Bowie is the only city in Maryland where neighbors don’t lock their doors at night, study finds

BOWIE, Md. – As violent crime continues to hit the DMV, a new national study shows that there’s one Maryland city where neighbors feel so safe, they’re comfortable leaving their front doors unlocked. 

According to this study, Bowie is the only city in Maryland that made the list of America’s most trusted towns. 

“I really do feel safe here in Bowie,” neighbor Jenise Leach said. 

Leach compares it to the South. 

“I’m coming from South Carolina and living in where I live, I feel that homeliness and neighborly atmosphere,” she told FOX 5. 

An atmosphere so relaxed that a survey done by Automate Life, a home tech website, ranks Bowie as number 56 on a list of 60 and the only Maryland town where residents feel confident leaving their doors unlocked at night. 

“I don’t know if I would leave my door open at night but I do think if you leave your door open, you will be perfectly fine,” Bowie resident Frank Uzoma said. 

Bowie Police Department Acting Chief Dwayne Preston says it’s wonderful to be seen as a safe city but wants everyone to lock their front doors.

“Bowie is not on an island. It is subject to outsiders that will come in and prey on that opportunity knowing that it is a wonderful city,” Preston said.  

As safe as people may feel Preston says, like D.C. and the rest of the county, they are dealing with a rise in carjackings. 

“In all of 2022, we had seven carjackings. To have five in one month is alarming to me,” Preston said. “The suspects in these incidents are not people who live in Bowie, they are coming from outside the community.”  

Preston says most of those carjackings occurred at gas stations shopping centers and apartment complexes. 

He says his department is stepping up patrolling, especially in the evenings to help keep the community a safe one. 

“You always see them driving around making sure everything is peaceful. They are doing a great job so far from what I’ve seen,” Bowie resident Frank Uzoma said. 

He’s asking the community to keep doing what they’ve been doing, speak up and report any suspicious crime.