Safest Neighborhood in Brooklyn? Don't Think So.

Here's a map of Brooklyn neighborhood crime rates according to Neighborhood Scout. The dark blue areas are supposedly the safest, while the lightest blues have the worst crime rates.

According to the website (which seems to be real estate oriented) Kent Ave / 3rd Street is the safest neighborhood in Brooklyn, followed by:

- Gowanus Expy / 7th Ave
- Bergen Beach
- Bedford Ave / Avenue L
- Flushing Ave / Bedford
- Williamsburg St / Wythe
- 80th St / 12th Ave
- 23rd St / Avenue J
- Ross St / Bedford Ave
- 33rd St / Avenue R

Something about the first listing (Kent Avenue and 3rd Street) didn't sound quite right, so we looked up this so-called safest neighborhood in Brooklyn on Google Maps. This is what we found:

This looks just like the kind of neighborhood our mother warned us about!

The second-safest -- Gowanus Expressway / 7th Avenue -- is just highway, so we looked nearby at 7th Avenue and 68th Street:

Looks pretty safe . . .

The third safest, Bergen Beach looks really safe!

So does Bedford and Avenue L.

Flushing and Bedford: It's a Orthodox Jewish neighborhood and looks pretty safe. Williamsburg Street at Wythe is a similar Orthodox neighborhood.

80th Street near 12th Avenue; 23rd Street at Avenue J; Ross Street at Bedford Avenue; and 33rd Street at Avenue R are all lovely, suburban-looking neighborhoods.

So while we can't speak for the accuracy of these neighborhood statistics, we'd venture that most of these so-called safe neighborhoods are really safe -- except for the first, "safest neighborhood in Brooklyn."

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