Another Side of Key West

My first fact to face contact with potential buyers normally occurs when I pick them up at their hotel - usually five minutes before our first showing. I roll down the passenger side windows and welcome them into my car where we introduce ourselves and head off to showings.

As we move from house to house I ask as many questions of the customers as they do of me. Sometimes I feel like an unpaid tour guide or concierge - I often get asked for restaurant recommendations. Most of my buyers are looking to purchase a second home and many of those are considering renting the house for some part of the year. While full time owners might inquire about schools, second home buyers are usually more concerned about potential rental income, proximity to Duval Street, the seaport, the beaches, and crime.  Buyers from big cities often bring pre-conceived notions about crime being as bad here as it is where they come from. That is just not the case.

I suggest that the buyers do as I do: visit the Monroe County Sheriff's Office website to check the daily crime report as I call it. The website shows arrests in Monroe County for the past seven days and identifies the person arrested, where he/she lives, date of birth, occupation, arresting officer, arrest location, and the charge. I go to the site everyday. It is a part of my job. I need to know where bad things occur; where bad people live; and what arrested folks are charged with doing. Being charged does not mean people are guilty. But most are. Of something.

I tell potential buyers that there is little person on person crime in Key West - like assaults, robberies, and so on. Most of the arrests here are for driving under the influence, possession of illegal drugs, assaults in bars by drunks on drunks, domestic fights in homes and hotels, thefts of food from shopping centers by the homeless, and conditional release violation - getting caught doing something bad while out of jail on bond. I tell buyers they can walk the streets safely even late at night. Everyone should be careful, but no one should be fearful.

I think a measure of any society is how it treats those accused of a crime. Below are photos of people arrested by the local police, the county sheriff, and the highway patrol. I was kidding about most people being guilty - well a little kidding and a little serious. Everybody is presumed innocent. Below are people who appeared in the crime report and are presumed to be innocent. This is another side of Key West most people are not aware of.