There is not much crime in New England, North Dakota. Although there is much, much less crime in New England than other places in the United States, there still exists the potential for something unexpectedly bad to happen suddenly, out of nowhere.

The population of New England, North Dakota is a little over 600 people. More than half of the residents here have known each other for almost their entire lives. When someone new moves to New England, residents notice immediately. When someone from somewhere else passes through town, residents notice this too.

How can this be that residents of New England notice new people immediately? On a typical city-street in New England, where the speed limit is 20 mph, only about 4-6 cars pass each hour during the day, and maybe 1 car per hour after 9:00 p.m. So it’s easy to notice when a vehicle passes by that is not familiar, with a driver who is not recognized. Even just from the sound it makes, an unfamiliar vehicle is detected.

It’s not as if the residents of New England are being hyper-vigilant, it’s just so easy to automatically notice an unfamiliar vehicle or an unfamiliar person.

Likewise, when a New England resident sees someone that they don’t recognize attempting to do something that they shouldn’t be doing, it’s not their love for their fellow-man or do-gooder nature that causes them to put a stop to it themselves, or call the Police, it’s the fact that they just don’t like or tolerate that kind of thing around here.

In New England, there are three sources of the petite-crime that does occur: 1) A local person has become addicted to methamphetamine and is searching for items to steal. 2) A down-on-their-luck, naer-do-well person has just moved to New England and is continuing the same illegal activity that they did where they came from. 3) A young person from a troubled-household is entering their teenage years.

Although New New England, North Dakota experiences much less crime than other places, in order to not be a victim of the crimes that do occur here, taking a few preventative measures will greatly lessen your vulnerability:

• Do not leave your vehicle running, leave keys in ignition, or leave vehicle doors unlocked.
• Do not leave valuables visible inside your vehicles, or leave tools & equipment unsecured in your truck bed.
• Do not leave tools, equipment, or sporting goods sitting in your yard.
• Do not leave your garage door open.
• Always keep your house doors locked, even when you are home.
• Do not leave your house windows wide-open, especially while you are away from home.
• Be very careful who you hire to perform work at your home, and never allow them into your house unattended.
• Never allow people that you do not know into your home.

One last warning. I have seen many videos where a stranger will show up at person’s house late at night, pretending to be in distress, making a false story such as being lost, having a broken-down vehicle, or claiming to have been the victim of an assault, pleading with the homeowner to be let inside to use their phone or get out of the cold. Often times this perpetrator will be a small woman or a small teenager. People in small-towns are especially vulnerable to this type of home-invasion crime, because they have never seen or heard of anything like this in their lifetime. The homeowner has no idea that opening their door will allow several more people that were hidden, to force their way inside.