Just moved to Columbia (Long Reach)

A_Lemurs_Carbine · May 6, 2019

Good morning MDShooter Fam.

This last weekend I moved into a apartment in the longreach community. I am Starting to realize it might not be the safest place on earth. Any members here ever lived or is currently living in this general area and might have a little insight for the area?

Thanks in advance!

sino26 · May 6, 2019

I'm nearby in Oakland Mills. Around the Longreach village center is pretty sketchy. The Oakland Mills village center isn't much better. There's a reason they have police substations. What kind of info are you looking for?

pbharvey · May 6, 2019

You live in the most dangerous and crime ridden section of Howard County.
There was a murder on Spiral Cut this weekend.

Brownl345 · May 6, 2019

I live in King's Contrivance. Long Reach is not a great area, especially at night. However, most of the Columbia Villages have pockets of sketchiness and crime. It's a double edged sword. Columbia's founder wanted a city with economical and racial diversity. I love Columbia for that, but I also hate Columbia for the side effects that it brings. Having said that, if you pay close attention, most of the sketchy people doing sketchy things in Columbia don't even live in Howard County.

A_Lemurs_Carbine · May 6, 2019

Thanks for all the quick responses,
I saw the news of the young woman’s murder a few moments ago.
I just signed a 1 year lease on the 1st of this month so I’m hoping it won’t be terrible for my girlfriend and I. I have always loved Columbia so this is actually pretty dissatisfying to say the least.

threegun · May 6, 2019

In Oak Island style. Murder? Crime? in Columbia? How can this happen in the bastion of liberal utopia, where the rich and poor live side by side in pure bliss?

danb · May 6, 2019

Well, you are armed, so thats a start. My additional advice would be security cams or doorbell cam, and loud barky pets, if your lease allows it.

It is the "bad" section of Columbia, but having lived in Baltimore, i'd say you will survive. Bad is relative. Avoid stupid places, stupid people, stupid things (like drugs) you should be fine.

Howard County has about 6 homicides a year. Thats about 1/20th what Bodymorge has.

ETA: If you place backs up to a trail, its at extra risk, so lock up tight and lock up valuables and guns when you are not home. The good news, they look for places when you are not home (unless you forgot to pay your heroin bill). So get renters insurance for theft etc.

DraKhen99 · May 6, 2019

I lived off Harper's Farm road, in some mostly Section 8 apartment complex. This was back in 2005/2006, and it was crappy then. Every Saturday afternoon/evening there was a passed-out drunk homeless dude asleep on our stairs, and I'd call it in.

I asked a cop once in the Safeway parking lot about the area, and she asked when my lease was up LOL.

I moved out in 2006 and never looked back.

-John

Yingpin · May 6, 2019

A_Lemurs_Carbine said:
Thanks for all the quick responses,
I saw the news of the young woman’s murder a few moments ago.
I just signed a 1 year lease on the 1st of this month so I’m hoping it won’t be terrible for my girlfriend and I. I have always loved Columbia so this is actually pretty dissatisfying to say the least.

Welcome to the area, although I wish you could have started a thread prior to signing that lease. I grew up and my parents live just around the corner on Phelps Luck Drive and Long Reach has always been "an area to be careful in". Now I used to sneak out and pass through there in wee hours of the night and never had any trouble. I did have bikes and a 4 wheeler stolen and recovered there. There is a lot of Section 8 and that creates some challenges. I am a bit surprised that you were not aware of the area having had grown up in Columbia but nonetheless...

In my opinion, you and your girlfriend need to make sure your situational awareness is on point. Most stuff that happens is snatching, "armed" robbery and are all opportunistic attacks. There is a strong police presence and HOCO is pretty good IMO. Responsive and take inquiries pretty serious. Keep your windows locked, belongings out of site and you should be ok.

You are in MD so no use carrying and make sure you understand the castle doctrine as it relates to your situation.

1 year will go by fast and I would have a general idea where you want to go

Slim · May 6, 2019

oops...

Yingpin said:
Welcome to the area, although I wish you could have started a thread prior to signing that lease.

I'm laughing with you OP, not at you, but yeah, maybe do some checking ahead of time.

I've been a renter my entire adult life. I always try to check out a potential new area by cruising by and/or parking a few times a day to see what's going on in the neighborhood. I don't want to see any "military-aged males" who look un- or under-employed sitting around. Can't really tell that right after work, the time people are typically looking at apartments, or on Saturday/Sunday when Open Houses typically are held.

