ADT Elyria, Ohio

Potential Reasons to Get an Alarm System in Elyria, OH

Elyria is part of the Cleveland metropolitan area. It’s a city with decent spending on schools and a lower than average unemployment rate. However, it also has a higher than average crime rate, so if you live in the city, you may want to consider investing in an alarm system for your home.

Overall Crime Rate

The overall crime rate in the city is 41 percent higher than the U.S. average, and crimes increased by 3 percent between 2014 and 2015. Elyria is only safer than about 23 percent of the other cities in the country, with residents having a 1 in 25 chance of becoming a victim of some type of crime in any given year. There are about 30.67 crimes per 1,000 residents each year or about 90 crimes per square mile. This is a lot higher than the national average of 32 crimes per square mile.

Violent Crime Rate

The violent crime rate in Elyria is slightly higher than the national average of 3.8 crimes per 1,000 residents at 4.04 crimes per 1,000 residents. Assaults and robberies each make up about 3 percent of all crimes committed in Elyria, forming the majority of the violent crimes committed. The chance of a resident of the city becoming a victim of some type of violent crime in any given year is about 1 in 248 compared to the Ohio resident average risk of about 1 in 343.

Property Crime Rate

Most of the crimes committed in Elyria are property crimes, with 60 percent consisting of thefts, 29 percent consisting of burglaries and 3 percent consisting of auto thefts. The property crime rate is 30.67 crimes per 1,000 residents, which is a little higher than the national average of 24.9 crimes per 1,000 residents. Someone living in the city has a 1 in 33 chance of becoming a victim of some type of property crime in any given year. With a higher than average property crime rate in the city, it’s a good idea to take precautions to limit your burglary risk. Most of these are pretty simple, such as installing a monitored alarm system, making sure to lock all windows and doors and putting motion-activated lights near all the entrances of the home. Getting a dog can also be helpful, as can trimming back any bushes or trees that are near the house and could provide some cover to potential burglars. Neighborhood watch groups are a good idea, and so is switching from a hollow front door to a solid wood or metal one. Little changes can make a big difference. For example, in 30 percent of burglaries, the burglar got in through an unlocked door or window.

Safest Areas

Living in certain areas of the city will be safer than living in others. For example, the safest neighborhoods include West River Road South/Russia Road, Avon Belden Road/Royalton Road and Laporte, while the least safe neighborhood in the city is West River Road South. One of the most effective ways to reduce crime risk may be to move to a nearby city with an even lower crime rate. Consider North Ridgeville, Avon Lake, Amherst or Sheffield Lake, all of which have less than one-third the crime rates of Elyria. Don’t move to Lorain, however, as it has an even higher crime rate.

Police Presence

There are about 100 law enforcement professionals in the city, so there’s a ratio of 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents. This is lower than the Ohio average of 2.7 officers per 1,000 residents and the national average of 3.3 officers per 1,000 residents. Having a smaller than average police department is sometimes justified when the crime rate is very low, but otherwise, it can mean that case clearance rates are lower and response times are slower than average. These officers have to deal with more than 40,000 calls for service each year. The department has a much lower case clearance rate than the national average of 28 percent at just 19 percent, and it only clears about 7 percent of the burglaries that occur compared to a national average of 12 percent. There usually isn’t much evidence left behind during a burglary to help the officers solve the case, and burglars usually attempt to get in and out in less than 10 minutes. Because over 95 percent of burglar alarms turn out to be false alarms, police usually give them a low priority, so response times can be much longer than the 10 minutes the burglary takes. You can make solving any potential burglaries a lot more likely if you have a video verified alarm system. This means that the alarm company will be able to quickly verify whether or not the alarm is a false one using the video taken by the system when the alarm went off and will only send true burglar alarms to the police. Because it’s a verified alarm, the police will give it a higher priority and will have a better chance of catching the perpetrators.

Alarm Considerations

Elyria has an alarm ordinance. Residents are required to get a permit to have a security system, which costs $5, and then pay fines for any false alarms after the first one each year. The fee is $25 for the second through fifth false alarms, $50 for the sixth through tenth false alarms and $100 for any further false alarms. Make sure you and everyone else allowed to enter the premises are very familiar with how to work the alarm system to limit the risk of false alarms.