FBI Again Lists Santa Clarita 3rd in Safety

Santa Clarita maintained its ranking as the nation’s third safest city among municipalities with populations greater than 100,000, according to FBI statistics released Monday.

Santa Clarita reported 3,774 major crimes in 1992, or a crime rate of 34.1 per 1,000 residents. The ranking placed it between second-place Thousand Oaks and fourth-place Simi Valley--both in Ventura County.

The annual FBI tally includes the crimes of rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson reported by cities of 100,000 or more.

Officials of Santa Clarita--which was ranked third safest city in 1991--reacted to the news with a mixture of joy and caution. They represent many residents who sought out the city in part because of its reputation for safety.

“Of course, I am happy,” said Mayor Jan Heidt. “But I’m distressed that in the first three months of this year, we had a very high rate of vandalism.”

This year, through March, vandalism accounted for 239 of the 275 crimes reported in the city, including attacks on two elementary schools that resulted in $11,300 in damage, Heidt said.

But Santa Clarita’s vandalism troubles pale when compared to Los Angeles’, which reported a crime rate three times that of its north county neighbor.

Los Angeles had 98.9 crimes per 1,000 residents in 1992, recording 344,795 major crimes last year among its 3,485,398 residents.

The FBI report’s No. 1 ranking went to Amherst Town, N.Y., a suburb of northeastern Buffalo with a population of about 112,000 and a 1992 tally of 30.3 major crimes per 1,000 residents.

Other California cities in the top 10 safest were Fremont, in sixth place with 39.9 crimes per 1,000; Sunnyvale, in seventh with 41.6, and Irvine in 10th with 45.2.

Lt. Marv Dixon of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which polices Santa Clarita, said the city benefits from a cooperative city government, as well as having more than half of its 164 sworn officers as area residents.

Despite the good showing, Dixon said there has been an increase in robberies.

“It’s hard to say what one thing is causing our rise in robberies, other than we’re a little larger, a little better known and the recession has caused lots of people, including criminals, to have money troubles,” Dixon said.