Relocating to area - crime rate question
Hello everyone!
I am moving to Mount Olive/Hackettstown area and from Clifton NJ and need some advice. My main concern is safety issue and crime rate. Can anyone guide on this?
Also, how safe is it to drive after midnight (between 12am-3am). As my job is near Clifton and I am done from my work around 1am.
Ahmed
Skippy Welcome Ahmed!
My advice would be to contact the Mt.Olive and Hackettstown police departments depending on the town you are moving to. They can supply you with crime reports and such. On the forum here you will most likely get opinion and conjecture. I will say however I have been here 27 years and have raised a family in Hackettstown and have always felt safe and don't recall any major, chronic crime. Yes, there has been incidents but again Hackettstown, as far as I know does not harbor any large crime syndicates! LOL.
I must add, sadly at this time the area does not have anything that compares to Rutts Hut in Clifton. LOL
Hackettstown PD. (908) 852-3300
Mt. Olive PD (973) 691-0850
Greg I lived in essex county until i was 22. Ive lived in hackettstown, great meadows area now for a long time. There are incidents here and there but for the most part i believe its a very safe area. Yes please bring ruts hut!! That was my friday dinner before the disco. Ha ha aging myself. Good luck with ur move.
Being myself Biggest concern in my mind would be driving through Budd Lake and down the hill every night at 1am. :)
Josh Around here they roll up the side walks at 10:00 PM. I would not have any worries about driving at 1:00 AM.
GC Is this a serious question? Clifton is definitely "worse" than Mt. Olive and Hackettstown regarding your inquiry.
Calico696 Hi, I’m from Medellin Columbia and wondering if it’s safer in rural Morris county NJ. Any advice?
Yes it is very safe.. you probably won't see anyone else besides other commuters awake at that time lol. If anything it'll just creep you out feeling like a ghost town rolling down main street at 1am especially coming from clifton. As Josh said, biggest concern is coming down the Budd Lake Hill, not because of crime just because it's a dark road and very windy so don't speed down it. I go on runs alone at night in Htown very often and always feel safe and the majority of the people I cross I already am acquainted with since its such a small town
cb Yeah here is some advice. Go on google and see where the safe place is?? Morris/warren county as opposed to passsic/essex county!! Is this a joke? Feeling like someone is fishing for the right time. Wont elaberate but i think my fellow hackettstownies understand what im saying.
If you can, go to facebook and look up Hackettstown Police. The sight posts the police blotters. I don't know if it's once a week or once a month but you'll see most "crimes" are DUI's, outstanding warrant arrests, maybe a fight here or there.
I've lived in Hackettstown for 25 years or so and I feel it's very safe.
gwo Unless your driving around with pot, this area is very safe. Read the local police blotter and you'll get an idea of how safe - and boring - this area is.
alpha1beta "Read the local police blotter and you'll get an idea of how safe - and boring - this area is."
So the lack of crime makes life boring?
Hmmm, nothing like illegal gunfire going on all night long to spice up your life. Maybe you should move to Chicago. LOL
Where exactly are you moving to? Mt. Olive and Hackettstown are 2 different places. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with either but there may be some differences.
D-ManPV The last mass shooting was in 1977. At that time he was called a sniper. Still he killed half a dozen people. Been pretty quite since then.
auntiel 
Jo Auntiel, I just went and looked for the archived newspaper articles about the sniper. So he was a 20 year old marine who randomly picked a spot to kill people and drag their bodies into the bushes and while waiting for more victims. He killed 6 and then himself. I read an article that had an interview with his dad saying he wasn’t always a bad kid and saved the Wydner baby who was left in a sack behind the Methodist Church. Do you know anything about that? I’ve only lived here 5 years so it’s all so interesting to hear about.
Kt Oh and OP, I find Hackettstown and Mount Olive to be extremely safe. Definitely a nice area to live in.
Stymie I moved from Clifton to Hackettstown. Love it here, crime and afraid of driving at night? Not a chance, I go back and forth frequently to visit friends and drive at all hours.
.
Meem Pretty much every body in town new him and his family. Just like any family, they were regular folks. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I don't remember him ever being a bad kid in or out of school, and I know most would agree. One day he just snapped. Who knows why. It just happened. Very hard time for his family, the victims, and our town. Very sad. It took place on Rock Port Rd. on the RR tracks. I can't remember the exact spot, I'm thinking it was under the bridge before Alexander apts. I remember I was in Mansfield Inn with friends. I still remember the feeling of shock to this very day.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/1977/08/27/archives/sniper-slays-6-in-jersey-and-then-takes-own-life-6areswinihjersey.html?referer= https://www.google.com/
Article
Lina I work in Hackettstown late at night, and drive home in the early morning. I have never had any issues with people, animals, police or anything else. I do keep my car locked while it is parked in the street, and when I am driving, but have never had any scares.
