Dubai has among the lowest crime rates of any major city, and for most families relocating here, crime is not the risk worth planning around. That sounds like a non answer, so here is the useful version: the things that actually affect a family’s day to day safety in Dubai are traffic, construction and how well a building is run.

Traffic, which is the real one

Is there a through route past your door? Communities built with internal loops and cul de sacs are meaningfully safer for children than ones where a road cuts through.
Can a child walk to the park or the school gate without crossing a fast road? Walk it, do not judge it from a map.
Where does the school drop off queue actually form, and does it back onto a main road?
Are there pavements the whole way, and shade on them? In summer a hot, exposed walk is its own hazard.

Construction

In a community that is still being built out you are living beside heavy vehicles, dust and changing road layouts, sometimes for years. This is the most common genuine complaint from families who bought in an early phase, and it is entirely predictable before you buy: ask which phase you are in and what is scheduled around you.

How the building or community is run

Pool fencing and pool supervision, which vary enormously and are worth looking at in person.
Balcony rails and window restrictors in apartments, particularly in older stock.
Whether the owners association is active, which shows up in whether lighting works, gates close and maintenance gets done. A building with no functioning association is one where nothing gets fixed until it fails.
Lift maintenance records in a tower.

What matters less than people expect

Gates and guards. Almost every Dubai community has them and they are not what makes the difference. A gated community on a through road with no pavements is worse for a family than an ungated one built around a park.

Tell us the ages of your children and we will tell you which communities on your shortlist we would actually put a family in, and which we would not. Our comparison of family communities covers the trade offs.