Ten of the locales on a just-released “20 Safest Cities in Connecticut” list are in Fairfield County, with Ridgefield at number one.
The county was responsible for numbers two through five as well, with Wilton coming in second, Weston third, Easton fourth, and Redding fifth. Other county cities placing on the list were New Canaan (eighth), Newtown (ninth), Greenwich (15th), Monroe (17th) and Bethel (19th).
The annual ranking is produced by SafeWise, a home security and safety brand that seeks to increase safety education, awareness, and preparedness in American communities. To compile the list, SafeWise reviews the most recent FBI Crime Report statistics available ”” this time from 2014 ”” along with population data. Cities with fewer than 5,000 residents are eliminated, as are any cities that did not submit a complete crime report to the FBI.
The remaining cities are then examined for number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft); calculations are then made on the likelihood of those crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city.
“Based on the most recent FBI Crime Report, the violent crime rate in Connecticut is nearly 40 percent lower than the national average and the property crime rate is over 25 percent lower,” SafeWise stated. “In 2014, roughly 30 out of every 1,000 people across the U.S. were victims of crime, while Connecticut”™s crimes affected only 21 out of 1,000 people. Among the state”™s 20 safest cities, however, only about three crimes were reported for every 1,000 citizens.
“Eighteen of Connecticut”™s 20 safest cities reported zero murders, and the other two cities reported one each,” the report continued. “Thirty percent of the cities also cited no incidents of rape or robbery. Furthermore, 70 percent of the 20 safest cities in Connecticut reported less than five violent crimes and 55 percent reported less than 100 property crimes. These figures are especially impressive considering the average population of the cities on our list is almost 19,000.”
