So many gangs and such little time.
Remember when Hells Angels use to be the gangs to fear.

If The Villages"cover-up" all the crime, how do you know about it? Or are you just "assuming" because you have an ax to grind?

Exactly! Well said.

We actually like the DS. But we're half glass full people, and we like to focus on the positive things in life.
We can get the hard/bad news other places.
So if that's your thing, here's a good place to start for the OP. Villages news.com

What is your evidence ?

I'm at that stage where the question "Where are we retiring" looms larger with each day. My wife recently accompanied a friend on a week-long orientation visit to TV and was mostly favorably impressed. There ARE some "downs" that go along with all the "ups" and we're discussing those - but crime is NOT one of them. If you look at actual reported crime statistics (and not depend on whatever news outlet that may have whatever bias - they can go both ways) it's pretty clear that crime is HARDLY a problem.

I don't want to get political here, but I can certainly agree with people that I'd often disagree with when the actual FACTS are out there. Look them up and you see. Crime is hardly a problem. (Ok, I suppose that can be influence by where you come from)

Just wondering, where would you move that is better crime wise?

Never promoted as a gated community. It is a community with gates to help control traffic.

If you are not happy…MOVE!!!!

11 years here now and still enjoy our selection, all the things reported on this gossip sheet are facts of life everywhere. Gated communities offer a sense of security, Opinion to those that gripe , move on.

It sounds like you are doing some in-depth homework on where to retire to (good for you) - I did the same for 7 years prior to retiring and moving here to TV in December. Good luck on your research - hopefully you will come and do a lifestyle visit here if you haven’t already, and also visit other 55+ communities throughout the country to help you contrast/compare, so you are ready to make an informed and well-thought out decision of where to retire to when that day comes.

If it’s so bad here, why haven’t you left? Just curious.

Photos of tags on vehicles are taken at the gates. Albeit not exactly a Fort Knox, at least it is something considering the roads are public access. You don't see that in very often. Plus as an added bonus, the year-round residents are fully aware of who is coming and going around their homes. Nothing like people who have nothing better to do watching people come and go. It is just as much a good thing as a nosey thing lol.

We just had a conversation with a cop last night that happens to live in TV. There are domestic violence calls, golf cart drunk driver calls, but all the bad calls were in wildwood, outside of the villages.
When was the last time we saw 30 people shot at in the villages? That’s a slow day in Chicago. How many homeless tents have you counted lately? We are bigger than San Francisco proper and they have thousands with all the issues that go along with it. How many of our square businesses have been ransacked by a bunch of looters?
TV might not be perfect, but it’s very close in my book

Well, if you bought six years ago, you should be able to sell home for 200,000 plus more than you paid for it. Sell and find a place with less crime and move there. Life is too short to be miserable. I hope you can find something to smile about today. Happiness is always from within. I truly hope you have a bless day!

The villages would be responsible for all the roads if it is gated. Cameras record license plates of who goes in and out. If you are not inclined to live here then there are many smaller gated communities. Del Webb is one of them just down 441.

I ordered a 65" TV online, from Walmart. They said it would be delivered on "Sunday" which is perfect because one of us would have been home throughout the day. However, it was delivered on "Saturday", a day we were both out together all day. When I rolled into my driveway there it was, on the front porch, the big box with the TV in it, and with a great big picture of the TV on the outside of the box. All Day. This huge invitation, waiting to be stolen.

We joked about it: "Well, I guess in TV there aren't enough thieves strong enough to lift it and put it in their golf cart to steal it."
I have lived in places where you couldn't leave a potted plant on your porch for an hour before it would disappear.

I think I'll be alright here, despite the high crime rate, and lack of reporting.

But if it is covered up, how does the media know?

monitoring the police reports. So "covering up" is an inaccurate description. "Choosing not to report" would be more accurate.

[QUOTE=Full-timer;2230981]It is a shame that The Villages" cover up" all the crime and accidents going on.
So many people have no clue about what happens here.


This "gated community" is a joke. Any Tom, Dick, or Jane can walk right in anytime they want.

What would it take (and cost) to make it a real gated community, and would it help ?

