Website Helps Track Neighborhood Crime
Buying the right home can be a tough decision. You have to know if your future neighborhood is safe.
Real estate agent Sean Casey says it’s been hard for potential buyers in the past.
“‘How’s the neighborhood?’ That’s what I hear. ‘So is this a good neighborhood?’ And it’s kinda up to me to relay as honestly as I can what I know,” says Casey, an agent with Greater Palm Springs Reality.
Now potential homeowners have a new tool.
Palm Springs Police Department teamed up with Crimereports.com.
The site maps crime throughout the city.
It also divides crime into different categories so you can see what happened, where it happened and when it happened.
The Department started using the site a few weeks ago.
Casey says the more help, the better.
“With people doing their own research it’s something the public can go to, something I can send my clients to for themselves. It’s coming straight from the source as opposed to my mouth,” says Casey.
Michael Adams moved to Palm Springs from Los Angeles 2 months ago.
He moved to escape the crime in area.
He says so far, so good but he wishes he knew about the site while he was looking for a place to live.
“If I had those tools, absolutely, I would rely on them,” says Adams.
Another Palm Springs resident, Jim Gunderson, says he’d use the site to help with recommendations.
“If someone where to ask me a hotel to stay at for a vacation or part of town to live in, I could point them in the right direction,” says Gunderson.
Low home prices and government incentives are helping the housing market rebound.
And police hope future homeowners and renters will use the site to help them find a safe place to live.
