My parents live in a "truly gated community." They still have to lock their car doors and their house doors and keep the garage doors closed during the day. All those contractors - landscapers, roofers, HVAC people, housekeepers, aides - they are all given access to the community because they're working either for the HOA on communal property (like the pool/clubhouse area) or for individual residents.
The bigger companies sometimes hire people who have no morals - and they don't know this until someone complains their car was broken into.
And this happens in a GATED community. Because being gated doesn't mean being isolated from the rest of the world. No place is immune to crime, when you live in a community. Even if your neighbors are 100% legit perfect angels - the guy who replaces their carpet might not be.
The likelihood of you being the victim of a crime committed by someone who does /not/ live in the Villages, is very low. The risk increases the closer you are to one of the gates. But if you lock your doors when you're not home or at night, keep your garage door closed when you're not planning on being in it, lock your car doors when you're not in them - your risk is possibly only .05%. So doing all that while living near a gate might increase that risk to .08%.
As they say - trust in the Lord, but tie up your camel.
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