6 years in, not the wonderful place it is claimed to be.[/QUOT


You can read about all the crime here:
https://www.**************.com/
Enjoy!

It’s not a gated community

The Villages is Identifying as a Gated Community.

:pepper2:

Yep nothing bad in our news paper.

Excellent.

It is a guarantee that if you search for something long and hard enough, you WILL find it.

That is how things work here.

I've had people walk here to give us mail that was erroneously put in their box. Another guy drove here to deliver a package for us that Amazon had dropped off at his house in another village.

There are of course exceptions (as well as people who glory in pointing them out) but Villagers on the whole watch out for each other. It is, in my opinion, one of the greatest attractions of this place.

Free speech entitles them to their opinion & the right to speak it. They don’t have to move, for crying out loud. That phrase is way over done.

You make some good points. May I recommend a better retirement community where they have none of these issues?

It is called Shangri-La.

Then leave

Your county sherif has that info online. Crime rate is is extremely low.

Sell ! Someone that appreciates TV will be glad you sold it to them.

Free speech is not one way. If someone complains about TV or the way things are done.... "MOVE!" should resurface as many times as necessary.

I am happy that I don’t live near this guy! Thanks for cheering me up OP…

Gates do not stop criminals (even manned gates)….instead they alert the criminal that there is something worth stealing behind the gates.

Gates
 

Bt all means don't letour gates hit you in the butt as you leave!!!

I do wish we were gated but it will never happen because the streets are public. Regardless, I don’t think there is a better place to live than here in TV. I feel fairly safe here but the street smart sense will never leave me. I keep everything locked up tight. Most victims make themselves targets by not following simple crime deterrents.

Nice to see you post again, djplong. I was an observer of the political forum many years ago, and remember that yours was a rare voice of reason in that melee. Hope you and your wife do consider moving here.

The crime rate incidence for a population approaching 145,000 is negligible.......yet is presented and discussed as a general condition.

The other 99% of us enjoy the comfort of what we bought into.

______________________________________________

:censored:

I moved to The Villages from Staten Island, NYC 18 months ago. For the first time in my life, I feel safe. I don’t have or need additional digital door locks, cameras and the fear of walking around after dark as I had in SI. I love it here. Being in the “Bubble” is safer than anywhere in NYC. Staten Island use to be safer than the other boroughs. Not so anymore. The criminals drive around at night, case the neighborhood, check your car to see if it was left unlocked and if it was, they took whatever they could. Crime is high and in Brooklyn it is much worse. It’s not uncommon to see a car on blocks because they stole your tires and rims. Is it perfect here, it is for me.

Solution
 

Move to a gated community (this never was one, guess you couldn't figure that out) and subscribe to publications where you can read about crime and accidents.

We have been here since 2005 and the various newspapers have reported maybe one murder involving a daughter of Villagers getting involved with drug dealers in Ocala. They invaded the Villagers home and killed the woman. And a few domestic violence cases that ended in murder/suicide.

There have been various employees stealing from their employers. Various golf cart thefts and a few burglaries. What was a chase after maybe a robbery of a country club restaurant. They got out helicopters. They being the media and maybe the police?

Caretakers stealing from their patients, etc. Maybe some criminal negligence in some nursing facilities, etc.

There was a standoff with a man with guns who had argued with his wife and created a barricade or something like that last year. SWAT came in.

Lots of golf cart gates having their pole knocked down. And some cars doing it for their gate poles.

A few meth labs being shut down.

Quite a lot of shoplifting I suppose.

A few bar fights and something recently that involved a shooting and a death but not sure what happened there.

Road rage instances in and near the Villages.

A number of car chases after people who fled from arrest. Seem to remember a number of these but they were often just outside the Villages.

A woman jumped off the golf cart bridge over 441/27 and was soon hit by traffic.

Melinda Duckett committed suicide after being harassed by the media over the disappearance of her son Trenton. The case is still open on what happened to Trenton.

Probably a typical week's worth of crime in NYC, Chicago, Miami, Orlando and DC has happened here in the Villages over the past eighteen years. We came in June of 2005.

Call a realtor today to sell and then buy in a gated community. Ask about cobblestone in Belleview FL. No need for you to live unhappy.