Weston, Redding, Easton Ranked Among Top 20 Safest Communities in Connecticut

WESTON/REDDING/EASTON, CT — Ridgefield is again the safest community in Connecticut, according to security company SafeWise, an honor the town received in 2015. For every 1,000 people in Ridgefield, the chance of falling victim to a violent crime is only 0.04, SafeWise writes. The chance of a property crime is 2.57 per 1,000.

"Eighteen of Connecticut’s 20 safest cities reported zero murders, and the other two cities reported one each," wrote SafeWise. "Thirty percent of the cities also cited no incidents of rape or robbery. Furthermore, 70 percent of the 20 safest cities in Connecticut reported less than five violent crimes and 55 percent reported less than 100 property crimes."

The second safest community in Connecticut is Wilton, followed by Weston, Easton and Redding, according to SafeWise. Rounding out the top 10 are Suffield, East Hampton, New Canaan, Newtown and Madison. The average population of the communities on the list is about 19,000.

"To identify the 20 safest cities in Connecticut, we reviewed the most recent FBI Crime Report statistics from 2014, along with population data," wrote SafeWise. Click here for the company's full methodology. "We eliminated all cities with fewer than 5,000 residents as well as any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI. From there, we evaluated the remaining cities. We narrowed it down based on the number of reported violent crimes (aggravated assault, murder, rape, and robbery) and property crimes (burglary, arson, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft) in each city. To further level the playing field, we calculated the likelihood of these crimes occurring out of 1,000 people in each city."

Below is the full list of the 20 Safest Cities in Connecticut from SafeWise:

1. Ridgefield

Previous rank: 1
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.04
Property Crimes per 1,000: 2.57

2. Wilton
Previous rank: 8
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.05
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.24

3. Weston
Previous rank: 2
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.19
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.17

4. Easton
Previous rank: 4
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.00
Property Crimes per 1,000: 3.92

5. Redding
Previous rank: 6
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.43
Property Crimes per 1,000: 4.39

6. Suffield
Previous rank: 11
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.51
Property Crimes per 1,000: 4.75

7. East Hampton
Previous rank: 26
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.23
Property Crimes per 1,000: 5.50

8. New Canaan
Previous rank: 10
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.05
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.40

9. Newtown
Previous rank: 5
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.39
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.09

10. Madison
Previous rank: 9
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.11
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.50

11. Simsbury
Previous rank: 12
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.25
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.40

12. Portland
Previous rank: 7
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.32
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.67

13. Canton
Previous rank: 14
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.19
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.94

14. Plainfield
Previous rank: 17
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.86
Property Crimes per 1,000: 6.65

15. Greenwich
Previous rank: 15
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.29
Property Crimes per 1,000: 7.48

16. Middlebury
Previous rank: 21
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.53
Property Crimes per 1,000: 7.40

17. Monroe
Previous rank: 16
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.15
Property Crimes per 1,000: 7.88

18. Granby
Previous rank: 20
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.26
Property Crimes per 1,000: 7.94

19. Bethel
Previous rank: 23
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.00
Property Crimes per 1,000: 8.44

20. Cheshire
Previous rank: 13
Violent Crimes per 1,000: 0.21
Property Crimes per 1,000: 8.24

Article by Alfred Branch (Patch Staff)

Photo by Wendy Ann Mitchell