Cockroaches? Murders? Is it REALLY that bad?

Hi girls/ladies
We have a few days to decide whether we are going to move to Doha and sign a contract. We will be working at the English Modern School. Off course I am doing my research but hitting a decision making wall, and it is definitely leaning towards NO. Are there any teachers of the EMS out there that we could have a chat with ( off record ) we want to know about the recent murder at the housing apartment and the safety there. Also we do not find out much about the school on line so want to know more before we commit.

Next to that I have a cockroach fobia and even thought I have lived in Asia for 6 years and have travelled quite a bit, the stories I read on the forums about Qatar are horrendous! ( I am used to some occasionally in our house flying in from outside as an accident) Is it REALLY that bad? I don't think I can live with roaches crawling out of the toilet bowl ( or I would not want to)
We will get housing supplied by the school but don't have my hopes up on that one ( especially after reading some of the teacherwifes stories here on line) we will not be payed an enormous amount of money so will have to live "frugal" if we want to save some.
Is it possible to arrive with 2 people and a dog and stay in a cockroach free hotel / furnished apartment until we find something CLEAN? Or do they simply not exist ?
I think the having to live with a lot of cockroaches and having no control over them ( like keeping my house clean, foodfree) is my biggest NO! We are depressed as we were getting REALLY excited by living in that bizarre and exhilarating place and now we might decline the contract. We are rather adventurous but just have a cleanliness issue ( especially around my own bedroom and bathroom)
Please please any one who can put things in perspective or just give us the honest truth would be really really appreciated.
We might be teaching your children so we want to be happy off course ;-)
Thank you very much.