The truth about Waldorf, MD?

[dvw20748]

Interesting analysis....I started viewing the website looking at the crime statistics in the Waldorf area. My home is currently on the market(Temple Hills) for sale and plan on moving to Waldorf Md.

My neighborhood is a mixed neighborhood but all of a sudden has been infested with a large Hispanic population. Hoping when I move to Waldorf I don't run into the same problem. Jumping out the fire into the frying pan!

I happen to love Waldorf and do all of my shopping there....

[dvw20748]

Look don't worry yourself in a frenzy...I am selling my home and moving to Waldorf from Temple Hills Md. Waldorf is a nice place

There is a guy that I was in the Police Dept that lives there....it is like any other place with crime. But the police there don't play!

[fjennell]

dvw...i don't want to bust your bubble or discourage you but i have to disagree. there are not enough cops in charles county for them to "not play" - it's sad, but there's just not. we need way more and most of the charles county cops don't live in the county either. they are steadily moving out because they don't want to raise their own families there. I'm afraid you will most likely feel like running from waldorf just as you are from temple hills in a matter of time. There definitely needs to be some public office changes made so make sure you vote for whoever is not already in office when you get here!

[cworkerbea]

Waldorf is ok it is not ghetto...but dont commute to Alexandria

Originally Posted by speshelly

Hey guys!
My husband and I are relocating to Southern Maryland in a month or so, he'll be working in La Plata but I'm still not sure what I'll be doing. I might be transferring my job to our office in Alexandria, and may get stuck commuting...UGH!!! I hear it's 90 minutes some days? Is this really true??

We have 2 small children, but won't have to worry about schools right now. We only plan to rent for a year at the longest. We are just looking for a place to land and get settled temporarily. We've already spent 3 days in town for the interview, and even met with a realtor to check out La Plata. We fell in love with the town, and we plan to buy there eventually...but in the meantime we are going to rent (until our house in Orlando sells). We've spent hours and hours combing rental homes in La Plata but have had to expand the search radius because there are so few homes for rent there. So of course, Waldorf keeps coming up because it has plenty of really great looking (and huge) homes available for rent, for even better prices...

However, I have randomly asked no less then a half dozen people about Waldorf (all locals to that area of course) and every single person said the SAME thing!!!

We heard:
"...stay away from Waldorf!!!"
"...it tends to be ghetto"
"...stay away from new construction homes and stick with established neighborhoods"

What is the deal!?!? What do they mean by ghetto? Are we talking drive by shootings and muggings or just blue color workers? Are a majority of neighborhoods accepting Section 8 vouchers? We spent some time in Waldorf (but only on the main drag), so we didn't actually see any neighborhoods. But all the people we saw seemed normal, and no one stood out as sketchy or "ghetto". We didn't see any trashy cars or anything that set off red flags, so what's the deal?

Can someone who lives in that area please explain what these people mean by "ghetto"??? Thank you so much for your time!!!

[Mom21]

dvw...i don't want to bust your bubble or discourage you but i have to disagree. there are not enough cops in charles county for them to "not play" - it's sad, but there's just not. we need way more and most of the charles county cops don't live in the county either. they are steadily moving out because they don't want to raise their own families there. I'm afraid you will most likely feel like running from waldorf just as you are from temple hills in a matter of time. There definitely needs to be some public office changes made so make sure you vote for whoever is not already in office when you get here!

This couldn't be further from the truth. First of all, I live in what is "considered" to be a "dicey" area of Waldorf, and I have friends all over the Waldorf/LaPlata area. The police are quite aggressive in Charles County. If you read the Sheriff's website you will note that a very large majority of crimes are solved, and the perps arrested. I think one of the reasons for this is that in Charles County, people talk, and they gossip. So the "low down" on crimes becomes public knowledge pretty quickly. There are not many murders that take place in Charles County (singles digits for most, if not all, of the last 10 years - PLEASE NOTE I SAID "MOST"), and there is only one unsolved murder during that time perid.

The Charles County Sheriff's website gives this information, but you pretty much have to follow it consistently because they don't keep good historical data. You might see a press release regarding a crime, or a crime solved, but you can't always find it some years later.

I also attend a lot of meetings held for county residents. These meetings are very informative, and though the participation rate is poor, it gives you a good feel for what is happening in the county by talking to people from different communities. The last meeting I attended was actually my HOA where there was an excellent dialogue with Sheriff Coffey. That night he was going to attend three HOA meetings, so that in itself shows that he is trying to get out there to the people. I think the police do an very good job in my community.

That's also not true about police not living there. The majority do, as was discussed at one of the meetings I attended. They gave actual figures.

[Newdaawn]

I've been reading over this site on MD and am amazed. I guess living in Northern New England has isolated us from what goes on in heavily populated areas. I hope you find a place to live that feels safe for you. One thing I would recommend is that you find work closer to your home. I can't imagine commuting over an hour to and from work with 2 little kids in day care of whatever. It would be very much less "stressful" for you to know you could get back to them within a half hour or so if need be. Good luck and don't put unneeded pressure on yourself with so much time on the road.

[cuatdabch]

whatever you do you should expand your search maybe to st marys co or calvert county. I grew up in waldorf in the 70s when it was a good place for that generation to raise kids. its not that way anymore. It is not a safe place to be yes they have had shootings and more it seems as time goes on. robberies are up including daytime do yourself a favor with your family and dont put yourself through that. try somd.com go to classifieds and find the rental area. you can find something much better outside of waldorf where you will feel at peace.