Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Santa Clarita Called 3rd Safest City : Communities: The FBI reports the area has a crime rate of 34 per 1,000 residents. It ranks between No. 2 Thousand Oaks and No. 4 Simi Valley.

The city 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 34.11 per 1,000 residents. The city ranking placed it between second-place Thousand Oaks and fourth-place Simi Valley--both in Ventura County.

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

Officials of Santa Clarita--which was also ranked third in 1991--reacted to the news with a mixture of joy and caution. They represent a constituency 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.

“People have to take more responsibility, be the eyes and the ears for the Sheriff’s Department,” Heidt said.

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

Los Angeles had 98.93 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 crime rate of 30.30 major crimes per 1,000 residents in 1992.

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

“It’s a very nice community, it has affordable housing, and it’s known to have fine schools and fine amenities,” Dixon said, explaining why so many sheriff’s deputies live there.

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.

America’s 10 Safest Cities

Lowest crime rates for cities with populations of 100,000 or more.

Crimes per 1,000 City Population* residents Amherst Town, NY 111,711 30.30 Thousand Oaks 104,352 33.03 Santa Clarita 110,642 34.11 Simi Valley 100,217 35.39 Sterling Heights, MI 117,810 39.01 Fremont 173,339 39.91 Sunnyvale 117,229 41.58 Livonia, MI 104,814 43.00 Overland Park, KS 111,790 44.53 Irvine 110,330 45.19

Source: The FBI, the U.S. Census Bureau, 1990