[RE-POST BY REQUEST] Explained: how those long lists of crime are deceptive and inflate the false perception of crime

[Crime in Lake Worth is a big topic in the City but not in the way it's been talked about in the past. There seems to be a general disgust in the community with how crime is reported and the amount of crime in the western communities that gets attributed to the City, unfairly. The Obtuse Blogger (TOB) for instance, although she's lived here for 80 years or so, is someone who should know better but remains ignorant of the City's borders. This particular post below is a big hit with my readers and was requested to re-post. So here it is:]

One of the standard stock images used by The Obtuse Blogger (TOB) introducing readers to her tediously long list of crimes.

Another day and another tediously long list of crime by The Obtuse Blogger (TOB); this is nothing new. An alert reader of my blog printed out this particular list and sent it to me with one street in highlighted: the 2000 block of Collier Ave. We'll get to that later.

How many readers of her blog do you suppose see that long list and say, "Hey, I'm gonna check if these are really crimes and if they happened in the City?" Would suspect that number to be zero. Here are some 'crimes' TOB lists:

• 7 Beverage Violations (violations are not crimes)
• 2 Drunk Pedestrians 
• 2 Disturbances (car stereo too loud?)

The crimes TOB gives between 2000 and 2400 Lake Worth Road? I'll give her the benefit of the doubt on those; that area is a mix of City and unincorporated Palm Beach County (U-PBC). Without even trying too hard here are some crimes that she lists that occurred outside the City of Lake Worth:

• 1100 block of Lake Geneva Drive
• 1700 block of Katherine Court
• 2500 block of Lake Worth Rd (condo complex in U-PBC)

The message seems to be when fact-checking her list of crimes is the same message PBSO gives at every neighborhood meeting: LOCK YOUR CAR DOORS! The message just never seems to get through. The number of vehicle burglaries? 13.

Now for the home burglary on the 2000 block of Collier Ave:

Image from Google Maps. Note Collier Ave is the east/west street with the 'red pin' in the center.

Collier Ave is only two blocks long located off of Lake Osborne Drive. West of the red pin in the image above is the City of Lake Worth. East of the pin is U-PBC. That area is a "pocket" of U-PBC located within the City. Note that TOB's best friend in the universe lives in the 2100 block of Collier Ave. After TOB living in the City for what, 80 years now, she still doesn't know that the east part of Collier Ave IS NOT in the City? Absurd. But it gets added to the list anyway. 

The next time you see one of those long lists of crime in the City be skeptical. 

A message brought to you by the Lake Worth Neighborhood Association Presidents Council (NAPC).