Several local southern New Hampshire towns, including Atkinson and Sandown have been ranked among the “30 safest cities in New Hampshire,” according to the home security and safety website SafeWise.com.
Atkinson is listed second safest in the Granite State, while Sandown ranks eighth safest. South of the border, only Andover made the top 30 safest list, ranking at 23. No Merrimack Valley cities ranked in the top 40. Other local communities making the list include Kingston at number 22 and Hampstead, ranked 26.
“To create our 30 safest cities in New Hampshire list, we carefully analyzed recent FBI Crime Report data of cities with a population of over 3,000 residents in 2012. Next, we took a close look at the number of violent crimes, consisting of robbery, murder, forcible rape and aggravated assault, as well as property crimes, which include burglary, motor vehicle theft, arson and larceny-theft. Then, we calculated how often these crimes were reported per 1,000 people to help level the playing field,” a SafeWise spokesperson said.
“The FBI Crime Report reveals that three of the safest cities in New Hampshire — New Ipswich, Atkinson and New London — reported no violent crimes whatsoever. In all, the 30 safest cities reported only one murder and just nine robberies,” according to the website.
“When it comes to accurate crime statistics, the FBI Crime Report is considered an excellent source. However, not all New Hampshire cities reported complete data to the FBI. When a city doesn’t have all their statistics reported, we remove them from eligibility,” a spokesperson said.