What makes Arlington, Fairfax and the rest of NoVA so safe? (Manassas: crime, house)

[rsh56]

Before moving to MD to be closer to us, my uncle use to live in Falls Church, Springfield and worked in Arlington (Rosslyn). He would always tell even at the dead of night it would be safe to walk in these areas. I'm assuming Loudoun County, PWC are safe as well. He really didn't have any straight answer as to why it was so safe. There had been petty thefts here and there like anywhere else but nothing that would harm a certain individual. Here in MD things are a bit different in certain areas (Bethesda is probably the safest area in MoCo) but they are always targeted.

So what do many of you think why NoVA tends to be some of the safest areas in the DC metro?

[brava4]

I know that Arlington claims to have had "0" murders for 2011. I'm personally happy about that since I live in Arlington. I also live down the block from the police station so that adds to my feeling safe. I work late hrs and have never felt unsafe at all.

I can't speak to the other counties. Personally, I don't know how safe I would feel in certain areas of South Arlington.

[melaniey]

Crime is usually associated with densely populate area with a lot of low-income residents.
Safe areas are usually either rural/suburb area or more affluent area.

NOVA is definitely affluent and the border of NOVA on the east and north are high-income area (Montgomery county and SW DC). The west and south of NOVA are rural and safe area.

[Carlingtonian]

I don't know when your uncle was living in FC and working in Rosslyn, but Arlington is not as safe as it might seem. A guy named Carl Diener was robbed and murdered in Lyon Village in 2009. That's one of most expensive areas of Arlington. It was in the wee hours, and he was on the way to his job opening the Sport & Health Club on N. Kirkwood at Washington Boulevard. Two lowlife animals from Maryland were looking for someone to rob, and there he was.

OK, so perhaps that's an outlier. But still, there are lots of sexual assaults, muggings, beatings, and innumerable property crimes. Sorry to be such a downer, but it's true. They just don't publicize it that much. When we lived in supposedly tony 22207 (in a tiny fixer-upper) there was a spate of attacks on women, wherein the assailant would sneak up behind them and throw a bag over their heads. Scary stuff. I recall a woman was recently tackled near Court House Metro but either extricated herself or was helped by passersby. There was a similar incident in Crystal City about a month ago. And there have been so many random gropings on bike paths that they hardly get any attention anymore.

Now compared to Suitland or Gallery Place, most places in NOVA are positively South Dakotan!

The point is that I would be wary of walking around by yourself in the wee hours unless you are armed with something or you are so exceptionally large and intimidating that no one would ever try anything with you. (And I mean you better be huge and threatening-looking, because I believe Mr. Diener was well over 6 feet.)

Originally Posted by melaniey

Crime is usually associated with densely populate area with a lot of low-income residents.
Safe areas are usually either rural/suburb area or more affluent area. NOVA is definitely affluent and the border of NOVA on the east and north are high-income area (Montgomery county and SW DC). The west and south of NOVA are rural and safe area.

Actually, NOVA does not border Montgomery County. There's a river separating the two, called the Potomac. Yes, dense, low-income areas have the most crime, but high-income areas have plenty as well. Pretty much nowhere is immune anymore, because criminals travel. Remember the home invasion in Cheshire, CT? As to the west and south of NOVA: I would hesitantly agree that far western NOVA (rural Loudoun) is probably safer than a lot of areas, from what I have heard, but I wouldn't say that about the lower-income parts of Prince William (e.g., Manassas Park). As to the south part, it really depends. Along Route 1, there are some pretty bad 'hoods. (I recall the name Featherstone being bandied about.)

[rsh56]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I don't know when your uncle was living in FC and working in Rosslyn, but Arlington is not as safe as it might seem. A guy named Carl Diener was robbed and murdered in Lyon Village in 2009. That's one of most expensive areas of Arlington. It was in the wee hours, and he was on the way to his job opening the Sport & Health Club on N. Kirkwood at Washington Boulevard. Two lowlife animals from Maryland were looking for someone to rob, and there he was.

OK, so perhaps that's an outlier. But still, there are lots of sexual assaults, muggings, beatings, and innumerable property crimes. Sorry to be such a downer, but it's true. They just don't publicize it that much. When we lived in supposedly tony 22207 (in a tiny fixer-upper) there was a spate of attacks on women, wherein the assailant would sneak up behind them and throw a bag over their heads. Scary stuff. I recall a woman was recently tackled near Court House Metro but either extricated herself or was helped by passersby. There was a similar incident in Crystal City about a month ago. And there have been so many random gropings on bike paths that they hardly get any attention anymore.

I remember that story. And yes, I do believe that there has been muggings, beatings, etc. I'm not sure whether they were caught or not. But there are sexual assults (like the bottock slasher in FFX county who was later found in Peru). My dad would always tell me that if any of those crimes occurred, they would be committed by people from MD and DC.

My uncle lived in FC probably about '00-06 then later moved here to MD. I'm not gonna say that crime doesn't exist in NoVA but it just often occurs in DC and MD. I also use to assume that many people in NoVA also owns guns as VA has decent laws for its gun owners and that in turn makes VA the last place to commit crime.

But yeah no place is safe.

[stp_fan]

educated people with jobs typically don't go around mugging and raping people

[Caladium]

I don't how the rest of the metro areas stack up, but my neighborhood is extremely safe. Certainly safer than any of the other metro areas I've lived in (especially Los Angeles). I often walk a mile or so at night here in Lowes Island and think nothing of it. There are other areas a few miles from here where I would feel OK walking a few blocks at night but I'd be more alert and have my "street sense" in full gear. Having said that, though, I think Nova in general is very safe. Not perfect, of course--things can happen anywhere.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by rsh56

IMy dad would always tell me that if any of those crimes occurred, they would be committed by people from MD and DC.

I think they call that "codespeak".

[Fern435]

Originally Posted by stp_fan

educated people with jobs typically don't go around mugging and raping people

...though many such culprits can be found in Congress.

[pseudo]

Originally Posted by brava4

I know that Arlington claims to have had "0" murders for 2011. I'm personally happy about that since I live in Arlington. I also live down the block from the police station so that adds to my feeling safe. I work late hrs and have never felt unsafe at all.

I can't speak to the other counties. Personally, I don't know how safe I would feel in certain areas of South Arlington.

I would feel perfectly fine walking to Shirlington Village or to the gas station on Four Mile Run late in the evening. I receive the Arlington County Police crime reports and know if there are certain crimes I should be aware of, but the part of "South Arlington" that I live in feels very safe. We also have the capability of ensuring our personal safety, that I would employ would I have to run errands at all hours of the evening and feel vulnerable, thank goodness.