How a Couple of CEO’s Don’t Think You Should Know if Your Future Neighborhood is Safe
One thing I have always done while house hunting is to make a point of visiting the local Police Department.
You may ask yourself why I do that. Simple, like Willie Sutton used to say, he robbed banks because that’s where the money was, the same thing with Police Departments, that’s where the information is, they know about the crime activity in the neighborhood.
I don’ know of anybody who willingly would want to buy a home in a crime ridden neighborhood, but that’s not what the CEO’s of Realtor.com and Redfin believe.
According to Realtor CEO, David Doctorow, the crime statistics option on their search engine has been removed from the search options.
As to the why the decision to remove such an important search from their engine, Doctorow was quoted as saying, “level the playing field” and “reimagine how we integrate safety data.”
He went on to say about the FBI Crime Statistics, “unfairly penalize communities of color.”
Mr. Doctorow wants to cover the sky with his hands and wants you to believe crime statistics are culturally biased or some other liberal nonsense.
He is trying to convince you that FBI Crime Statistics, which show that 13% of the population, who happens to be African American, are arrested for more than half of the country’s murders and 52% of major robberies, are somehow racist or inaccurate.
He may think this information is not pertinent when looking for a safe place to live.
Redfin, another real estate search engine, went on as far as to claim crime statistics were inaccurate and quote “there’s to great of this inaccuracy reinforcing rural bias.”
I am sure the FBI would highly disagree with Redfin CEO, Christian Taubman.
Perhaps, Taubman is willfully ignorant as to the reality on the ground or he is just simply too woke.
Taubman, who has zero law enforcement experience, claims, “most crimes in the U.S. go unreported.” Of course he can’t back up that claim, but alas.
A 2019 Crime Victimization Survey figures mirrored those of the FBI, indicating that Black Americans accounted for a quarter of all reported violent crimes.
Taubman went on to dismiss the results of the survey as “racially bias.”
Again, Taubman has no experience to challenge the FBI data or its conclusions. The truth is never racially biased Mr. Taubman. The truth doesn’t differentiate between color, races, or national origins.
The facts are the facts. The FBI data is a compilation of information from law enforcement agencies nationwide. They are not socially biased, they are factual reports, based on actual criminal activity and arrests.
Let’s be honest, for Doctorow and Taubman it is all about the money and not your safety. After all, I would bet Doctorow and Taubman live in nice protected communities, and not the dirt holes they would want you to move into.
They could have done this quietly, but they probably thought that by making this public, they were going to join the ‘Woke Luck Club.’
All it did was to bring back to light the reality of the 13% who get arrested for the 52% of violent crimes in America.
But, don’t despair, all is not lost. You don’t have to buy a home in a neighborhood overrun by crime because a couple of CEO’s think you are being ‘insensitive or racially biased’ for wanting to provide a safe environment for your family.
Although real estate agents can’t tell you whether or not you are buying in a good or bad area, your local police department can. You can still get that information, you just have to become your own private investigator.
Redfin and Realtor can remove the crime statistics layer from their search engines, but you have the right to purchase a home in the best neighborhood you can afford.
You have the right to know what kind of criminal activity goes on in the community you are contemplating to buy a home.
So, next time you are in the market for a home, visit the local Sherriff or Police Department, they are the best sources of information regarding the crime activity in your future community.
Quotes provided by RT.com