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Sunday, April 20, 2014

Maryland’s “Most Dangerous” City Might Surprise You

Hampstead is the safest and Ocean City the most dangerous place to live in Maryland, according real estate research website Movoto.

The website ranked the 10 safest places to live in Maryland based on the FBI’s 2012 state crime report. Movoto evaluated towns with a population of at least 5,000 residents and compared violent crime numbers, the amount of property crime and the odds of a resident being a victim of a crime.

The company weighted each category: violent crime represented 50 percent of the ranking; property crime represented 30 percent of the ranking; the likelihood of a resident being a victim of crime represented 20 percent.

The five safest places to live in Maryland:

  1. Hampstead
  2. Ocean Pines
  3. Thurmont
  4. Glenarden
  5. Taneytown
Ocean City took home the title as the most dangerous place to live with a one-in-five chance of being the victim of a crime. Elkton and Baltimore ranked second and third.
Source

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are a fraction of the size of Baltimore and still came in 4th from the worst!

Anonymous said...

While I am no fan of OC and readily admit crime has picked up in recent years this is misleading. They evaluated towns with a population of 5000 or more. OC has about 7000 residents and a total of about 7 million visitors per year. They are taking crime statistics which include when the town swells to at any given time a couple of hundred thousand people on a summer day. Then they are using those numbers and averaging with the number of residents, which gives a false impression of having a 1 in 5 chance of being a crime victim.

Anonymous said...

Imagine what our ranking would be if they weren't skewing the numbers

Anonymous said...

This is due to the high amount of crime during the summer season and has nothing to do with locals being victims. The definition of crime means everything that is reported.

Anonymous said...

Statistics are skewed. Most of OC's crimes are non-resident on non-resident, then they are reported as a ratio to the number of permanent residents.

Anonymous said...

The thugs run the bury.

Anonymous said...

I think everyone is missing the POINT about Crime in Ocean City.

It is two prong. First - you have the thugs themselves, career criminals, drug smugglers, perverts.

Second and more importantly - you have the corrupt Public Officials themselves. Anyone worth their salt knows that OC is no place to live as they have runaway unions, astronomical real estate taxes, criminally high prices for building permits, sanitary permits, vending machine permits, licensing, beach umbrellas, beach photos, you name it they'll tax it. I can guarantee you that in the end - you will have to flee across the bridge and there will be a very big hole in your hip pocket. The criminal have literally taken over Ocean City. Both the municipal criminals, and the thugs themselves. My advise - stay out of OC.

Anonymous said...

I think the problem is that the crimes are being committed by the huge population of visitors, but the rate is based an the relatively small number of residents.

Anonymous said...

To 7:15 Posting

As 8:18 has most poignantly pointed out - for anyone crossing the bridge into Ocean City - they are the victims.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in Sussex County and practicly lived at the beaches during the summer. From Ocean City to Rehoboth. 8:18 and 8:22 are correct. I have lived in Salisbury for the past 14 years and the only time I go to any of the beaches now is when I work there. Between the Tour-rons and the high price of everything I get the hell out as fast as possible.

Anonymous said...

Listen. The numbers are the numbers and the crimes are committed on location in OC. Skewed or not. Visitors or not. Imported thugs or not. The numbers are based on 100,000 per capita so the number would be more skewed if it was based on 7000.

Obviously OC is not the Family place everyone would have you boh-lieve.

Anonymous said...

O.C. stands for OVER CROWDED.

Anonymous said...

"...a population of at least 5,000 residents and compared violent crime numbers, the amount of property crime and the odds of a resident being a victim of a crime....

This is absolutely ludicrous.
I lived half my early life in another town that I wouldn't even THINK about even walking my dog on my street after sundown.
Now, for the other, later half of my life, I live in a town - Ocean City - that I would take a leisurely stroll at 3am ANYWHERE in the town - any time of the year.
"Haters" of Ocean City will love this completely BS statistic report - "too dirty", "too crowded". "too expensive", etc., etc., etc.
As a resident, as a taxpayer, and as a retiree in this wonderful town, I am now proud to say that I live in "Maryland's Most Dangerous Town". It gives me a little street cred at 66 years old. But it's a load of crap.
It's nonsense... This is probably the safest BIG town in the state.

Anonymous said...

As a resident of ocean city for the past 21 years I have to say that this report is highly misleading. I would bet that 98% of the crime here is perpetrated by individuals who are here on vacation during the summer months. And most of those so called crimes are nothing more than underage drinking or jaywalking or any other minor infraction the beloved OCPD can cite people for in order to generate revenue in the off season in the form of court costs and fines as these "criminals" must return in the off season for court. We have a saying down here that applies to the tourists, "come on vacation, leave on probation." It's sad but true. It definitely isn't dangerous in OC. You can barely go a block without seeing 3 cops in the summer

Anonymous said...

This doesn't make sense. They must be looking at the summer months when all the June Bugs are in town.

Anonymous said...

This statistic is a lie. OC has 2,000 highly trained police officers,most making six figures, and they have the most up to date weapons and equipment in the state. They don't do alcohol checks because there is very little drinking in OC, so they can concentrate on the criminal tourists who don't pay parking fees, use profanity on the boardwalk, walk on the beach after sunset, smoke in non smoking areas, and touching the prized police horses! OC is the happiest, and most expensive place on earth!

Anonymous said...

Annie,I thought you lived in Florida.

Anonymous said...

Elkton md is bad with crime and pills i blame the doctors for elktons pills problem

Anonymous said...

Elkton is to herion as oc is to parking tickets

Anonymous said...

OC is the perfect recipe for crime. People get stressed out and go to OC to binge drink and do coke. The "different zip code" rule of behavior applies! Too much to drink is just enough to make them a victim.

You also get the transient summer workers...many of them foreign. They are prime targets for crime. Many of them are scum looking for a job in a place where people just care to hire warm bodies.

Pack 12+ people into a grungy, dingy party house, and nobody has enough pride in the place to lock the door. And it's never reinforced as a habit because somebody's usually passed out in the house, so they're "home". It's relatively easy to lift personal electronics from an apartment left wide open and somebody passed out inside.

People also leave expensive things on the beach. How easy is it to take that iPod or purse while the person is swimming in the ocean?

Ocean City is a crap hole. Plenty of owners just want the touron money and have little pride in their business. There's at least one bar on every block. People go there to do things they wouldn't do in their own home town.