as bad as the hellhole I had in VA beach. But... it seems things have gotten progressively worse since I moved out.

I use to think that was a nicer area, on the outskirts of a well-to-do neighborhood. When my BF visited he didn't think so - he worried about me living there alone. I think he saw what I didn't... that my neighborhood was on the brink of going downhill.

And now it looks like it's going over that brink.


Note: data collected from various sources
- home town police blotter / news
- apartmentratings.com (verified with blotter)
- SpotCrime.com

And ... when I checked SpotCrime with my new address I found... one theft from December 2011, maybe a mile away. we've had some break-ins in my parking lot according to the apartment manager but nothing big - and the dog here warns us now when people come around.


I'm just glad I moved out before things got really bad.

[Crossbow]

I don't blame you. That doesn't sound like a very good neighborhood.

Oddly enough, when I looked at SpotCrime, there were more reports within a mile of my office than my home. I live in a blue-collar inner-ring suburb and work in a VERY affluent outer suburb....

[ralerin]

Tested it on my location. Lots of arrests, lots of assault, including a recent one from 3 months ago. They have graffiti reports too; however the recent graffiti that was all over the houses up and down the street 3 months ago doesn't show up. Hm.

[blas]

Thanks for the link.

I was already aware of the store robbery from last week. Somehow, it got double posted.

Damn, that store is always being robbed.

[MoonCat]

My old neighborhood is like that. During the first 3 or 4 years after we moved, not a week went by that I didn't see a mention in the paper of something happening on my old street, or on a street very nearby. It tapered off some since then but still comes up sometimes.

I knew it was bad--drugs, a couple of shootings, a rape, a car getting set on fire, reports of dog fighting--but somehow it never seemed that bad until we had been gone for a while and then went back to check on the house (it was vacant). After a few months away from there I was appalled at how bad it was.

[PepperElf]

Tested it on my location. Lots of arrests, lots of assault, including a recent one from 3 months ago. They have graffiti reports too; however the recent graffiti that was all over the houses up and down the street 3 months ago doesn't show up. Hm.

yeah i'm not sure how accurate that last one entirely is. i think it's extremely localized when you search.


So ... say I searched my mom's old apartment (I did) and found a fucking lot of assaults and arrests (seriously I'm glad she moved out of that pit - manager has a handle on the crime my fucking ass).

but it didn't show the crime in the other neighborhoods.

Then when I looked at an apartment complex for the elderly (same zip code as mom's old place - if mom or dad pass away the other might move there) it showed some local crime scattered throughout the area. but it didn't show the crime at the old apartment.


so you may have to search again to find more.

[hotelslave]

One of the plus sides of living in a small town? Where I live the police dept has a facebook page. On the 1st of every month they send a link where if you click it you can see every one who was arrested in Franklin that month. Apparently where I live there are a bunch of alcoholics who drink and drive.

[PepperElf]

i should check that out to see what we have here. I know you can look up the inmates at our jail - including photos, names, and crime convicted of. But our blotter is nonexistent. maybe it's on FB like yours is.


yep they do. In fact they just started a "click it or ticket" campaign yesterday. not much else yet tho cos they just opened the account this month

[PepperElf]

Been trying to read the crime stats on the local page for a bit... finally got it to load enough to get an official list of crimes reported in the area that seems to date back to early 2010. Which ... um yeah when I was still living there? Bleh.

I'll put * marks next to the ones I've already listed. And no, I'm not sure where "0 block" is. Maybe it's where Prisoner 0 lives.


And yes, I know fully well there are worse shitholes of crime out there. It just kinda hits hard a bit because this isn't really *too* far from where I grew up, same zip code even. When I was there as a child this area was almost boringly safe. Sure my parents sheltered me some as parents are suppose to but... it's a bit sad to see that the crime is just getting worse and worse.


And again I'm happy that I moved out and am now in an area that's safer. According to Anna the apartment manager, her boss has her keeping an eye on the local crime to keep this complex safe. That's one of the reasons why they pre-screen residents. They want to keep this area crime-free.


anyway here's the list:

1/13/2010 - Larceny, 200 block

3/22/2010 - Larceny, 100 block

4/23/2010 - Larceny, 0 block (listed twice)

5/14/2010 - Larceny, 200 block (listed 3 times)

6/16/2010 - Aggravated assault, 0 block (o look something different)

6/30/2010 - Larceny, 300 block (and back to larceny again)

7/16/2010 - Burglary, 100 block

9/3/2010 - Larceny, 0 block

10/14/2010 - Larceny, 0 block

12/10/2010 - I move the fuck out, yay!

5/3/2011 - Burglary, 100 block (listed twice) * (listed above)

6/11/2011 - Larceny, 200 block

6/16/2011 - Burglary, 400 block. (My old block. Glad I was already gone)

6/25/2011 - Larceny, 300 block

7/2/2011 - Vehicle theft, 0 block (looks like the crime's getting bigger now...)

7/17/2011 - Larceny, 200 block * (listed above)

10/25/2011 - Larceny, 0 block * (listed above)

1/18/2012 - Larceny, 100 block * (listed above)


Aside from one burglary and the unfortunate suicide it looks like everything I listed before was verified on the list here.... and lots more.


blah

[Jay 2K Winger]

I'll put * marks next to the ones I've already listed. And no, I'm not sure where "0 block" is. Maybe it's where Prisoner 0 lives.

Prisoner Zero lives in the Pond residence in Leadworth.

[Seshat]

In the crack in the wall.

[Seraph]

Oh snap, now you have me looking up stuff at my old places.

The apartment complex we were run out of (not the Domicile, amusedly) had someone, right at the same end of us....killed his wife, beat up the grandparents, and then kidnapped his daughter and took off.

...wow, I'm glad we got out of there.

[starsinthesky]

When my husband and I were engaged we were listening to the police scanner in his aunts truck going to my parents house to get something and heard a screwdriver stabbing reported at the apartments we just signed a lease on, and about 3 months before we moved out there was a homicide. We were relieved to find that it wasn't a random crime, but we couldn't wait to get the heck out.

[PepperElf]

Oh snap, now you have me looking up stuff at my old places.

The apartment complex we were run out of (not the Domicile, amusedly) had someone, right at the same end of us....killed his wife, beat up the grandparents, and then kidnapped his daughter and took off.

...wow, I'm glad we got out of there.

i dunno seraph, after the epic story... might be interesting to see what you can find for *that* place too.

unless of course that *is* the place you're talking about.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

I just checked my residence on SpotCrime.

4 shootings and 2 robberies in the last month within a half-mile radius.

So glad I'm moving at the end of June.