Remains safest in North Carolina, Southeast

November 21, 2010

CARY, NC – The Town of Cary has been named the second safest in the nation among municipalities with populations of 100,000 to 499,999 by CQ Press, publisher of the annual “City Crime Rankings 2010-2011: Crime in Metropolitan America”; the town previously held the fifth safest city ranking in the same category in 2009. This is Cary’s twelfth consecutive year on this list. Only Amherst, New York ranked safer among municipalities with similar populations. As of October 1, the Town’s estimated population was 142,176.

Once again, Cary remains the highest-ranked municipality in North Carolina and in the southeast among the nation’s safest cities overall. This year, Cary ranked eighth safest overall when compared with every community of any size in the report. The rankings are based on final 2009 crime statistics.

“Even though the population in Cary continues to increase, our safety ranking also continues to remain high,” said Chief Pat Bazemore. “Keeping Cary safe goes hand-in-hand with keeping Cary one of the best places to live, work and raise a family, which is why we will continue to work with our citizens on preventing crime before it happens.”

In addition to a successful reaccredidation process, Bazemore credits the high safety ranking to numerous efforts by the Police Department. The Town moved to GeoPolicing, a new approach to community safety that enables officers to become experts on the needs, issues and concerns of the people within the specific areas they serve. Within the first six months of GeoPolicing, the Town saw a significant decrease in crimes of all types. In addition, several officers were certified in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design and the Town of Cary Police Department began offering home security surveys, a one-on-one meeting at a citizen’s home where an officer evaluates the home and offers advice to make it a safer place. The Department also answered approximately 150 community service requests and reached over 6,000 citizens via community meetings. The Citizen’s Assisting Police (CAP) Team logged nearly 7,000 volunteer hours helping with Child ID programs, community events, safety seat installation and DWI checkpoints. Other major outreach events included National Night Out, Stranger Danger and School’s In/Speed’s Out.

Most recently, the Town of Cary’s Crime Stoppers Program was awarded Best Promotional Idea by the North Carolina Crime Stoppers Association, recognizing its outstanding awareness campaign. This spring, the Cary Police Department will unveil “Project P.H.O.E.N.I.X. (Promoting Healthy Occupancy through Education, Networking, and Information eXchange),” a program to foster crime-free neighborhoods in rental property areas.

“When it comes to staying safe, we have to credit not only our tremendously dedicated and professional police team but also our citizens who really are our partners in our tireless and unending focus on addressing crime,” added Bazemore.

Cary’s pick as a safe city came in an announcement from CQ Press, a publisher of books, directories, research publications and Web products on U.S. Government, world affairs and communication. A city’s rank is determined by six basic crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and motor vehicle theft. All communities with 75,000 or more populations that reported crime date to the FBI for the six crime categories were included.

For real-time crime updates, follow the Town of Cary’s Safety feed on Twitter @TOC_Safety.

Additional award information is available from CQ Press or by calling 1-866-4CQ-PRESS (427-7737).

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PRIMARY CONTACTS: 
Pat Bazemore, Chief of Police, (919) 469-4023
Susan Moran, Public Information Director, (919) 380-4240