El Paso is frequently ranked one of the safest cities for its size in the country (AdvisorSmith, 2021, 2020; Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reporting, 2021, 2020).
But ultimately, safety is subjective. What you consider a safe neighborhood, someone else may not. For example, some may look for a home near a local police station so that help is always minutes away, while others would find that a terrifying neighborhood feature.
Here are some other resources and tools for checking safety in your neighborhood, city, and state:
FINDING SEX OFFENDERS
Family Watchdog maps the addresses of registered sex offenders in your neighborhood or near your child’s school. Just type a location or address into the website’s search box, and Family Watchdog generates a map pinpointing the address of nearby registered sex offenders. If you’re looking for a specific individual, you can search for them by name.
Color-coded icons correspond to various sex crimes, including crimes against children, sexual battery, and rape. Click the icon, and you’ll see a picture of the offender, learn their aliases, and find out what sex crime they’ve been convicted of.
You can sign up for alerts whenever a registered sex offender moves in or out of your neighborhood through the website. In addition to detailed information about offenders, this online tool offers personal safety tips, facts about sexual abuse, and a comprehensive blog and newsletter.
Family Watchdog is a free service, but you’ll be sent off-site to a subscription service if you want detailed background reports about any offenders.
FINDING SPECIFIC CRIME DATA
SpotCrime maps crimes on-site and delivers crime alerts to your email. It gathers data from more than just law enforcement agencies; it also collects information from news reports and user tips.
SpotCrime is user-friendly and highly visual, giving you a quick look at crime information in your neighborhood. Crimes are represented by icons that make it easy to see what activity takes place in your neighborhood.
When you click on an icon, you get the crime title, when and where it took place and a link that directs you to the source where the data came from.
CHECKING CRIME IN YOUR STATE
The Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer compiles crime reports from all over the country. It is the tool that is often used when ratings of the top safest cities are compiled. While the tool doesn’t portray crime mapping by address, you can find crime data for Texas or a state you might want to move to in the future. The data is divided by crime type, including violent crime rate, hate crime, property crime, and arrests.
CONTRIBUTING AND CONNECTING WITH YOUR NEIGHBORS
The Neighbors App by Ring (known for its Ring doorbell cameras) aims to be an online neighborhood watch program. You don’t have to be a Ring customer to use the app. It’s free to download and use no matter what security system or devices you own.
Neighbors use reports by people in your neighborhood and local law enforcement to alert you to suspicious activities and crime events in your area. You can also anonymously contribute your tips.
Neighbors aren’t just a neighborhood crime app, though. Some neighborhoods use the app to band together and keep safe during natural disasters or organize neighborhood watches. You can also submit or look for information on lost pets.
Of course, other apps, like NextDoor, are great resources for keeping up to date on any security incidents in your area.
Keep in mind many of these tools use crime statistics by address and don’t factor in a lot of things that make a neighborhood safe, so the results may be misleading. You don’t get a complete picture of how truly safe a neighborhood is. There are many things that can make a neighborhood safe:
And there are plenty of ways to make a neighborhood safer. Consider chiming in on your NextDoor app and community Facebook groups, reporting community issues to 311 (kind of a citizens' hotline), and of course reporting a crime to 911.
