Neighborhoods Already Have High Crime

Rates Compared to Other Suburban Areas of Chapel Hill

We don't live in a vacuum, residents both families and students walk, run, and play in the streets and parks surrounding their homes and we have no gated neighborhoods. We are not isolated from the crime that happens in or near our neighborhood and we don't consider the park or MLK to be a buffer. Existing crime should be considered when planning the relocation of social services such as homeless shelters in our community.

www.nccrime.us contains analysis of crime in suburban neighborhood areas in Chapel Hill over the past 7 years. The source data consists of 53,000 incident and 16,000 arrest records from the Chapel Hill Police Department and 77,000 county geographical information system (GIS) records (to pinpoint locations) from the town.

The chart below, generated from www.nccrime.us, illustrates already high levels of crime in neighborhoods around the proposed shelter site.

Looking at crime in a one square mile or a one-half square mile area can indicate the health of a neighborhood ecosystem.  The chart below shows "person crime" for suburban neighborhoods in Chapel Hill. Person crime, crimes committed against a person, include assault, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a female, robbery, armed robbery and fighting. When crime data are added from Freedom House, Rainbow Court and Homestart, our area has one of the highest crime rates in Chapel Hill. If existing crime is added from the current men's shelter we would have the highest crime rate of any suburban area in town.

We assume crime currently at 100 W Rosemary St. will relocate to the new location and it is possible that crime around the current shelter address (not illustrated below) will also travel with the shelter to the areas around the shelter. The chart below reflects crime just at 100 W Rosemary St.

Note: North Forest Hills data does not include crime from Timberlyne shopping center.