Yo, Data! Top 5 Hottest Blocks for Car Break-ins in 2014
Yo, Data is an occasional feature by tech whiz and South Philly resident Angela Minster, in which she crunches the numbers and makes ’em all nice and pretty. Know of any data sets you can customize to South Philly? Let us know at punk@passyunkpost.com.
If you have a car in the city you’ve probably noticed the broken glass of a car window on the ground and made a mental note to avoide parking on that block. But how prevalent are car break-ins and stolen cars? And where should I avoid leaving my car?
In 2014 there were 1,168 reported car break-ins in South Philadelphia. The top spots for break-in’s are in the commercial areas along Columbus Blvd, but excluding those, here were the 5 least safe blocks to leave your car in 2014:
- 800 Block of Mifflin Street – 10 break-ins
- 2100 Block of S 5th Street – 8
- 400 Block of Reed Street – 7
- 500 Block of S Front Street – 7
- 1100 Block of S 7th Street – 5
The interactive map below shows all car break-ins by block and all car thefts in South Philly in 2014.
As far as car thefts are concerned, we’re happy to report that there are relatively few car thefts in South Philly. Fun fact: there are actually more stolen cars recovered in South Philly than actual stolen cars (589 vs 259 respectively in 2014).
In our next post on car thefts and break-ins we’ll look at how the rates of these crimes have been trending in recent years.
The Fine Print: Raw crime data sourced from the Philadelphia Police Department. The official description of a “car break-in” is “theft from vehicle”.
800 block of Mifflin makes sense – the Bok school is vacant, Southwark is empty at night, and junkies tend to congregate on that block at night. With that being said, I typically see a cop car parked near there when I walk my dog.
The 800 block of Mifflin makes perfect sense, if you think about it, as there’s nothing on that block but a school on either side of the street, which means there’s no one who lives there and little foot traffic after dark.
I’m honestly surprised the numbers are not higher at 400 Reed St. Mt. Sinai take up multiple long stretches of Reed and Dickinson on 4th and 5th.
This makes Pointe Breeze look a lot safer than the rest of South Philly
@J – that’s funny!! Take a look at the stats for armed robbery, assault, and murder. Then get back to me about Point Breeze’s “safety”….
What year are you living in AnthonyG? It is not 1997 anymore…
Hrm, I’m suspicious that the police data is incomplete, because there are no thefts from cars shown on my block for 2014, but I reported one to the police that year. I wonder if they filed it for the wrong address….
That’s interesting. The PPD has a map of all crimes (https://www.phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/) but it only goes back 6 months. If you want to email me privately I can look up your block in the data that I have (angela at philamapco dot com).