Safest parts of Hampton Roads Area

[tvpirate05]

Every city has their good and bad areas.

Newport News is known for the moderately high number of murders of 2007 (about 33 IIRC). However, if you break that down, I'd say at least 20 happened in the "East End" section, known for being the ghetto.

Like some mentioned, Kiln Creek is very nice, and there are some really nice neighborhoods near Oyster Point and Patrick Henry Mall, not to mention on Warwick Blvd. past CNU (near Menchville).

Conversely, Chesapeake and V.B. are two very nice, suburban, and fairly diverse cities. However, there's sections in both cities that may not be as bad as East End, but it's not necessarily somewhere you want to travel if you're unfamiliar.

This is a big area. You might wanna make a list of everything you look for in a place to live (i.e. schools, commute, shopping), and the posters can probably help you from there. Good luck!

[ToughLuv]

Originally Posted by tvpirate05

Every city has their good and bad areas.

Newport News is known for the moderately high number of murders of 2007 (about 33 IIRC). However, if you break that down, I'd say at least 20 happened in the "East End" section, known for being the ghetto.

Yea this is a big misconseption people have about Newport News, I see it get constantly labeled as "bad" or "dangerous" when it really isnt for the most part, it's really just the East End area putting up these numbers and the Denbigh area giving them a boost..You avoid both of these ends of the city and I wont say you'll be crime free, but you definetly wouldnt be have to worry about a crime problem, specially murders..

[Jwbagz21]

Originally Posted by ToughLuv

Yea this is a big misconseption people have about Newport News, I see it get constantly labeled as "bad" or "dangerous" when it really isnt for the most part, it's really just the East End area putting up these numbers and the Denbigh area giving them a boost..You avoid both of these ends of the city and I wont say you'll be crime free, but you definetly wouldnt be have to worry about a crime problem, specially murders..

As a member of law enforcement I can say that this quote is pretty accurate. Newport News is 3 miles wide but 27 tall. Thats a lot of in between regarding East End and certain parts of Denbigh. If you use comon sense, you'll be safe for the most part; unless your like me and its your job to be there lol.

[TransplantSC]

You need to stay in Virginia Beach and my suggestion (in this order) would be the Great Neck Area, Cox, First Colonial, Kellam area, and Ocean Lakes. The names are affiliated with High Schools. This is the wealthier parts of town and also close to the beach. If you can't afford this area then I would definitely look in Kempsville.....
I would stay in Virginia Beach if you could....

[jdlarocque]

OK, my husband and I are moving to Hampton sometime within the next couple of months. He is already there and his job is on the border of Newport News and Hampton. We have 3 kids 10yrs, 3yrs and 10 months. So schools are very important. We also have two dogs a St Bernard and a shep/lab mix. We can not afford to pay over 1000 in rent per month but would prefer to be in a safe neighborhood. The people he works with have told him to stay out of Newport News. What would you all suggest for us?

[Mr Williamsburg]

You may want to check out this link to the Daily Press Crime Watch -- dailypress.com
It will show what crimes have been reported in the follwoing areas: James City County, Newport News, Chesapeake, and Norfolk. They will be adding other cities to it in time. Do realize that all crimes will be reported/ indicated on the site no matter how petty or small. So read it with that in mind.

You should also check the Virginia State Police Sex Offender Registry for the State of Virginia or any other state you are considering moving to. Here is the link for the State of Virginia Sex Offender Registry Search (http://sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor/html/search.htm - broken link) If you then click on the map icon you can enter a homes address and see if there are any offenders in the immediate area. Again realize that all convicted offenses are reported. Sex betweeen an 18 year old and a 17 year old is considered a crime and some of the offenses are for this. I'm sure that some done that in the past !

[adctvmonkey]

The safest areas of HR in general in no particular order would be Williamsburg/James City County, Yorktown/York County, Poquoson, Smithfield/Isle of Wight County, areas of Suffolk outside of its downtown, Western Chesapeake, Chesapeake south of the I-64 beltway, Northern Virginia Beach, and Virginia Beach south of Lynnhaven Parkway. But you need to mention specific areas that you plan on living in so that we could offer more assistance.

[thorntonm]

I've lived and worked at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront for 13 years -

Just to give you an idea of how safe this area is...If you look at a mapquest map of the area, the whole area bordered by Thalia Rd (right by the western branch of the Lynnhaven River inlet) to the Ocean, and from 264 north to the bay is incredibly safe. You could also draw a line along London Bridge Road and keep extending it south to NC...everything to the east of that is pretty safe. The only shakey thing in that entire area is really the Virginia Beach Blvd corrider from First Colonial to the Oceanfront, probably worst around the Birdneck Blvd intersection, and even that's not that bad. I wouldn't live in some of those complexes (Atlantis, Friendship Village, Pipers Cresc., etc), but to walk and drive around in the daytime it's fine.

I always found this amazing, this has gotta be one of the safest oceanfront cities in America. That's not to say there aren't "incidents" at night at the Oceanfront (come down on a 4th of July weekend after dark if you really want to see the idiots). And in the areas in the city west of where I mentioned there are definitely some rough patches, but for the most part we've got an incredibly safe city.