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Sunday, July 1, 2007
Does location or perception determine how safe you feel?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A few weeks ago, I was on my way out the door and managed to lock myself out of my house.
While I waited on my porch for my mom to drive from Acworth to unlock my door, I started thinking about why I never hid a key outside my home and whether it would be safe to do so. Norcross doesn’t exactly have a great reputation when it comes to crime.
But is one area of Gwinnett necessarily safer or more secure than another?
It would all depend upon what your definition of safe and secure.
Take sex offenders in the county, for example. According to the georgia-sex-offenders.com map (as of June 24), Lawrenceville leads the county in registered sex offenders with 73 followed by Norcross (58),Buford (32) and Loganville (30).
According to a recent AJC Gwinnett News article, 19 homicides have already been committed in Gwinnett County this year, double the rate during the same time frame in 2006. Lawrenceville leads Gwinnett with six (2 in one particular location) followed by Norcross with five, Duluth with four,and Stone Mountain, Suwanee, Dacula, and Snellville with one each.
The following are the top five cities (based on the detainee’s address) with the highest charges for burglary/theft and drugs in the Gwinnett County Sheriff Department’s docket book for 31 days from May 24 and ending June 24, 2007:
Burglary/Theft crimes: (This includes all sorts of theft - deception, credit cards, shoplifting, etc.)
Lawrenceville: 57
Norcross: 33
Duluth: 19
Buford: 17
Snellville: 14
(Note: There were 79 individuals who were charged in this category who do not have a Gwinnett County address.)
Drug Related crimes: (This includes charges for the VGCSA - Violence of Georgia Controlled Substance Act, or possession/trafficking of cocaine or marijuana.)
Lawrenceville: 54
Norcross: 46
Snellville: 20
Duluth: 19
Lilburn: 16
(Note: There were 70 individuals who were charged in this category who do not have a Gwinnett County address.)
For all the talk about how Norcross is crime central in Gwinnett County and definitely does have plenty of issues to deal with, it would seem to me that based on these numbers of these types of charges Norcross is not alone.
I, for one, have always thought that your sense of security is not determined by geographic location but by how safe you perceive yourself to be.
Do you agree?
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