Gotta check it out between 10am-2pm and 10pm-2am on weekdays. I want to see moms & grandmoms pushing strollers during the former timeframe, and no one except maybe someone walking a dog during the latter.

Stoveman · May 6, 2019

pbharvey said:
You live in the most dangerous and crime ridden section of Howard County.
There was a murder on Spiral Cut this weekend.

This

danb said:
Well, you are armed, so thats a start. My additional advice would be security cams or doorbell cam, and loud barky pets, if your lease allows it.

It is the "bad" section of Columbia, but having lived in Baltimore, i'd say you will survive. Bad is relative. Avoid stupid places, stupid people, stupid things (like drugs) you should be fine.

Howard County has about 6 homicides a year. Thats about 1/20th what Bodymorge has.

ETA: If you place backs up to a trail, its at extra risk, so lock up tight and lock up valuables and guns when you are not home. The good news, they look for places when you are not home (unless you forgot to pay your heroin bill). So get renters insurance for theft etc.

And this.

The trails are like bad guy superhighways to the pawn shop.

Had a friend make the same mistake you just did and lived in an apt complex off Tamar Dr for a year. Had his place broken into twice and came out one morning and his Honda Accord was up on CMU blocks, all four wheels snatched.

Reptile · May 6, 2019

You'll find that negative news about Columbia is hard to come by, which does not mean that nothing bad happens here. The really big things can't be ignored, but one source that covers local news on a daily basis is Patch.com. If you go to their web site and enter your Zip Code and e-mail address they will push local news to you.

CBo · May 6, 2019

check out patch.com, and go to columbia for crime news, they catalog most police action. the trend seems to be, cars being broken into by the same few people, being held up by teens in a parking lot or path from 6pm-2am, houses being broken into (but reports indicate a large time frame of when the crime occured, meaning the homeowner was gone for a few days and the thief somehow knew). Most armed home invasions are drug related, and a good amount of reported robberies are drug related or the suspect is known to the victim. My best advice, is that teenagers who want to be bad and rob homes but not actually get caught or hurt anyone are aware that people with careers usually go out on friday nights, and unfortunately alot of people do not secure their deck patio doors. They will just go to a neighborhood with a bunch of condos and go to the back and see which units have their lights off, then just walk up and see if the sliding door is locked. I know this because I was told this back in high school by some kid in my class who claimed to do this a few times (but this was over a decade ago). Just dont walk around late at night by yourself or even with another person, and always lock your doors and make your house harder to break into than your neighbors. my next door neighbor actually had an attempted break in at 10 am on a weekday, some crackhead threw a brick into the front door glass panel but the homeowner was home. I caught the guy on my security camera, and lets just say I was not surprised who it was. And a few years back my area was being canvassed by teens on bicycles. they were trying to locate a house with little activity to rob. just be aware of suspect cars, people, activity and you should be good.

Melnic · May 6, 2019

Don't leave ANYTHING of value in your car and keep it locked.

Deep Lurker · May 10, 2019

Watched this recent PBS TV documentary about the creation and design of Columbia.

Fascinating to watch uber-liberal Rouse planners obsessing over the smallest detail in designing their HoCo human ant farm.

Just under one hour running time:

https://video.mpt.tv/video/columbias-promise-mifikc/

Hyper-W · May 16, 2019

Try to meet the Neighborhood Community Resource Officer for Long Reach. Ask him for information and tips.

https://www.howardcountymd.gov/Departments/Police/Community-Outreach and click on the NCRO section. You'll see The Long Reach officer's name, email address, office number, and office address. Reach out. That's what they are there for.

I grew up in Columbia. It started to get bad about 20-25 years ago. As others have said, "bad" is relative. You have the occasional shooting but unless you're in the game you aren't typically a target. In most of Columbia, property crime is the most prevalent. We had the door kicked in while not home, vehicles broken into, etc. Not ideal but far from what you have to deal with in Cambridge, Baltimore, or Annapolis.
Start looking around for where you want to go next. I love HoCo and there are LOTS of areas of the county where you can be safe. If you can get a few minutes of the NCRO's time, I'm sure he'd give you some ideas on other neighborhoods and apartment complexes to live. Typically the more you pay the nicer the neighborhood!

Just moved to Columbia (Long Reach)

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