Provo Ranks Nationally in Top 10 Safest Cities

No need to worry about the Grinch stealing Christmas this year. Provo was rated as the 10th safest city in the nation for its size in Crime Ratings in America. Publisher Morgan Quitno awarded the city the rating after considering the most recent crime statistics released by the FBI in October.

“Provo is as safe as it is because the population has a lot of good people,” said Capt. Rick Healy of the Provo Police Department. “In terms of having a population that’s more interested in abiding by the law than breaking it, it’s going to be a safe place.”

Six crime categories were considered with equal weight: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. These numbers were weighted against the national average for each category, and then multiplied by a weight assigned to each score. The six scores were then added together and ranked according to size, according to a Quitno’s report.

Corrine Foster, who represents the city as Miss Provo, said she thinks having BYU in Provo makes the city safer and keeps crime statistics lower.

“I definitely think that BYU students are more conscientious about safety,” Foster said. “They are concerned with having a good community to live in. I feel safe in Provo and on campus.”

BYU’s crime and arrest numbers are lower than those of other universities such as University of Utah and Utah State University, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

Over the past three years, BYU reported a total of 32 arrests for burglary, 10 for motor vehicle theft and two for aggravated assault on campus. There were also four arrests for forcible sex offenses.

The University of Utah reported over four times as many forcible sex offenses on campus as BYU did. They also reported five times as many arrests for aggravated assaults on campus. Utah State reported almost 60 percent more burglaries on campus than BYU.

Michael Harroun has been with the University Police Department for 36 years and has observed trends that keep campus crimes low.

“It’s the entrance requirements to get into BYU that give a higher quality student to begin with and the ecclesiastical endorsements that make a difference,” Harroun said. “After they started requiring endorsements, we saw a drop in overall crime rate on campus.”

Harroun said he feels students today contribute to the safe atmosphere of the city by being good citizens.

Although the ratings are in, Harroun said crime still happens and students should use good judgment.

“Many who’ve been victimized are those who’ve been careless or too trusting,” Harroun said. “Most crime could be prevented if people just use common sense.”

Harroun encourages students to remain attentive so crime stays low in Provo and on campus.

“Report crimes as soon as you can,” he said. “Be alert, be observant. The more information that can single an individual out the better. As much detail as you can observe and remember, write that down even before you call the police

Orem was also recognized for safety, ranking as the 10th safest city for cities of 75,000 to 99,999 population and the 14th safest city overall.
Copyright Brigham Young University 1 Dec 2005