In his most recent campaign mailing, he regurgitates information we perceive as a “fluff piece” from SafeWise, a Rye, NY-based home and community security company, that states Greenburgh is one of the safest places to live. Actually, we’re 38th out of 50. Not a very impressive location on the list. Floral Park is #1 and Bedford is #2. That’s impressive for those communities. Less impressive is our placing.
If you’re not sure who SafeWise is, neither are we. It appears to be a company that is a clearing house for home security systems, comparing features and services from the top five security monitoring companies. They don’t appear to monitor security systems themselves or represent any of the security companies that do or that they write about. You can find out more of what they offer, but not necessarily more about what they do by going to this link: http://www.safewise.com. If you’d like to see more about their article/list about the safest cities, you can go to: http://www.safewise.com/blog/50-safest-cities-new-york/
We found that SafeWise utilizes outdated statistics from the FBI’s 2011 Crime Statistics in their U.S. Report with “our (their) own thorough investigation” and created a comprehensive list of the top 50 safest cities in New York, with 15,000 residents or more as of 2011. Greenburgh has about 90,000 residents, easily qualifying to be on this list of cities. Yet throughout the entire list, there is rarely a mention of crime. It seems more like a tourist information listing for planning your vacation and little to do with safety. Greenburgh is at #38 on the list. Then they also tout Yonkers, as number 46 on the list, above New Windsor (47) and Cortland (50). While statistics prove that Yonkers’ murder rate and general thefts fell in 2011, all other serious crime is up! In fact, statistics paint quite a different picture than the blurb from the list:
Yonkers, NY* is compared to nearest cities:
(Note: Higher means more crime)
(Note: Higher means more crime)
Yonkers:
|
236.2
|
389.2
| |
46.3
| |
88.4
| |
16.3
| |
105.7
| |
254.5
| |
89.9
| |
67.2
|
Violent crime rate in 2011
Yonkers:
|
284.2
|
U.S. Average:
|
213.6
|
Violent crime rate in 2010
Yonkers:
|
254.7
|
U.S. Average:
|
223.2
|
Violent crime rate in 2009
Yonkers:
|
270.6
|
U.S. Average:
|
238.0
|
Violent crime rate in 2008
Yonkers:
|
262.9
|
U.S. Average:
|
252.4
|
Violent crime rate in 2007
Yonkers:
|
256.6
|
U.S. Average:
|
259.7
|
Violent crime rate in 2006
Yonkers:
|
280.0
|
U.S. Average:
|
264.1
|
Violent crime rate in 2005
Yonkers:
|
275.3
|
U.S. Average:
|
258.9
|
Violent crime rate in 2004
Yonkers:
|
272.6
|
U.S. Average:
|
256.0
|
Because the City of Yonkers is framed in this list as a safe place to be, and we all know what the reality can really be, we took a look at Greenburgh statistics as provided by a different source, our own Greenburgh Police:
Part 1 AND Selected Part 2 Offenses
OTHER SELECTED STATISTICS
| PART 1 OFFENSE | 2010 IBR | 2011 IBR | % +/- |
| Homicide | 0 | 1 | |
| Rape | 4 | 7 | 75% |
| Robbery | 26 | 10 | -62% |
| Felony Assault | 29 | 31 | 7% |
| Burglary | 79 | 82 | 4% |
| MV Theft | 23 | 22 | -4% |
| Larceny | 569 | 615 | 8% |
| TOTAL | 730 | 768 | 5% |
| PART 2 OFFENSE | 2010 IBR | 2011 IBR | % +/- |
| Simple Assault | 53 | 49 | -8% |
| DWI | 127 | 117 | -8% |
| Sex Offenses (EXCEPT RAPE) | 14 | 11 | -21% |
| Drug | 119 | 157 | 32% |
| Criminal Mischief | 215 | 241 | 12% |
| Fraud/Forgery | 164 | 189 | 15% |
| Public Order | 330 | 392 | 19% |
| Theft Offenses | 43 | 50 | 16% |
| TOTAL | 1065 | 1206 | 13% |
OTHER SELECTED STATISTICS
| Arrest Statistics | 2010 | 2011 | % +/- |
| Felony | 238 | 201 | -16 |
| Misdemeanor | 867 | 1061 | 22 |
| Violation | 98 | 186 | 90 |
| Warrant | 140 | 180 | 29 |
| Juvenile | 8 | 14 | 75 |
| TOTAL | 1225 | 1487 | 21 |
| Miscellaneous Statistics | 2010 | 2011 | % +/- |
| CALLS FOR SERVICE | 42437 | 42232 | - .5 |
| Reportable M.V.A’s | 1301 | 1235 | -5 |
| Injuries (Reportable MVA’s) | 287 | 262 | -9 |
| Impounded Vehicles | 321 | 382 | 19 |
| Animal Control Total | 2124 | 2370 | 12 |
| Alarm Responses | 4248 | 4309 | 1 |
| Traffic Tickets | 2010 | 2011 | % +/- |
| UTT’s Issued – Total | 6527 | 6299 | -3 |
| Parking Tickets | 2010 | 2011 | % +/- |
| Total Issued by Patrols | 4805 | 4668 | -3 |
| Snow Parking | 2438 | 2110 | -13 |
| Handicapped | 206 | 193 | -6 |
| Fire Zones & Hydrants | 504 | 427 | -15 |
As expected, Greenburgh residents and guests live in a much safer environment than Yonkers although there isn’t much of s spread between numbers 38 and 46. We also wondered how bad things could be in New Windsor, NY, since they are number 49 on this list (we had difficulty with Cortland’s statistics):
* Yonkers crime data was taken from http://www.city-data.com/
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