UNO’s Center for Public Affairs Research recently released findings regarding how safe metro area residents feel in their communities.
David Drozd, Research Coordinator for CPAR at UNO, says there were several key findings in the report including the fact that only 18% of respondents in metro areas said they felt safer than they did five years ago.
Even so, Drozd says people reported they are generally satisfied with their day to day personal safety in the metro parts of Nebraska.
"And that was as high as 90% in both Lancaster and Sarpy counties. But only around 75% of people were satisfied with general personal safety in Douglas County so it was quite a bit lower there. There was also a large differential between those who live in western Douglas county and eastern parts of the county where crime victimization tends to be a little bit higher.”
Drozd says fear of crime as well as actual victimizations were higher in eastern Douglas County. That was especially true among those who have a high school education or less, are renters, and are part of minority population groups.
He says interestingly, these groups were most likely to say the crime situation had improved in their area over the last few years. The full report is available at unomaha.edu/cpar.