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Hello. I absolutely love Hillsborough and am scouting properties so I can move there with my daughter as soon as we can. My only concern is the high crime rate as listed in city-data and other places. It appears to be high in general and is certainly high relative to where I currently live (a suburb of metro DC that has somehow managed to dodge the overall increases in crime elsewhere.) We literally never lock anything and everyone knows it. The other day I went hiking with my dogs -- in a complicated dance to juggle several things getting them out of the car, I inadvertently left the sliding door to my van wide open with my purse in plain site! the van was parked in a busy lot at a trailhead for nearly 90 minutes and no one touched it (they probably thought it was a set-up because who could possibly be that stupid???)
Anyway, I am hoping some of you natives and long timers could enlighten me and put my concerns to rest? I know that anywhere we go we will probably have to change our ways but if there is anything in particular I should be prepared for, I'd like to know now.
Ratherride, I honestly don't think you have too much to worry about. I lived in Hillsborough in '06 & '07 and found it to be a lovely town. I haven't seen the crime statistics for Hillsborough lately, but I checked them out a little over a year ago and felt that they did not reflect reality. It feels very safe to me. I wonder if the numbers may be inflated because the county courthouse & jail are there.
As I said, I felt very safe in Hillsborough, but I would suggest that you keep you doors locked there just in case (cars, house, garage, etc.). One day during our last summer in Hillsborough, our neighborhood was hit by theives who look a number of items out of open garages and unlocked cars. Granted, that was just one incident, but it only takes one. Better to simply keep things locked just in case.
Hello. I absolutely love Hillsborough and am scouting properties so I can move there with my daughter as soon as we can. My only concern is the high crime rate as listed in city-data and other places. It appears to be high in general and is certainly high relative to where I currently live (a suburb of metro DC that has somehow managed to dodge the overall increases in crime elsewhere.) We literally never lock anything and everyone knows it. The other day I went hiking with my dogs -- in a complicated dance to juggle several things getting them out of the car, I inadvertently left the sliding door to my van wide open with my purse in plain site! the van was parked in a busy lot at a trailhead for nearly 90 minutes and no one touched it (they probably thought it was a set-up because who could possibly be that stupid???)
Anyway, I am hoping some of you natives and long timers could enlighten me and put my concerns to rest? I know that anywhere we go we will probably have to change our ways but if there is anything in particular I should be prepared for, I'd like to know now.
Thanks!
Have never worried about crime living in Hillsborough feels very safe to me.
I am always amazed though about stories of people leaving doors unlocked...not the van incident, obvious an accident, but the mention of leaving your home unlocked all the time.
In my mid-forties I guess I have to consider myself middleaged now and I have literally NEVER left my house knowingly unlocked. Not when I was a 12 year old "latch key kid", not in my 20's, 30's or now. Not in any home in any of the 7 states I have lived in at any time.
Crime can happen anywhere to anyone and leaving your doors unlocked and "trusting" in the safety of a given locale is only asking for trouble.
Thanks, folks! I do feel better. And, to bluedevilz, I do understand your point about asking for trouble if you don't lock things. I guess for me it is not so much a matter of being patholgically trusting -- although I do like to expect the best of people -- as it is my sense that I don't like to have my home feel like a fortress if I don't have to. It's like punishing myself because other people are lawbreakers. A part of me is so resistant to that idea that I think, "If you think you need my stuff so badly that you would break in to take it -- well, then, take it (but I am NOT going to live in fear that you might!)" Impractical in this world, I know, but that is how I feel.
I'm not a complete nut, though. I used to live in downtown DC and in Los Angeles and I had to lock everything all the time. Hated it, but I did it. And I guess I'll do it in Hillsborough, too -- boo hoo.
Wish us luck in finding a house in Hillsborough -- Cheers!
We were interested in moving to Hillsborough and I was concerned about the crime statistics. I talked with the Hillsborough police department and found them quite helpful.
I'm not a complete nut, though. I used to live in downtown DC and in Los Angeles and I had to lock everything all the time. Hated it, but I did it. And I guess I'll do it in Hillsborough, too -- boo hoo. Wish us luck in finding a house in Hillsborough -- Cheers!
Ratherride, I too used to live in DC, and also right outside of New Orleans (talk about crime!). In comparison...well, there is no comparison! Hillsborough is a small town, and I too question how the stats are gathered b/c it really doesn't represent what's really the case. I can tell you, from working with the HPD, that they have done a very good job and have really worked with the Orange County Sheriffs Department as well (more so than most city to county law enforcement does). They have worked very hard in regards to keeping gangs out so far, and realize that is a major threat to all towns so the PD is really aggressively attacking anything that seems gang related. That said, there are (as in any) areas that have more issues than others. I have said before, there are areas off Hwy 70 that you need to be aware have more problems than others. Feel free to DM me as you find houses in or around Hillsborough. I help you out as best I can.
Thanks, folks! I do feel better. And, to bluedevilz, I do understand your point about asking for trouble if you don't lock things. I guess for me it is not so much a matter of being patholgically trusting -- although I do like to expect the best of people -- as it is my sense that I don't like to have my home feel like a fortress if I don't have to. It's like punishing myself because other people are lawbreakers. A part of me is so resistant to that idea that I think, "If you think you need my stuff so badly that you would break in to take it -- well, then, take it (but I am NOT going to live in fear that you might!)" Impractical in this world, I know, but that is how I feel.
I'm not a complete nut, though. I used to live in downtown DC and in Los Angeles and I had to lock everything all the time. Hated it, but I did it. And I guess I'll do it in Hillsborough, too -- boo hoo.
Wish us luck in finding a house in Hillsborough -- Cheers!
It's taken me a while in life to finally understand Bluedevilz' point of view, but I now share it . . .
Even growing up in a community that has repeatedly been ranked as the "safest in the nation" by the folks at Morgan Quitno (Cary is number 8 this year), crime happened.
When I grew up, we never locked the doors, until . . .
One night, someone walked into our house while we were all sleeping upstairs, took the phones of the hook, rolled up an expensive persian carpet, and walked out . . . hit three houses that night, all of which had unlocked front doors. We were lucky that we remained asleep and didn't provoke any potentially harmful or fatal confrontation . . .
just depends on your personality as far as locking or leaving house unlocked. I moved from Miami to a little country place in the outskirts of NC (not hillsborough) with 0 crime - no murders, robbiers, rape, etc in the last few years.. i think there was a larceny though.. anyways.. when i bought the house they told me they don't use deadbolts on any house because this is not a "high crime area".. nevertheless, I replaced ALL the locks with deadbolts on my own and make sure they're always locked whether I'm home or not.
Point of my story.. Hillsborough is an okay place to live in but ALWAYS keeps your doors locked anyways!!
There are drug users and crime in Hillsborough as well as practically everywhere else. I lock my door. (As a former New Yorker who has been stolen from in Brooklyn, rural Virginia, and a hotel in Rochester, NY, I will probably be eternally vigilant.)
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but if there is anything in particular I should be prepared for, I'd like to know now. 
