Local communities make another ‘safest cities’ list
Published 10:38 am Tuesday, January 5, 2016
By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor
Residents in several Shelby County cities are far less likely to be the victims of burglaries and other crimes than in most other cities across the state and nation, according to a list recently released by Consumeraffairs.com.
The website recently compiled crime data from cities throughout the world, and listed the top safest locations in each country and state. After the results were calculated, several local cities came out on top.
Through the study, the consumer advocacy website tracked burglary odds, change in burglary rate in the past year, police officers per 10,000 residents, crime rate per 1,000 residents and average number of crimes per day for 2014.
Helena led all other Shelby County cities – and most cities in the state – on the list by having a significantly lower burglary odd and crime rate than many other locations.
Helena ranked No. 2 in average yearly household burglary odds, just behind Sylvania in northeastern Alabama. Helena residents have a one in 1,475 chance of being the victim of a burglary, which is a 40 percent decrease from 2013 to 2014, according to the study.
Helena also ranked No. 6 in the state for crime rate, recording an 18.31 crime rate per 1,000 residents. The city had an average of 0.89 crimes per day, and had 14.69 police officers per 10,000 residents.
Slightly behind Helena was Pelham, which also ranked highly in average yearly household burglary odds, coming in at No. 7. Pelham has a one in 643 chance of being the victim of a burglary, which marks a 22.2 percent decrease from 2013-2014.
Pelham recorded 38.49 crimes per 1,000 residents, had an average of 2.37 crimes per day and had 38.89 police officers per 10,000 residents.
Alabaster also ranked in the top 10 on the list, coming in at No. 9 in the state for average yearly household burglary odds. Alabaster residents have a one in 464 chance of being the victim of a burglary, marking a 2.9 percent decrease from 2013 to 2014.
Alabaster has an average crime rate of 42.45 per 1,000 residents, and has an average rate of 3.67 crimes per day.
To view the entire list, visit Consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/aaa_alarm_systems.html#safest-cities.