Crime Stats accurate for NoVA? (Arlington, Alexandria: sales, rental, sex offenders)

[TampaGirl99]

Hi,
This is only my second post, and love the site. Everyone is so helpful, so I thought this site could help.

We are relocating to NoVa from Florida and are looking for a safe neighborhood to raise our 11 year old son. I have been using Welcome to CrimeReports.com to identify crime in NoVa neighborhoods. It maps crimes, including sex offenders, based on actual crimes committed in each area. This information (and schooling) will help me to select a neighborhood. However, I am starting to question the completeness of the data on the website. So I thought I would post to this board for a reality check.

I rely heavily on sex offenders data to help me decide on a location. While I am not familiar with NoVa, I am familiar with my current location, and this is what I have found: more sex offenders are in areas that have lower cost housing, have higher crime, and are more run down areas. I'm not debating the cause; these are just observations of what I see in my area, here in Florida.

Based on CrimeReports website, would my observations still hold true in NoVa area (i.e., Fairfax and Prince William counties)? Since my rental budget is limited (about $2,000/month), I am forced to be very careful about my selection.

I hope I have not offended anyone by my comments. It was not my intention.

Thanks.
Sorry for such a long post.

[Caladium]

I don't know anything about that particular site, so can't help you there. FWIW, Nova is mostly a low crime area. There are no areas that are really bad. There are a few neighborhoods that are mildly sketchy (petty crime, etc.). If you tell us specific neighborhoods, we can tell you what the crime is like there.

[HokieFan]

Try Virginia State Police

You can search by zip code.

[Bigfoot424]

Depending on what stats you believe it's possible anywhere from 10-50 of most crimes go unreported. There are a variety of reasons but I do know for a fact that people don't call to report many crimes. Car break in, vandalism etc. That said. It's pretty accurate for all areas so the real numbers are likely higher wherever you look. As far as child molesters go you will find them most anywhere. The numbers are generally higher in neighborhoods closer to courts, govt centers and jails as that's generally places where they have to check in with their PO's and such.

[cdmurphy]

I don't know if you're looking in Loudoun, but CrimeReports.com is one tool that the LoCo Sheriff's Office uses to publish crime stats. Here's some information from LCSO about the data pushed to CrimeReports.com: Loudoun County Office of the Sheriff -- Crime Reports (http://www.loudoun.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=2290 - broken link). I would guess that the data on CrimeReports.com from Loudoun County is pretty reliable, but I don't know about other NoVA counties' relationship with the site.

[djmont]

Crime in general is very low in Northern Virginia, so I wouldn't be overly concerned about it. If you explore a neighborhood and it looks good to you, it probably is.

Just FWIW, in my neighborhood of Reston (an area with very low crime) 3 BR townhouses usually rent for around $1700-$1800. So there are definitely areas in your price range that you could feel very safe in.

[TampaGirl99]

Thanks for eveyone's input. I really appreciate it.

We don't have a specific area identified yet. More than likely it will be along I-66 from Centreville to 495 since hubby is in in-home sales and travels a lot so it'll be nice to have quick access to I-66. I've pretty much have crossed off I-95 off the list because of traffic congestion and lower standard of living (crime, sex offenders). not to offend, but i have limited information to make a decision. It has to be made prior to moving up to NoVa. UGH... Though it looks like there are a lot of nice neighborhoods, I crossed off the Dulles Toll Road because of the tolls. $4/day in tolls is about $100/month in extra expenses. It's unfortunate to have to watch expenses. :P Maybe we can look along Route 7 in ? (Loudoun) county.

cdmurphy, i'll look into Loudoun county. we have about $2100/month available for 1800-2200 sq ft. cost may preclude us from that area.

Bigfoot, you bring up a great point about unreported crime. Never thought of that.

[djmont]

Just an FYI -- commuting along I-66 is horrible. But if you don't have a choice, you don't have a choice.

[Middlin]

Even a couple of miles in this area can mean 30 minutes or more of commute time. If your husband knows the areas he will have to be driving to most of the time and you give us some criteria that you're looking for on top of the budget, you could get some suggestions.


Getting onto 66 in Centreville during the morning rush could mean 1 hour to the beltway

[chariega]

i agree with the Reston suggestion for your budget. it's not too bad of a commute for your family and it's a nice area. If you husband does in-home sales, you wouldn't want to be any more west or north than that, depending on where his sales are.

Generally though, with sales you never know, you might have to go south down 95, north or east to MD, DC, Alexandria or Arlington so it's always best to be in the most strategic area, which would probably be along 495 West (Falls Church, Vienna/McLean, etc.). That's where it's tricky to find a place in your price point. The ads here on CD say that Amberleigh has 3 bdr apts. Not sure how much they rent for or the sq. footage, but I've seen the neighborhood, it's decent and in a convenient location for commuting pretty much anywhere in the area, plus it's not far from the Metro.

good luck with your move!