Quote:
Originally Posted by Phriend
It seems that a lot of beach towns have high crime rates. Is this sort of "beach crime" something that I should be concerned about if I were to become a resident of one of these cities?
How should I interpret the high crime rates that I typically see in so many beach towns? Does "beach crime" differ in any way from the crime that typically occurs in other cities?
Please help!!!  |
Case study (well mine anyway)
Lauderdale By the Sea (touristy community) vs Hillsboro Beach (beachside residential) vs Pembroke Pines (non coastal typical commuter suburb, used as a comparison)
Crime in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (2001):
* 0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
* 3 rapes (114.1 per 100,000)
* 7 robberies (266.3 per 100,000)
* 8 assaults (304.3 per 100,000)
* 41 burglaries (1559.5 per 100,000)
* 108 thefts (4108.0 per 100,000)
* 23 auto thefts (874.9 per 100,000)
* City-data.com crime index = 575.5 (higher means more crime, US average = 330.8)
Crime in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (2002):
* 0 murders (0.0 per 100,000)
* 2 rapes (74.6 per 100,000)
* 7 robberies (261.1 per 100,000)
* 15 assaults (559.5 per 100,000)
* 40 burglaries (1492.0 per 100,000)
* 124 thefts (4625.1 per 100,000)
* 13 auto thefts (484.9 per 100,000)
* City-data.com crime index = 578.1 (higher means more crime, US average = 328.4)
(no later data unfortunately)
Crime in Hillsboro Beach by Year
Type 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Murders 0 0 0 0 0 0
per 100,000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Rapes 0 0 0 2 1 0
per 100,000 0.0 0.0 0.0 86.4 42.3 0.0
Robberies 1 0 0 0 0 0
per 100,000 45.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Assaults 0 1 1 1 1 3
per 100,000 0.0 44.2 43.2 43.2 42.3 126.7
Burglaries 4 2 5 2 6 3
per 100,000 180.3 88.4 216.0 86.4 253.7 126.7
Thefts 20 18 14 8 16 14
per 100,000 901.3 795.8 604.8 345.7 676.5 591.2
Auto thefts 3 5 0 2 1 1
per 100,000 135.2 221.0 0.0 86.4 42.3 42.2
Arson 0 0 0 0 0 0
per 100,000 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 239.8) 73.0 64.5 47.9 104.6 90.5 61.2
Crime in Pembroke Pines by Year
Type 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Murders 0 2 3 3 0 1 6 1
per 100,000 0.0 1.6 2.1 2.1 0.0 0.7 3.9 0.7
Rapes 31 25 14 20 23 23 25 15
per 100,000 26.5 19.5 9.9 13.9 15.4 15.1 16.3 9.8
Robberies 73 94 130 121 132 113 95 134
per 100,000 62.5 73.3 92.2 84.2 88.4 74.2 61.9 87.6
Assaults 186 281 203 234 239 264 227 213
per 100,000 159.1 219.1 144.0 162.8 160.1 173.4 147.9 139.3
Burglaries 686 614 620 675 618 619 743 831
per 100,000 587.0 478.7 439.8 469.7 413.9 406.6 484.1 543.4
Thefts 2,794 2,281 3,470 3,091 3,291 3,221 3,295 3,581
per 100,000 2390.7 1778.3 2461.2 2150.8 2204.0 2115.8 2146.7 2341.8
Auto thefts 603 556 639 607 511 478 433 474
per 100,000 516.0 433.5 453.2 422.4 342.2 314.0 282.1 310.0
Arson 26 9 12 29 40 15 14 15
per 100,000 22.2 7.0 8.5 20.2 26.8 9.9 9.1 9.8
City-data.com crime index (higher means more crime, U.S. average = 323.2) 249.8 223.8 234.1 225.8 215.4 208.6 211.3 219.8
Lauderdale By The Sea, as a resort "beach town", has a very transient population. There is a large motel presence, a fair amount of vagrancy as a more commercial city, and tourists tend to get robbed or become victims of petty theft more often than the general population in any given area (not just in Florida). But also, Lauderdale By the Sea (like other tourist areas) also has a way higher than average cop-to-citizen ratio, so more burglars get nabbed and light duty robberies might have a tendency to get reported way more than other areas.
Officers per 1,000 residents here: 9.75
US city average: 3.00
Hillsboro Beach is almost exclusively residential. It's almost more like a typical "bedroom community" although it happens to be on the coast, although it's notable that there is a large snowbird population.
In Pembroke Pines, the population is more similar to a "typical" suburban community, with a large population loss during the day due to commuting. Because it is larger in population, there is also a lower ratio of police. You also have more teenagers who might be into petty crime and criminals driving in from inner city areas to partake in a fast food restaurant robbery and the occasional home invasion, but the crime rate could be described as below average as a mostly middle class, residential community, with most crimes occurring when people are at work, as is the structure of a typical suburb.
I hope this helps.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
