Impact on Crime Risk
We are constantly bombarded with reports of break-ins, burglaries, thefts, and similar crimes. One small island of tranquility in this sea of crime is precisely the area that will be impacted by the proposed road. You can see it clearly on the map below which depicts burglaries, robberies, thefts, and assaults for one year. Residents attribute this to the fact that the neighborhood is relatively secluded, off the beaten path, out of the way, relatively inaccessible to the traveling public; and they are concerned that opening the new road will lead to a deluge of traffic which will bring a lot of crime and change the nature of the neighborhood unalterably for the worse.
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These concerns are backed up by a great deal of research. For example, Arizona State University has published studies of the relationship between crime and neighborhood accessibility, and these studies confirm the effect. Here is a short list of some of their findings:
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"… street layouts that permit easy access experience more crime"
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"… the more entrances to a street, the more crime on that street"
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"… those neighborhoods with high burglary rates had a larger number of access points from arterial roads"
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Read all about it here:
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You may wonder if a neighborhood is immune from all of this because it is gated. The answer is that it helps, but not much. A study of 28 communities in Florida showed that many gated and ungated neighborhoods experienced very similar crime rates. The things that made a difference were not the gates, they were things like roving patrols, visitor sign-ins, and single-access roads. The safest communities had one way in, one way out. Indeed, the study found that gates often attract the people they're trying to keep out. A police detective stated: "Some criminals think if it's a gated community, there must be something in there worth getting," And experts say it's easy to get into gated communities. Read about it here:
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You may wonder, too, how much fencing helps. The answer is: not nearly as much as the existing dense woods between The Preserve and Eastwood subdivisions. See photo below. If you were going to break into somebody's house at night, would you want to wade through this in the dark? No, you would be much more comfortable scaling a fence. A highly experienced law enforcement officer has assured us that for any style of fence, law enforcement officers could open their files and find dozens of videos of intruders scaling fences with ease, in order to get access to homes; but natural barriers like these woods are a much more effective deterrent.
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