I'm probably "careless," but I refuse to be scared/worried/upset or whatever about safety here in TV.

Back home (St. Louis), I wouldn't think of leaving any door or window unlocked, ever. I did seriously consider ADT or a similar installation, but abandoned that when my neighbor's system set off very high-decibel warnings six times in one day - all because big trucks were passing our houses, thereby shaking his alarm's sensor(s)!

Yes, I keep my front door here locked at all times. And, the garage door down, except maybe for the few minutes it takes me to go to the Postal Station and back. But, my gut tells me The Villages is, overall, safe.

Avoid paranoia! It'll disrupt your lifestyle something fierce! :D

SWR
:beer3:

Having been around the police, fire and news business all my life, I am hesitant to label a safety conscious individual as being "paranoid."

The case where the woman was murdered and husband wounded during the home invasion was drug related. The daughter (20's) was living at home and had a drug dealing boyfriend. It was thought that the girl had drugs at the house and this terrible thing happened.

It was not a random thing at all.

Best bet - make sure your doors are locked, don't let strangers in the house, if you have a service technician in for work - watch them all the time - do not let them use your main bathroom or they might look for drugs.

As far as having a pistol in the house, remember in Nov. 2009 in Glenbrook where a wife "just had enough of her husband's attitude" and shot him 3 times in the stomach while he was taking a shower. Both the husband and wife were former police officers and both had pistols at home. If a pistol is in the house, chances are that the person hurt or killed will be a family member.

Whether it was random or planned, it was a home invasion and it was in The Villages. My memory is that there was no boyfriend involved in this, rather an acquaintance. The girl was never charged with anything.

I believe that the other 15 or so unrelated burglaries were "drug related" as well. I also think that a high percentage of home invasions all around the country are "drug related," in that the loot is sold to buy drugs. In 2009 there were over 2 million burglaries in this country.







JLK

The daughter knew the men because she did drugs with them. They were invited into the home. That is the way it was reported. I don't call that a home intrusion.

Whether is was an intrusion, and invasion or a set up, it was a major crime. I'm sure the family felt it was an intrusion into their happy home.

taylor, I can't help you out with a specific vendor in TV. But I would encourage you to find out what the monthly monitoring fee is (if you opt to have that service). Some companies will give you a low price for the system cost and installation then give you a really high number for the monthly monitoring.

Bill :)

This data came from a real estate search site, how reliable is this data?
Also it states at the bottom of the page where this information came from that it is copyrighted.....thought we could not copy and paste copyrighted information.

:popcorn:

Awhile ago our phone rang at about 11:40 PM and I thought who the h*** is calling at this hour? If it's another recording call or sales-pitch call, I'll blow my stack at them!!!!

I picked up the phone and it was a female voice and before I gave her a chance to say anything, I said to her...."You know, I REALLY do not appreciate you calling at this late hour."

She responded with a sincere apology and said that she was calling from TV Security and they just received notice that your garage door is open. Did you know that?

WOW, did I feel like a real bummer. I apologized over and over again and thanked per profusely for calling and she was most kind and understanding.

I felt very secure after that call. Between neighbor watch and TV security watch, I feel we are in good stead.......

Carpe diem!!!!

I just checked on the copywrite and you are probably right about that. I have removed the graph.

Did she really say "Villages Security?" If so, I didn't know there was such a thing. Was It Community Watch?

JLK

yes.....is Community Watch not a form of security? Just asking...

I hope you guys know what kind of loads those thunder sticks are loaded with,the only thing between you and a bad dream, is 2 sheets of drywall and your neighbor, I have some heavy duty stuff ,but I would not ever consider a .357 as a home protector ,I value my neighbors,Please if you guys feel that you need to be armed, they make a really neat .410 5shot revolver it will take care of buisness and I will sleep and go golfing in the mornnig instead of not waking up PS, tough talk comes easy to someone who has never had to do the deed............it never goes away

The original question Talk Host posted is an interesting one. BUT people should think before giving too much detail about having an alarm or not on TOTV. We don't know who is stauking us. The less outsiders know about our security the better. And yes, I have a security system.

I think there is a difference. "Security" implies a measurable level of authority to deal with threatening situations. "Watch" on the other hand implies observing open garage doors and reporting yard ornaments.

Unless something has changed, Community Watch has no enforcement authority at all. They don't respond to anything that threatens well being. They simply notify local authorities. Much like an alarm systems does.

What some of you have done is to make people who do not yet live here feel that there is an elevated danger in doing so. I have a new friend who I cherish very much who reads this forum and I imagine that she is wondering what she has done putting a deposit down on some crummy crime infested place.

