A Comprehensive Guide to Crime Trends, How to Stay Safe in Our Vulnerable Times and Why Crime Near Me Has Become a Popular Google Search Trend
Crime is just an unfortunate fact of life, as much as we try to get on with our lives, we should always be aware of the risks of the world around us. As a safe company, we at POM Safe are all too aware of crime reports by each city, using various sources including our partners over at CrimeoMeter. We monitor for changes in violence in the workplace as well as city crime reported by municipal and state police agencies.
Changes and Facts You Should Know About Crime
In this article, we will look at the main categories of crime, what we’re seeing as recent and current trends with a comparison of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles crime rates. Finally, we’ll share 3 simple tactics you can apply to keep yourself safe. Let’s start with the types of crime.
Workplace Violence
Getting an accurate report on workplace violence is challenging as most organizations are not required to report instances. However, we know from statistics gathered by the US Department of Labor with regards to occupational health and safety (OSHA) that the number is high. Some of the statistics are surprising. 67% of healthcare workers such as nurses and home care workers report at least one attack per year. Nurses have a higher chance of violent attack than police officers and prison guards. Other professions such as retail and customer service that put workers in front of stressed and unpredictable customer situations are not far behind.
The pandemic lockdowns and post-pandemic trends indicate this may have only gotten worse.
Physical Assault and Sex Offenses
We have both crime data and NCADV statistics that give an unfortunate reality of how this affects all of us – especially women.
The following statistics were taken from the NCADV website:
*1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
*1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men have been victims of physical and sexual violence by a stranger in their lifetime.
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) is the voice of victims and survivors. NCADV works to end domestic violence by promoting strong public policies, educating the public, and providing programs and services to victims and survivors.
Property Damage and Theft
keywords: vandalism, burglary, and theft from motor vehicles reports
Our reliable source of data for reported crimes such as vandalism, theft from a motor vehicle, theft of the motor vehicle, and burglary is municipal and state police agencies. Reported crimes in this category have seen slight increases across US cities. While other types of reported can fluctuate by geographical area, crimes related to property theft and damage are consistently among the highest. Shoplifting did see an increase in pandemic lockdown (2021 saw average increases of over 17% from Oct through Dec compared to 2021) but has since come back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Drug and Narcotic Violations
As an overall crime statistic, drug and narcotic-related crimes are relatively small. On average, robbery is three times higher than reported instances of drug and narcotic violations. Even as the use of marijuana has increased in recent years, there has not been a notable rise in drug and narcotic-related crimes. It is expected that this trend will continue into the future. That said, this type of crime can be closely associated with property theft, which is often a result of funding heavier drug and substance abuse habits.
Understanding the Crime Near Me Google search trend
People searching for crime reports for cities they live in has seen a surge since pandemic lockdowns occurred and while it’s hard to nail down the exact reasons why more people are searching for crime data and personal safety protection information, we can make a couple of assumptions.
- The mass migration or, simply put, people are moving. Since lockdown, a great number of people are now remote workers. This has allowed people to rethink where they live, and of course that means researching school and crime data in new places.
- The real estate market. It’s no mystery that we have seen record numbers of people buying homes. this can be associated with more people rethinking where they live, and also record low interest rates that have reduced the cost of mortgages. Home shoppers are researching school and crime data when considering a home purchase.
- Social Anxiety. Yes, this is a fact of a post pandemic and post lockdown society. Most of us are still dealing with, and will be for many years to come the impacts of what we can agree was a not so great 2020 and 2021. While the details of social anxiety during and post pandemic are beyond this article, here’s a good writeup on VeryWellMind.com
- Coming back into the new normal. You could say this is similar to social anxiety. That is, as more of us get back into being outside our homes, in the real world, doing real world things such as eating out or traveling, more awareness on our personal safety – especially on the road is driving searches.It’s not your imagination that there are more lunatics on the road. There are crime report indications showing an increase in speeding and reckless driving violations as more police agencies crack down on bad drivers.
Bonus fact: We’re also seeing more searches on Amazon for personal safety devices.
Specifically, the search term “safety alarms for women” has seen a 10x increase in search volume on Amazon since the spring of 2021. How do we know this? Well, POM Safe is a personal safety device aimed at keeping you safe. Our team monitors these trends for our own Amazon POM Safe Listing.
Comparing New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago Crime Rates
To understand changes in city crime, we chose 3 major US cities that give us a coastal and central US snapshot. This is by no means a scientific report, however, by comparing the reported crimes in each city, we can get a better understanding of crime rates to change over time.
New York City Crime Report
Using our crime rate and report tool citysafescore.com, the overall reported crime for New York City is 1/3 the national average. Meaning overall, New York City is safe.
Based on the crime data reported by the New York Police Department (NYPD), while there was a slight increase in crime through 2021, the levels receded overall with the exception of Shoplifting.
You can view the latest New York City Crime Report on citysafescore.com here.
Los Angeles Crime Report
Using our crime rate and report tool, we see an overall increase in reported crime for Los Angeles, with almost a 23% increase in total reported crime. Overall, Los Angeles is about half the national average when comparing reported crimes per person.
Numbers-wise, the biggest jumps in reported crime for Los Angeles include robbery (up from 715 reports in Sept 2021 to 1087 in Jan 2022), as well as Motor vehicle theft and burglary.
You can view the latest Los Angeles City Crime Report on citysafescore.com here.
Chicago Crime Report
Unlike Los Angeles, Chicago has seen a decrease in reported crime since 2021. While still ranked about half of the national average when comparing reported crimes per person, this is a trend in the right direction at least.
There were a total of 19,172 crimes in Sept 2021, compared to 14,920 in Jan 2022. That said, motor vehicle theft is slightly higher, with the biggest decrease being vandalism.
You can view the latest Chicago, IL Crime Report on citysafescore.com here.
So What Should You Be Doing To Protect Yourself Against Crime?
- The most important way you can protect yourself against crime is by staying aware of potential risks. This includes things like knowing the neighborhoods you frequent, and the people around you.
- Safety is 80% being proactive, 20% being ready to react. Be mindful of your surroundings, and aware of your own behavior. Avoiding risky behaviors like walking by yourself at night, or hanging out in high crime areas is essential to staying safe.
- Be prepared. Have a plan, have a contact, have a device. If you’re looking for a personal safety alarm that does more, take a look at the POM Safe device that we make and sell. If you have a plan, you can know what to do when something happens. Know what to take with you, and have a contact that is not too far away so that they are ready for your call if the worst happens.
