Cocoa Beach crime? (Orlando, Melbourne, Merritt Island: rent, hotels, income)

[aliciamaya]

Hey guys,
My fiancé & I are headed to Cocoa Beach in a little over a week. His grandmother has a timeshare there and this has been planned for awhile.

I got a call from my mom earlier saying that Cocoa Beach -- of all places -- is now experiencing an alarming crime rate and influx of armed robberies in the past few months, according to a segment on Fox News. From what I've researched, Cocoa Beach is a very touristy area and I didn't even remotely expect crime to be bad there.

Now we are considering calling it off. I was already robbed at gunpoint earlier this year and I'm still having issues with that... I can't help but take it as a sign and think that I'll be driving down there to my death.

Can anyone give some insight on this? We leave next Saturday.
Thanks a ton!

[sponger42]

LOL. CCB doesn't have any crime. At least not compared to where I live (Urban Los Angeles). I suppose things could have changed, but I doubt it. The beach areas are quite low-crime, but some of the inland communities might have a higher rate of drug use and the associated criminal element.

Sorry to hear about your scare, but try not to let it ruin your life. Maybe seek some counseling?

CCB is a nice place to visit, and I really enjoyed living there. I lived in the seedier areas of Cape Canaveral for several years and never had any problems.

If you're really worried about it, just stay south. Cape Canaveral is the lower-income area near the Port, and it has a higher crime rate, but nothing to worry about. Anywhere in the area of the CCB pier (near RonJons) or south of there is fine.

I would also recommend against using Fox News as a source for information. Think of it more as an entertainment channel.

[macguy]

Originally Posted by aliciamaya

Hey guys,
My fiancé & I are headed to Cocoa Beach in a little over a week. His grandmother has a timeshare there and this has been planned for awhile.

I got a call from my mom earlier saying that Cocoa Beach -- of all places -- is now experiencing an alarming crime rate and influx of armed robberies in the past few months, according to a segment on Fox News. From what I've researched, Cocoa Beach is a very touristy area and I didn't even remotely expect crime to be bad there.

Now we are considering calling it off. I was already robbed at gunpoint earlier this year and I'm still having issues with that... I can't help but take it as a sign and think that I'll be driving down there to my death.

Can anyone give some insight on this? We leave next Saturday.
Thanks a ton!

I don't know about crime but the main activity there seems to be drinking.

[compelled to reply]

Crime in Cocoa Beach by Year
Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Murders 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
per 100,000 0.0 14.6 0.0 7.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Rapes 3 7 9 8 16 12 15 9
per 100,000 23.6 51.1 70.3 61.3 125.6 94.4 116.5 71.2
Robberies 15 29 22 16 24 22 29 19
per 100,000 118.0 211.8 171.8 122.6 188.4 173.1 225.3 150.3
Assaults 70 93 106 87 82 92 87 96
per 100,000 550.7 679.1 827.8 666.6 643.7 724.0 675.9 759.2
Burglaries 127 134 128 128 134 130 98 115
per 100,000 999.1 978.5 999.6 980.7 1052.0 1023.0 761.3 909.5
Thefts 841 767 793 832 735 658 695 871
per 100,000 6615.8 5601.0 6192.9 6374.5 5770.1 5177.8 5399.3 6888.1
Auto thefts 46 37 37 48 40 28 35 70
per 100,000 361.9 270.2 288.9 367.8 314.0 220.3 271.9 553.6
Arson 1 1 1 1 2 0 2 3
per 100,000 7.9 7.3 7.8 7.7 15.7 0.0 15.5 23.7
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 358.6) 527.9 583.6 614.1 587.5 615.3 568.6 587.0 637.3

Looks like it's not bad as far as murderers and burglars, but everything else is high. However I used to go there when I lived in Orlando and never recall feeling unsafe.

[kwick release]

There is a difference in crime rates between Cocoa (2006 Crime Index 985) and Cocoa Beach (2006 Crime Index 637). Last time I was in Cocoa Beach it seemed safe. Check out Satellite Beach (2006 Crime Index 214) and Melbourne Beach (2006 Crime Index 84) if you are worried about the crime.




Prodromos Borboroglu

[lovethebeach]

People who are not from the Space Coast often confuse Cocoa and Cocoa Beach. Cocoa is on the mainland. If you cross two bridges and pass through Merritt Island, then you are in Cocoa Beach. Cocoa has higher crime. It just had some armed robberies recently. They were in a Super 8 motel off of I-95 in Cocoa and a Best Western in the same area. A third was at a Best Western in West Cocoa. Later in the week they hit two more hotels. Police think the motels were targeted becase "of thier lack of security tools and their remote locations". According to yesterday's Florida Today newspaper Cocoa police are now enforcing a old law from the early 30's that says you cannot wear a mask in public places. (This law was set up to combat the KKK.)

I feel very safe in Cocoa Beach. There are always people on the sidewalks and lots of tourist activity in the northern part by Ron Jons. As you get further south it gets more residential and is also nice.

[aliciamaya]

Thanks a ton for your replies! And thanks for your suggestion too, sponger. I admit you're absolutely right..

lovethebeach, that's the same story I heard about. Some guys in Halloween masks robbing shady motels.. I was able to differentiate between Cocoa and Cocoa Beach but I wasn't sure just how proximal they were to each other.

What about Merritt Island? I noticed that a lot of the things we want to do are located there. Either way, I think we're going ahead with it.
Thanks again!!