Community News

FBI stats: Atmore among state’s safest cities

News Staff Report

Alabama has no shortage of exciting activities in which to participate. From memorials to a civil war and civil rights, boating along the Gulf Coast and in Lower Alabama’s river network, or visiting one of the state’s growing number of theme parks.
Obviously, there’s an abundance of things to see and do in Alabama. And for those who want to feel most secure when traveling across the state or deciding on a possible move to a particular city or town, there’s a new way to find out where you’ll likely be safest.
Security Baron — a consumer-focused website dealing in home security, property security, cybersecurity, and more — has analyzed the most recently available crime-rate statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Based on that analysis, Atmore was determined to be one of Alabama’s 50 safest cities.
Crime stats furnished by city police show that Atmore (with a population of 9,994) came up with an average safety score of 52.69 and a rate of 11.11 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens.
Additionally, there are 2,940 households in Atmore and stats revealed a rate of 43.13 property crimes per 1,000 citizens. The survey also includes the police officer-to-citizen ratio of each community, and Atmore’s proved to be 2.5 per 1,000 people.
According to the FBI data, Helena is the state’s safest city. The community, which posted a safety score of 88.32, has a rate of only 0.84 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens and a citizen-to-officer ratio of 1.21 per 1,000 people.
There are 6,569 households in Helena, and the city has a rate of 4.9 property crimes per 1,000 residents.
Helena, located in Jefferson and Shelby counties, is considered a Birmingham suburb.
By comparison, it was found that Jasper ranked last on the list, with a safety score of 40.34. The small Walker County city has a rate of 7.6 violent crimes per 1,000 citizens, along with an officer-to-citizen ratio of 3.3 per 1,000 people.
Jasper was found to have 5,464 households and an average of 65.93 property crimes per 1,000 residents.