According to Law Street, the FBI ranked my hometown, Irvine, California the safest city in the United States for the second year in a row. Irvine has a population of 235,830 people and an officer to population ratio of one to 1,216, which makes for a pretty interesting city.
One might wonder what it’s like growing up in the safest city in the world. Well, I’ll tell you.
When you are in Irvine you feel like nothing can happen to you. You never hear about murders or robberies. People leave their cars unlocked and their garage doors open without questioning that their things will get stolen—because they don’t. Kids are expected to get straight A’s and do three hours of homework each night—not to mention be on the student body or at least play a sport. Also, everyone knows pretty much everything about the other families in the area. It’s not like a small town where everyone knows every little detail about each other’s lives, but the neighbor’s kids are definitely a hot topic of gossip among the parents, who are on the PTA or a board of something.
Now, lets talk about the police. Only in Irvine would you get pulled over for j-walking and parties get rolled at 10 p.m. When there are DUI checkpoints, they are at 9 p.m. on a Friday night and there are huge flashing signs from three blocks away, which gives you plenty of warning to change your route if you want to get out of trouble. The police really do make for funny stories though. My dog, healthy and happy as could be, bit a gardener who was sticking his hand over our fence. The police ended up coming to our door 10 minutes later to check out the situation. My poor dog was on “house arrest” for 10 days
Even though Irvine sounds like the most boring place to live, it was actually really amazing growing up here. Being just a 15 minute drive from the beach, having beautiful hiking trails within walking distance of my house, and having pools everywhere gave me a chance to relax in the sun. Also, since there isn’t much to do, my friends and I made up a lot of fun games and had many chances for good conversation. Who else would’ve thought of a volleyball game where the loser has to drink a shot of kefir (it’s basically lumpy, spoiled milk)? Some of my best memories are sitting on the carpeted floor of a friend’s house chatting for hours about our lives. The people I grew up with are so supportive, funny, and caring. They made for a great high school experience.
So, yes living in the safest city in the country can be boring. But, hey it’s what you make of it.