If you've lived and still work in Clifton, it will seem like the safest place on earth. My sister lived in Clifton,so I've heard the stories.
DevilsFan parts of this area have nutcases around, not even hidden in the shadows.
call the police and ask which areas are safest, without crime with decent-living folks!!!
Hackresident For an overview you can try here:
http://www.njsp.org/ucr/2015/pdf/2015a_sect_7.pdf
In my personal experience this is a very safe area.
Justintime The sniper didn't just snap one day. He'd been in trouble before. There was an incident with a gun at the livestock auction. He had been pulled over twice (or three times?) in a single night and that also involved a gun - I don't remember if that was the same night as the incident at the auction but I think they were separate incidents. I believe that due to these incidents he had been forbidden from possessing a gun.
He'd also been admitted for psychiatric treatment during his time in the service but a discharge was negotiated before that could be completed.
Things were not so much different in 1977, it would seem. I did not live here during that time but heard about the murders, and looked up the old articles in the Star-Gazette and the Express-Times.
Aquarius I have to agree with Being Myself. I have a feeling someone is fishing, both Ahmed and Consigliere. Our area is safe and we want to keep it that way.
For Ahmed and Consigliere, we hunt in this area which means many homeowners have firearms and aren't afraid to use them. Plus the NJ State Police in addition to our local police patrol this area on a regular basis, so there is plenty of police coverage. If that scares you then good. If that makes you feel safe, then even better.
Nature Aquarius:
are you talking about those murders at the Elks Club (forgive me if I got the name of the group wrong) just behind Mt. Avenue on a dirt driveway, around 1997 or 2000?
Hackresident,
No, I am talking about the murders on the railroad tracks in 1977, mentioned upthread.
Skippy posted this link - https://mobile.nytimes.com/1977/08/27/archives/sniper-slays-6-in-jersey-and-then-takes-own-life-6areswinihjersey.html?referer= https://www.google.com/
I think this is the incident you are referring to - http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/19/nyregion/details-sifted-in-biker-clash-that-left-2-pagans-dead.html
some info here
http://www.city-data.com/city/Hackettstown-New-Jersey.html
compare the sites data to Clifton
http://www.city-data.com/city/Clifton-New-Jersey.html
CBGB 
Does anyone else remember that Elk's Club shooting in 1994, where everything was on lockdown, and we were at a bar (Schooley's Mt. Inn) and told we had to stay inside the bar and not drive on the roads or go outside!
Ahmed, it is a nice area. Crime is practically nonexistent. I would say always fill your gas tank before 9pm. And watch out for drunk drivers at those hours. That applies anywhere though. Good luck!
maja2 The incident rate is about the same as Clifton--just different perpetrators.
Your car will get damaged by deer, instead of car thieves.
Your house will get damaged by squirrels, instead of burglars.
And instead of being accosted by panhandlers on street corners, it will be Girl Scouts in front of Shop Rite.
JerseyWolf I'd just be sure to watch your speed when driving at night. My husband works nights too and he gets stopped for every little thing and usually gets let go without a ticket, but the cops are either super bored or have a quota to fill so they really crackdown after 10pm. The hill from Budd Lake into town is the worst place to get a ticket. Get ready to ride your brakes all the way down.
Hackresident, yes I do remember. If I remember right it was a brawl between some biker clubs.
We were driving home from Florida, and got into town the day it happened so I don't remember any "lock down" going on.
That and the one shooting mentioned earlier in this thread are probably the two worst "happenings" that have gone on in town that I can think of anyway.
littlelu There was the Mansfield Inn, shooting 1982. 4 people shot. and then a shootout with police and the suspect.
Boobalaa was the Mansfield Inn where that 1-2 year old Hot Dog place is outside of Hackettstown on Rt. 57 ?
I remember there was a bar up there, was wondering if th at was the Mansfield Inn.
thanks.
Cliffdale's was where the hot dog place is now. I always thought it had been there for quite some time.
I think (?) the Mansfield Inn was where Enzo's Pasta Grill is, on 57 across from Kohl's. I remember reading that but I could be wrong. That was before I was in the area.
owl Crime is every where you live in one type or another but if you use your head and street sence you may be over looked by crime so welcome to the woods ( now whos playing that banjo on fri the 13 th please don't bring up 1977 shooting my friends and I were in the line of fire that night and thanks to Hackettstown police we were gotten off the tannery ball field
Caged Animal Commenting is no longer available.