When the reality is that this lovely place is one of the most serene places in the world to live and that the fact that we are all wiser and older and not doing anything else other than moving about here and watching things and each other makes it even safer.

You can arm yourself with a cannon if you can carry it because it is part of your constititutional rights and some of you will even if you lived in a stockade with a platoon of people protecting you because you feel the way you do, but please remember that there are real people who are getting a really bad and wrong impression about the safety of this area reading this forum. These real people who may be single, and may want the happiness we have chosen for ourselves will decide not to come here and see how comfortably safe this place is.

The Community Watch drives around the neighborhood and watches, because I get up for my night feeding and I look out the windows and I see them in their white cars driving slowly by.

As I eat my cookies and milk I watch too. There isn't anything or anybody out there hardly even a car.

Now I am thinking that many of you are posting these things about locks on your bedroom door and carrying guns because you care and feel protective of others, but some of you may have not really assessed the level of danger or safety here accurately.

Taylor, get a security system. You know the one I chose because I sent you a PM. Even if the reason that you should do so is to protect yourself from armed, angry and drunken neighbors who have gotten themselves all mad because they got scratched by your knock out roses yesterday and they are gonna get you back.

I would also like to point out that the graph that was removed included the areas outside of TV. It is hard to find a graph that includes just The Villages because we are part of three counties.

Deep breaths and common sense. Thank you grandmother, I am listening.

I agree
 

Very funny! :BigApplause:

Double-taps, triple-taps, silvertips, triple-tap rocker? Someone been reading too many Tom Clancy book?

As I have stated on here a few times already, the guns in the home are totally unnecessary. Statistics show that family members are more likely to be killed or maimed by guns in the home than are intruders.

Remember, last time you handled a gun in an emergency was probably 15-45 years ago. The bad guy that you find in your house is probably in his 20's and is a lot stronger and quicker than you are now. Your gun, if you have made it that far, will probably be turned against you.

Also, remember, The Villages is probably the safest place you have ever lived and there is basically no crime at all. Guns are not necessary here.

Gracie.... You are my hero! Well said....

I would be interested in knowing how many of the posters on TOTV actually LIVE [full or part-time] in TV??? I find it hard to believe that anyone living in TV would find it necessary to have security systems or weapons to protect themselves.

Are some of these threads started just to stir controversy ??

Don't know... just thinking. :shrug:

I agree 100%. I also wonder why a thread like this was started and it should be completely deleted forever.

The Villages is the safest place I have ever lived and I spent 25 years in VT.

I am also sorry that I got caught up in this ridiculous thread.

Thank you Gracie for the voice of reason.

George.

Gracie is absolutely the voice of reason.

And to give TH a free pass as the starter of this - it is his job on a forum to be provocative.

Is there a phrase in our language more likely to cause fear than "home invasion"? I lived in Connecticut during the time the Pettit family members were killed. My next door neighbors knew them. They had been stalked. They left their door unlocked.

I have also been a victim of a robbery while I was at home. I was 18. IMO most middle class home break ins are a random crime. Thieves - usually looking for drug money - look for the easiest target. It is hard to protect yourself against random.

I think TV may be the safest place I have ever lived.

Interesting that those who desire a more certain level of safety and security are labeled "ridiculous" or "stirring controversy." Yet no negative labeling or criticism has been leveled at those who feel that The Villages is an impregnable safe haven.

It is my job to be "objective." Because I think it is imprudent to dissuade people from considering a home alarm system, does not make me "provocative."

I agree that The Villages is probably the safest place I have ever lived. I am also realistic enough to know that it is not totally shielded from the outside world. That's why everybody locks their doors at night. An alarm system is an extra layer of safety. Don't criticize those of us who want that!

My position is, if you want an alarm, have one. If you don't want one, don't have one. But, don't label those of us who feel safer with one as being, "provocative" "controversial" or "ridiculous." Those terms are used only when there is no sound argument against an issue. And don't tell people that there is "no chance" of a home invasion in the Villages, it's not true.

JLK

One purpose of an alarm system is to keep them from getting in in the first place. Are they going to come on in when the thing goes off the minute they open/breakin a door or window? As to no crime at all here, tell that to our neighbors that were broken into a couple of years ago.

Alarms aside, a little common sense goes a long way. One of the ones that was broken into was leaving town and put his trash out on Friday for Monday pickup. That, folks, is an open invitation as he found out the hard way. (BTW, he doesn't do that anymore.) Have a neighbor put it out for you the night before pickup. That's what we all do here now. My neighbors and I even share. When someone is gone for several pickups, someone else puts one of their trash bags in their driveway the night before pickup.

