The 19th-safest city in America is — Broken Arrow.
The ranking comes from financial analysis website 24/7 Wall St. The rankings lean on violent crime rates, though they also consider poverty and unemployment. Broken Arrow’s violent crime rate was 124.1 per 100,000 residents in 2017, down 19 percent from 2016.
Chief Brandon Berryhill said whether it’s in person, through social media or by other means, Broken Arrow Police are constantly trying to build a good relationship with residents.
"If the public doesn’t call us because they don’t trust us, there’s no way for us to help them. And so, the support we get as far as bond issues and budgets and things like that, it all comes together and helps us maintain a safe city," Berryhill said.
Berryhill also said having a neighborly community helps.
"It’s like when you come into someone’s home and it’s clean, you feel obligated not to mess it up. The citizens here are really taking care of themselves, and if they’re watching out for their neighbors, maintaining their property, and have a level of what is acceptable and what’s not acceptable, that really maintains a lot of the social order," Berryhill said.
With around 500 new homes a year being built in the city, however, keeping up won’t be easy.
"With that growth comes more people, more problems. So, for us as a department, staying up with the size of the department and the size of the city is a challenge. The second part of that is finding good, quality candidates," Berryhill said.
The top-ranked city with the lowest violent crime rate — 61.2 per 100,000 residents — was Irvine, California. The U.S. violent crime rate was 382.9 per 100,000.
