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Live in Seattle. Forgot to close the front door to our house for the weekend. Nothing stolen when we got back.
In 2021, Seattle has had over 6,000 instances of burglary. For reference, this is a bigger number than the same statistic for larger cities such as San Francisco and Dallas. It's probably not the best example.
I live in the Bay Area and it is REALLY weird how even though most of the Bay Area is dangerous, you can suddenly be really safe living ON A HILL, like even safer than the safe suburban towns of NJ. When you live on a hill, you feel more isolated and neighborhoods on hills are harder for rift rafts to discover. I live with my grandparents on a hill and I never heard of a single incident happening here, not even someone trespassing through an unlocked car.
My uncle lives on a hill in the city next to us and his hill is longer and steeper making his neighborhood more isolated and is more ritzy. He leaves the front door unlocked sometimes and is pretty lax and forgets to lock his door.
When I lived in my safe quaint NJ suburb, the land was flatter, so it was easier for incidents to happen. Nothing ever happens in my NJ town except for the rare car break ins / trespassing through unlocked cars that happen every year, but no house break ins. However, growing up there, we got solicitors (who knock on our door like cops, which scared the living hell outta me) sometimes and we had to keep our doors locked and we never answered the door.
About living in suburban New Jersey, I concur 100%. I would say further that most on this thread that reply "nowhere" haven't lived in a prosperous suburban northeast USA metropolitan area. It is entirely possible to drive from suburban Boston to central New Jersey and drive exclusively through zip codes where the median family income is six figures. You will find no property crime to speak of. The home I lived in suburban Philadelphia on the New Jersey side before I moved to New Mexico, I could have put a sign on my front yard announcing when my family would be at work, and what hours we returned, and I would guarantee there would be nothing taken from the house. I never saw so much as a homeless person panhandling in suburban New Jersey growing up or as an adult. My friends and family that live in suburban New Jersey to this day cannot relate to this concept. When towns are as small as they are in New Jersey, you are increasing police presence. Through roads exist for commercial, retail, and industrial usage. You have to make some effort to get in and out of a subdivision. Gated communities are next to non-existent. This comes with a cost: property taxes are onerous in New Jersey. Those proponents that live in the state will make this primary argument as the basis for choosing to live in New Jersey.
In 2021, Seattle has had over 6,000 instances of burglary. For reference, this is a bigger number than the same statistic for larger cities such as San Francisco and Dallas. It's probably not the best example.
It's entirely possible that incidences of burglary may vary widely among Seattle's neighborhoods, more so than SF and Dallas.
When you live here, you will understand. I never feel safe anywhere in the Bay Area unless I am on a hill. Actually the BART stations are safer than the Bay Area itself in my opinion lol. My mom's cousin who grew up in the Bay Area moved to South Florida, because she said living in the Bay Area is like walking on pins on needles. She is much happier in Florida with the safety, better party scene, and humid weather.
Safer in South Florida? Where does she live, in a gated retirement community?
My dad always told me a big rule when buying a house is: Do not live near a highway!
A highway gives a criminal a chance to drive away from your house and town as fast as they can.
Personally, I would never live in a wealthy neighborhood. A wealthy neighborhood is always a target for certain situations like rioting, looting, etc.
One of my sisters lived for several years in a house in Spokane that was on a corner directly across from a shopping mall. They were robbed twice in three years. It was just too easy for people to cross over from the mall parking lot and hit their house--the very first one anyone would come to--and then make a quick getaway.
My in-laws live in a corner lot in an overall nice and safe neighborhood in Orange County, but there are a number of things about their location that makes it vulnerable. They have only one next-door neighbor. There are no houses across the street in front of their house, nor on their other side (because there is a street there), nor behind them (just a hillside facing a major street). Their property has been vandalized numerous times over the years while the neighbors have had few to no incidents because again, their house is "exposed." In fact, when their tract was being developed, that was the last lot that was available. I suppose everyone else who bought in that neighborhood recognized that it was the least safe location.
There are certainly some scenarios where it makes sense that a door would be left unlocked.
- Suppose you are running an errand and you have a visitor coming over who will get to your house before you get back. It makes sense to leave the door unlocked so they can let themselves in
- If you are having a party and people are trickling in throughout the evening, there is no reason for the door to be left unlocked
- As has been mentioned in this thread, people who usually lock their doors sometimes make mistakes and forget to lock up
Of course I know there are reasons to leave your doors unlocked for a period of time that's why I asked if we were talking about leaving doors unlocked overnight and when no ones home.
Let me ask you guys this. What place would you feel comfortable leaving young kids sleeping overnight with your doors unlocked? What if you are a 20 year old woman living alone? What about an 80 year old? There are so many different living situations that I don't see how someone can just recommend a certain place without prefacing but only if you're a grown man with a gun living alone etc. Even then it's just delusional to think there is zero chance of something bad happening no matter where in the world you are.
Of course I know there are reasons to leave your doors unlocked for a period of time that's why I asked if we were talking about leaving doors unlocked overnight and when no ones home.
Let me ask you guys this. What place would you feel comfortable leaving young kids sleeping overnight with your doors unlocked?
I wouldn't do this anywhere, because I would be worried about the small children getting up and wandering outside. When our children were little, we put a chain high on the front door for this very reason.
I don't think anyone is "recommending" that others leave their doors unlocked. For instance, we lock our doors at night, but occasionally I find when I get up that one of the kids was up late and inadvertently left a door unlocked. I don't get hysterical about that, but I am not recommending it either.
People do what makes them feel comfortable and safe, wherever they are. When people say they'd like to live in a place where "people leave their doors unlocked," that doesn't mean they necessarily intend to leave their own doors unlocked there. Just that they like to know that it is a very safe, low-to-no-crime area where neighbors keep an eye out for each other.
I wouldn't do this anywhere, because I would be worried about the small children getting up and wandering outside. When our children were little, we put a chain high on the front door for this very reason.
I don't think anyone is "recommending" that others leave their doors unlocked. For instance, we lock our doors at night, but occasionally I find when I get up that one of the kids was up late and inadvertently left a door unlocked. I don't get hysterical about that, but I am not recommending it either.
People do what makes them feel comfortable and safe, wherever they are. When people say they'd like to live in a place where "people leave their doors unlocked," that doesn't mean they necessarily intend to leave their own doors unlocked there. Just that they like to know that it is a very safe, low-to-no-crime area where neighbors keep an eye out for each other.
You would only lock the doors so the kids don't go outside and not because you're worried about someone breaking in? I understand some people are using you can leave your doors unlocked more as a figure of speech but then you have a few people saying crazy stuff. Look at this post below.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare
You can do this virtually anywhere, even the hood. You just need to know 2 things, are your neighbors likely to steal from you (not immediate neighbors but the general neighborhood) yes or no. How difficult is it to find your house/location. If your making 7 turns past single family neighborhoods before getting to the Main Street, and your not worried about your neighbors, criminals would have to go out of their way to steal from you, and as many stats have shown criminals like easy targets. The exception is basically famous rappers were criminals will go out of their way to rob them it seems.
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