I believe Katzbox has is exactly right... You start these types of threads knowing the responses you are going to get. Everyone has an "opinion" on such topics.

Unlike you, the rest of us do not profit from readership and are not selling advertising based on number of views per month. Nor are any of us selling a book, generated form the posts of people on this forum.

Just saying... Lets keep it real here.

All forms of media, radio, television, newspapers, and discussion forums try to generate topics that will be of interest to their readers, viewers or listeners. Are you suggesting that I should not start interesting threads. Are we being demonized for trying to be successful? There is a huge gulf between interesting topics and trying to provoke people.

I wish all of our members would post threads everyday that would generate 2,000+ views in 24 hours.

I find it interesting that this topic has gone from an interesting question about the relative safety of The Villages to an indictment of my motives for daring to ask the question.

I wonder why the Sheriff's department has "crimes against seniors" division.

JLK

Go to http://www.nixle.com/

You can sign up for crime notices if the local policy department is a member. This may help answer your question.

The answers to your question about how safe The Villages are is right here on this forum. We have the most reporters any news media could ever ask for.

We can get three hundred posts about some man who bumbled into the ladies shower room at the sports pool.

We can discuss guns until we want to shoot ourselves.

We can uplift and tear apart landscapers and we can try to make sense out of all of it.

Some of us are reasonable people and probably always have been and some of us.....are a little...silly BUT Boy Howdy...we know when something went wrong here and in about five minutes somebody tells somebody who posts it RIGHT HERE.

TalkHost.. the power you have over us with this irreplaceable news medium is frightening!!!!

I did an internet search. Trulia provided this data for Sumter County. http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Th...ommunity-info/

It looks like property crime is about 18% greater and violent crime more than twice as common in Sumter County than for Florida as a whole.

manabouttown, I own a home in TV. According to the source you provided, our community is far below the state and county averages for violent and property crimes.

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/32159-Lady_Lake/

Sumter County, FL, is a very big county. There are five incorporated cities inside Sumter County. None are in the boundaries of TV. There are 11 unincorporated towns, including TV in Sumter County. When you use Sumter County stats, it really doesn't reflect TV inclusively.

BK, I just checked your link. It shows statistics for Lady Lake and for Lake County. TV lies in three counties. It may be difficult to find accurate statistics for TV as a community unto itself. My personal presumption is that it is likely much safer within TV than it is within the remainder of the counties because of TV's checkpoint gates, citizen patrols and a high overall awareness and watchfulness of Villagers.

Like Gracie, I'm concerned that "future" Villages residents who read this thread might get a distorted impression of criminal acts and safety here. We are a community of 40,000+ homes and 80,000+ people. Random acts of violent crime (not those perpetrated by persons who know each other) are minimal and property crimes, specifically, burglary are miniscule in number compared to the size of the community. As others have said, this is the safest community I have lived in. But bad stuff can and will happen.

So, if an alarm system makes one feel more secure then have at it.

Sorry TalkHost, I've got to agree with katez and Memason...the thread topic and initial tone seemed to be intended to provoke fear and controversy. That was my perception...not saying it was or wasn't the intent but that's how it sounded to me.

Just thinking that alarms systems won't help with many of the crimes reported to crimes against seniors - and while we might want to shoot that landscaper who scarpers off with your deposit, or the carpenter using sub standard materials, I'm thinking this would get us thrown into jail....

I had to look twice to be sure it was not that advertiser who posts those type of threads.

Me, too. This topic has been discussed in other threads ad nauseum . . .

I'd love to know too
 

And the reason I say that...

77 Replies and over 3500 Views and not one person said anything about a
story in Friday's 4/29/11 Daily Sun. Page C-1. The local section. Bottom right of page.

You can get the paper in or close to the Villages. I'm not sure about
Hillsborough County.

I went back and looked in my Daily Sun. According to the article, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement released the 2010 Uniform Crime Reports for 2009 to 2010.

The report says, statewide, Florida saw a 6.7 drop in total offenses. These included subcategories like sex offenses, robbery, murder, aggravated assault and larceny.

Sumter County saw a 16 percent decrease in crime in 2009 to 2010. According to the report, "aggravated assault was up about 5 percent, and an increase in murders from one in 2009 to three in 2010 accounted for a 200 percent increase."

Lake County crime rates fell 8.2 percent (23 percent drop in robberies and 19 percent in burglary.)

Marion County's crime rates decreased 2.4 percent for the same period.

Here's the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Report if anyone is interested. Thanks BOMBERO for the heads-up.

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Content/...-Profiles.aspx