9:39 PM
Swee Ng
Gilbert is the nation's fifth-safest city, says businessinsider.com, a 2-year-old U.S. business news site that looked at 2010 violent-crime rates across the country.
VIOLENCE LOW
The site said Gilbert had 95 violent crimes per 100,000 people in 2010. It also said Gilbert's average of 28 robberies per 100,000 people was almost 10 times less than the national average. Violent crime includes murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
ONLY 2 IN VALLEY
Gilbert was the only Arizona community in the site's top 10 safest cities and one of only two in the top 15. The other was Surprise, which ranked 13th, with 115 violent crimes per 100,000 people and no homicides last year.
OTHER SAFE PLACE
The safest community in America, businessinsider.com said, is Irvine, Calif., which had 55 violent crimes per 100,000 people, no homicides and 30 robberies per 100,000 people.
Other communities ahead of Gilbert in the list include, in descending order, Temecula, Calif.; Cary, N.C.; and Murietta, Calif.
Rounding out the top 10 were Round Rock, Texas (6); Frisco, Texas (7); Simi Valley, Calif. (8); Bellevue, Wash. (9); and Orange, Calif. (10).
SAFER GENERALLY
Violent crime nationwide fell 5.5 percent in 2010 from the previous year's levels, business inside.com noted. The FBI's yearly report on crime in America for 2010 indicates that while murders were up in the Southeast Valley generally last year, other violent crime either stayed the same or declined.
Even though businessinsider.com called Gilbert the nation's fifth-safest city based on violent-crime rates, the FBI report indicates violent crime was up by 3.5 percent in Gilbert last year over 2009. Read more about that story.
TOWN'S REACTION
"For our local public-safety heroes and our entire community, we are honored to receive this national recognition as the fifth-safest community in the country," said Mayor John Lewis, "Public safety has always been and will continue to be a Gilbert priority."
Calling the ranking "an important honor at a time when Gilbert is becoming known for its biomedical industry," town spokeswoman Beth Lucas said, "Gilbert has long been honored for its safe, family-friendly atmosphere."
Residents participating in the 2010 Heads of Households Survey list safety as one of the reasons they continue to rate the town high, with a current approval rating of 98 percent. In the survey, 95 percent of residents said they felt safe from crime while driving or in their homes in Gilbert.
via azcentral
Posted in: news
