54%, 46%, 22% - What do these numbers have in common?

Much has been made about the crime rate going down in the USA overall. The FBI’s preliminary numbers on 2009’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR), which aggregates data from police departments all over the country, show that overall crime was down. Many police departments like to use 10year averages to say that crime is down.

We decided to do a little digging on this topic. What we found is surprising to anyone who has heard the headline often repeated in the news, “despite recession crime is down in the US.” We found what national averages don’t tell you and what the 10yr picture distorts.

We looked at specific cities to get a peek of what’s really happening out there for those of us that aren’t interested in crime rates when compared to 1999, but rather are interested in knowing the pulse of crime in 2010 vs. 2009. More specifically, we investigated what the reality was for home security and apartment security in Boston, Houston and Oakland.

What did we find?

While overall crime is down, burglary is skyrocketing in many cities large and small.

For many years cities have focused on getting the violent crime rate down and have not kept an eye on property crime. The result is that burglary is on the rise and your safety in your own home is less sure.

54% rise in burglaries in Boston, Massachusetts. Read our blog post about it here.

47% rise in residential robberies in Oakland, California. That means burglars are entering homes more frequently with weapons and Oakland also saw a 17% rise in non-violent burglaries. Read our blog post about it here.

22% rise in burglaries Houston, Texas, as reported by the Houston Chronicle. Read our blog post about it here.

Apartments are especially vulnerable.

Houston in particular, reported that apartment buildings have been targeted over and over this year. Burglars are seeking ways to hit multiple apartments in one building and increase their yield of easy-money electronics. About 60 apartment buildings were hit by burglars more than 20 times each last year!

This highlights why we’ve been worried about apartment security for years. The National Crime Prevention Council reports apartments are 85% more likely to get robbed than any other domicile.

While these are just three cities, they represent three very different parts of our country and share a common problem: burglary. We’ll keep digging and report more city burglary stats in future editions, so stay tuned.

“So what can I do about it?” you ask.

The good news is that as a SimpliSafe customer, you’ve already made the smart choice to protect yourself.

Still, we thought we’d share a piece of advice from Oakland’s burglary detective Oliver Cunningham: Be nosey.

“Most important of all is for communities to remain alert and involved. Residents should always pay attention to any suspicious vehicles in the neighborhood. Slow down and look. Just glare at them. I’m telling you, that will scare the living-you-know what out of them. Burglars spread information through word of mouth, and if a neighborhood has a reputation for having nosey neighbors, criminals may choose to avoid it.”

Many of you have friends and family that haven’t yet found a security system that’s right for them. With burglaries rising, now is the time to share with your loved ones the peace of mind that you enjoy with SimpliSafe.

Our new Refer-a-Friend program now allows you to share both peace of mind and savings with your friends, family, and coworkers. We’ll also throw away your monthly monitoring bill each time a friend purchases a SimpliSafe security system as our humble thank you.

Saving couldn’t be simpler — refer a friend today.

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