Blog #3: How safe is the neighborhood? Wait, I can tell you.

How safe is the neighborhood? Wait, I can tell you.
Kaitlyn Toomes
February 4, 2011
4:26PM

Crime All Mapped Out

How safe do you think your neighborhood really is? Well, if you are currently living in England or Wales you can now find out that information by simply typing your postcode into a new website. The website, www.police.uk , allows citizens to discover the rampant crime occurring all across their neighborhoods. The website looks at six crime categories: "Antisocial Behaviour, Burglary, Robbery, Vehicle Crime, Violent Crime and Other Crime." After visiting the website I can understand why it "crashed within hours of going online as millions of people tried to access the service." After all, any individual in the world can look up the crime occurring in any neighborhood in England and Wales. Even an American sociology student planning to study aboard in England next year.

After reading this article I thought I might as well check out how Keele University in England is doing. I plan on studying aboard there next spring and thought I should make sure I am going into a safe neighborhood. Here is what I discovered: burglary 15, anti-social behaviour 14, robbery 1, vehicle crime 1, violent crime 8, and other crime 21. Now as I sat gaping at the neighborhood I was planning on living in and all its pretty multicolored dots, pointing to the areas of crime in question, I realized this was a bigger problem than I anticipated. Originally I had planned on writing my blog about all the crime happening in Egypt. However, I realize the world accepts crime as a social problem, but how about mass hysteria. To be a social problem the problem must be solvable, but is showing the world every piece of crime committed in their neighborhood helping the problem, or causing unneeded unrest? I can tell you every house within a mile radius of my home that has a sex offender residing inside. I can tell you what neighborhoods I will not be walking into, and which areas to stray from because of our countries National Sex Offender Registry. Now I have to wonder if individuals are willing to avoid neighborhoods because they know of one or two individuals living there who have committed crimes would they be willing to stay if they knew every crime that was being committed in their neighborhoods. So by trying to solve one social problem are we creating another? I recognize that not everyone is going to uproot and move; however, there will be some who do, some who are a bit more watchful than they used to be, a little less laughter from kids playing outside, and a more guarded approach to outsiders. This not only effects the residents of these neighborhoods, it also effects anyone planning on moving into the area or visiting. Furthermore, what about privacy. Is telling the world where all the crime is in a neighborhood really keeping that neighborhood private? Where does the line of neighborhood privacy and the line of knowledge the neighborhood deserves to know meet? I have a year until i leave for England, but I can tell you one thing - I will not be out walking at night in my neighborhood.


If you are curious:
http://www.police.uk/
Keele University:


Source:
Battle Crime All Mapped Out
Button, L. (2011, February 3). Battle crime all mapped out. Retrieved from http://www.ryeandbattleobserver.co.uk/news/local-
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